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& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | JULY 13, 2000 SMART ANSWERS Sampling the Fashion Industry How can a new fabric importer find the right customers?
Q: I just started a business as an importing agent in the fabric and fashion trade. I have many fabric manufacturers in China that have asked me to represent them in the U.S. I have some samples now, but I do not know how and where to start. Who are my customers? How should I contact them? Is there an Internet resource for this kind of business? --A.L., New York City A: Given the plethora of U.S.-based manufacturers of apparel, furnishings, draperies, and other textile-based products, what you need to do first is categorize the fabric lines that you'll be representing and determine what their most likely end-uses are. Will these bolts of cloth be used primarily to make ladies' blouses? Men's clothing? Utility products? You do not want to waste your time and effort blindly marketing heavy denim to companies that produce high-fashion women's eveningwear. You want to narrow down your target customers as much as possible, so you're spending marketing dollars only to pitch your fabric line to companies that really be interested in purchasing it. Along with classifying your fabric lines, your best bet may be to specialize in a particular kind of textile, experts say. "Don't try to do everything. By becoming an expert in a particular type of fabric, or group of textiles, you'll provide value to your customers because you will know about issues related to purchasing and using it, and what alternatives they have to choose from. You can focus on one area and still make sufficient income from it," says Paul Ratoff, a certified management consultant who specializes in the apparel industry at the accounting firm of Moss-Adams in Los Angeles. ENTRY POINT. Find a way to differentiate yourself and your products from the other goods on the market, Ratoff says. "Are your fabrics cheaper? Are they unique? Are they better quality than is typically available from that part of the world? Find an entry point that will get you some attention from the companies that you will be approaching. Everybody is looking for interesting and unique new products," he says. Once you've determined the kinds of fabrics you'll be representing and what they're used for, you need to identify the U.S. manufacturers that would be interested in purchasing your products. General directories are available from textile associations and manufacturer's groups for this purpose. You can also purchase proprietary databases that list the U.S. companies that use particular types of fabrics. John R. Calvert, president of a startup apparel Web portal called GarmenTrade.com, recommends spending some money and purchasing one of these databases. "Get a well-positioned database that will allow you to be focused, or you'll be spinning your wheels terribly," he says. He suggests that you try Fabric Marketing Research (www.fabricmarketing.com), a New York City-based firm that sells such a product. DIRECT DELIVERY. Calvert also recommends that once you have researched your market, you should attend national and regional textile trade shows. "An international textiles show is held twice a year in Los Angeles at the California Mart (www.californiamart.com)," Calvert says. "That would seem like a great bet for you to attend." At such a show, you might target U.S.-based manufacturers who have production facilities in China or other parts of Asia. If such a company would be interested in your fabric lines, you could arrange to have the textiles delivered directly to their overseas factories, saving them and you a considerable amount in shipping fees and import costs. Along with going to trade shows, you should also plan to begin setting up appointments with local manufacturers. Contact the designers and merchandisers responsible for creating the lines that your fabric might be used to produce and ask if you can show them your samples. Part of your research will be determining what time frames these companies work under. Buyers looking to source fabric for clothing that is being designed now will be planning to have finished product on the market many months -- and possibly even years -- from today. You'll need to be savvy about what particular fabrics to show them, based on what season they are designing for. Jean Gipe, director and professor of the apparel department at California Polytechnic University in Pomona, suggests that you might create a Web site with the appropriate information about your fabric lines and then advertise it to fabric end-users or hire someone who already represents other types of (noncompeting) fabric lines and has some established customers. You could pay that person for a limited period of time to help you get some business established. Many great Internet resources are available for the apparel industry. To get started, check out the State University of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. The institute has a Web page listing many industry and trade associations, databases, trade journals, and metasites at: www.fitnyc.suny.edu/about/library/1.55.8.html. Have a question about running your business? Ask our small-business experts. Send us an E-mail at smartanswers@businessweek.com, or write to Smart Answers, BW Online, 46th Floor, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Please include your real name and phone number in case we need more information; only your initials and city will be printed. Because of the volume of mail, we won't be able to respond to all questions personally.  By Karen E. Klein  | | |
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