Choosing your vendors should not be something complicated or bring you any headaches. The more experience you have, the more comfortable you are when deciding which vendors will be taking your money and trust but, in the beginning, choosing your vendors can be tricky and bring up a lot of questions - as it should! Deciding who will be working with you is an important step and can open doors for long-term relationships.
The other day I was talking to a coaching client and, during our fabric search meeting, he brought up the question: how should I know who to trust? So here I am, blogging about it and sharing my experience with you because, after all, I doubt he is the only one with this question.
My coaching program is literally how coaching classes should work. I provide my clients with the content, templates, and sources needed and I teach them how to do the work. I also do introductions to vendors, but getting the groundwork done is part of the client’s job as I teach them how to do so. Some clients come to me with vendors they are already working with, which is absolutely fine but, in this case, I like to be introduced to the vendors and take control of the situation I am dealing with.
This same client, who came to me asking “how should I know who to trust?”, also brought his vendors with him. After a call with his manufacturer, he mentioned how frustrated he was and how uncomfortable he felt when the factory contact point spent two meetings asking the same questions regarding the fabrics and pattern making. This is the very first red flag to be noticed when working with any vendor. Especially when you don’t have experience in the fashion industry.
Let’s be honest, as a beginner, you can’t know who to trust. And that is ok! But if you are working with companies that have been in business for a while and have experience in your type of product, these vendors should come to you with solutions, instead of questions or arguments.
Easier said than done. As a business owner, I get that! But as a production manager and a coach who has been doing this for a while, my clients should never expect to hear questions like “what type of closure do you want on this dress?”. They can expect to hear “this dress is silk and there is no stretch to it. We need a nice zipper on the back or an invisible zipper”. So the same attitude should come from your fabric suppliers, your manufacturer, or any one of your vendors.
Of course, asking questions is normal, but asking the right questions is what matters here.
Building up a team that you trust and presenting you with solutions can be more important than building knowledge. After all, your team of employees and vendors are the ones who will help you launch your collection and successfully achieve your goals.
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