[Import]

Hi,

I want to get some samples of District Threads. The only wholesalers I have heard about that have them are Sanmar and Company Casuals.

There are a lot of threads here saying the place to get District Threads is Sanmar but they just told me they will not open me an account because I am private label and not a screenprinter . Company Casuals has no contact information at all on their website.

Can anyone help? I know I could buy through a printer but I imagine it would be cheaper to buy direct?

 

[Import]

PS

PS I guess lying and telling them I am a screenprinter is not an option since I already opened my big mouth on the phone and said I was outsourcing the printing...

 

[Rodney]

I didn't know sanmar required you to be a screen printer to open an account.

What do you mean you are "private label"?

By the way, Company Casuals is SanMar.

Maybe you could contact a local screen printer to get a sample:
http://www.districtthreads.com/wheretobuy.html

 

[Import]

I didn't know sanmar required you to be a screen printer to open an account.

What do you mean you are "private label"?

By the way, Company Casuals is SanMar.

Maybe you could contact a local screen printer to get a sample:
http://www.districtthreads.com/wheretobuy.html

Thanks Rodney, that makes sense. Although I was hoping to get better prices by going direct... Maybe they have changed their policies, everyone else seems to have managed to get an account with them

Actually I wouldn't have described myself as private label but this was what he said when I explained I was creating a brand and outsourcing the embellishments...

 

[T-BOT]

Actually I wouldn't have described myself as private label but this was what he said when I explained I was creating a brand and outsourcing the embellishments...

Sophie, that sounds strange.
A big chunk of our business is doing work for Branding and Brand re-vamp companies (consultants/designers), not in a million years we would turn them away.

 

[Solmu]

Sophie, that sounds strange.

It's not strange at all. From their perspective they are protecting their clients, most of whom are apparel decorators. They don't want to sell to private labels for the same reason they don't want to sell to the general public.

 

[Solmu]

Actually I wouldn't have described myself as private label but this was what he said when I explained I was creating a brand and outsourcing the embellishments...

As I'm sure you now realise that was your mistake right there As a general rule of thumb it's best not to explain too much to anyone

How much information did you give them? Will they definitely know you are the same company if you apply for an account? Depending on what you're comfortable with you have a few options:
Try and register online anyway, and hope they don't connect the two (I wouldn't be surprised if whoever you spoke to didn't even make a note of it and they don't care to check; telling you over the phone they don't service that kind of client may be as far as it goes).
Tell them you decided to do the printing in house afterall, so you're now a printer.
Register under a different name (your own as opposed to your companies for example; something legitimate but different).

The other option is to just leave sourcing shirts to your printer. Depending on the quantities you/they are buying you may get better prices (if they put in an order on behalf of ten clients for example they may get better bulk pricing than you would). Also some printers charge more if you supply your own shirts, so you may be paying the same amount either way.

 

[T-BOT]

They don't want to sell to private labels for the same reason they don't want to sell to the general public.

private labels are not the general public.
private labels are designers for example, that put their label on "aa" t-shirts.
"aa" does not have a problem with that, they are a manufacturer.
the real reason may be that manufacturers may NOT allow distributors to sell to private labels.


note: "aa" is use here as just an example of a manufacturer.

 

[Solmu]

private labels are not the general public.
private labels are designers for example, that put their label on "aa" t-shirts.

Thanks for the lesson, but I know what a private label is.

As I said, they may choose not to sell to private labels for the reason they don't sell to the general public: that reason is that they don't want to take money away from their re-sellers and decorators, as they feel those groups (people who are outsourcing the production, and retail customers) should both be purchasing through different channels. More to the point, those other channels feel they should be purchasing through them, and the wholesaler doesn't want to offend their bigger clients.

the real reason may be that manufacturers may NOT allow distributors to sell to private labels.

Exactly.

 

[T-BOT]

Im glad we always agree.