For the past 10 years in textile-related industry, our team and I have visited over 300 factories, manufactured and exported over 200 kinds of textile and pet products, at the meantime attended more than 30 different trade shows including Canton Fair, Asian Pet Fair etc. And that leads us to work for many brands across the world like Walmart, Petsmart, Petco, and amazon private brand sellers.
Attending a fabric fair show can be daunting, especially if it's your first time. With so many kinds of colorful fabric surrounding you, how do you know where to start?
Here are four tips to help make the most of your time at the fabric show and find the best fabrics and suppliers for your project.
1. Plan ahead
There's a great way that you want to do before going there. It's to plan by creating a list of must-haves and priorities. This will help focus on the most important fabrics and suppliers and save time.
Nowadays, we focus on pet products made from textiles. For great Quality Guarantee & Negotiable Price, understanding the fabric material and finding original factories is also a big part of our job. So in this fabric show, our priorities are pet clothes/beds/carriers/harness fabric materials.
2. Do your research
And then, it's essential to do your research. You need to know what fabrics are popular, what colors are in style, and what trends are emerging. You also need to be aware of the different fabrics and how they are well produced.
For us today, we aim at eco-friendly fabric materials following a few customers' requirements from America and Australia. This order was already well-taken care of. But still, a fair show is an excellent opportunity to learn about trendy products and explore more good factories.
There are a few different ways to do your research. You can scour fashion magazines, look online, or even talk to some former fabric manufacturers to know what more you can ask them in person.
3. Prepare some questions
When you walk into a fabric fair vendor booth, you should ask a few key questions to get the most out of your experience. Here are a few examples:
4. Follow up after the show
As we all know, in China, Guanxi is always the key to a better deal. So I would do a few small things to keep good connections with valuable suppliers.
- Send a thank you note or email to the supplier for their time at the fair – this will show that you value their time and are interested in working with them.
- Ask for any information you may have missed during the fair – this will help you better understand their products and services.
- Promptly send feedback about their samples and kindly ask for factories touring.
If you wanna get updated about sourcing fabric, manufacturing&exporting pet products from China. I’ll be seeing you again!
Post time: Jun-16-2022