The main characteristic of French and Italian cheap clothes manufacturers is that they function in ‘Fast Fashion’, i.e. short term production. Let’s see together the advantages and drawbacks of this type of production.
On Shopitex‘ products sheets you can see the origin country for each product. The fabrics of products made in France or Italy often come from China or Korea. The main advantage of the French or Italian manufacturing process is of course the delivery delay, about 3 or 4 days after the order was made. Reactivity and flexibility are very important indeed, since it makes for less risks taken. You can order on stock in smaller quantities (5 units for example), so you can evaluate the possible success or failure of a given product: make a quick resupply if the product sells, limit the damages if it didn’t. They are also very flexible concerning conditioning (On Shopitex’ products sheets, ‘FREE’ conditioning means ‘free to choose colours and quantities per size’). The products proposed are very fashionable and fitting for large retailers. The fact the products proposed by these European textile manufacturers are trendy also contributes in limiting the risks you take. You won’t have to rely as much on instinct, to feel where do the fashion winds blow, since you can trust the proposed arrays, keeping in mind your customers’ preferences of course. Their great flexibility will allow you to personalise the models on almost every aspect; you even have the possibility to brand the products with your name, even on small quantities. The manufacturing minimum (an order to manufacture) is rather small, starting sometimes at 50 units.
There are unfortunately a few drawbacks if you choose this method of manufacturing. One of the main drawbacks of this system is that the finishing touches are sometimes lacking. The extreme quickness of production implies some details aren’t worked on. Your clothes may have subpar sewing finishing touches, poor quality furs, printing that won’t hold falling sequins and strass etc. It’s not an absolute fact or systematic: these annoyances can be avoided if you choose you wholesaler carefully. In Italy, some fabrics are dyed using dye baths, which sometimes means a colour can be slighlty different from one resupply to the next. Finally, the products made in these manufactures can easily be found here and there, with several wholesalers, with the competition etc. Everyone tends to make the same thing (they are fashionable products after all!), you may eventually want to find another way to stand out. It should be noted that the printed fabrics change often, and it’s possible to get lost when there’s too many of them. Lastly, certain types of clothes aren’t made in Italy or France, and are in a way specific to China, such as denim, imitation leather, shoes, leather goods and accessories.
In short and to help you weigh the pros and cons, here are the advantages of European fast fashion:
- Manufacturing/delivery delay of 3–4 days
- Greater reactivity and flexibility to limit the risks taken
- It’s possible to order in very small quantity
- Fashionable, good sales products
- Free to choose the conditioning (colour/size)
- It’s possible to brand the products with your name
… and some drawbacks too:
- Lack of finishing touches
- Slightly different colours from one resupply to the next due to the dye baths
- The products can be found everywhere (competition)
- Certain type of clothes can’t be made in Italy or France
Here are the products made in France and Italy.
I hope this article helped you undertand the trade of Paris, Aubervilliers and Prato textile manufacturers specifics. Don’t hesitate to share your opinion, comments, personal experience via the form.
Jonathan from Shopitex
Originally published at blog.shopitex.com on May 15, 2015.
