Producing in India

As an American, I would obviously prefer that you keep production in the USA. However, as a business person, it may make good sense for you to move production to India, China, etc. The reality is that producing in Asia is less costly then producing in the USA.

When making a decision, many factors need to be considered.

If you are selling rather small quantities and working on good margin, you may be better off staying local. Even though you can get very good quality in other countries, it is always best to keep a "close" eye on production. If you are working locally, you can at least stop into the factory to check on the progress etc. If moving does not generate a large savings, why bother moving?

If you quantities are large and margin is tight, saving the pennies are important. Even after calculating duty, freight, inspections services, etc., you are most likely going to have a cost savings when producing outside the USA. However, your negotiating skills will ultimately tell the tale of how much you will save...

In my opinion, EVERY COUNTRY has great factories and EVERY COUNTRY has horrible factories. The tricky part of this business is finding the proper factory.

If you have been working in this industry for a long time, you may have already noticed that if something can go wrong, it often times does. When dealing with foreign countries, you may take for granted simple things like loss of power, flooding, seasonal holidays. When you have an urgent shipment, you certainly do not want to hear that your factories power generator has stopped working and they have no electricity for sewing etc. Certainly this can happen in New York, but the situation would be extremely rare. In other countries it can be a regular occurrence.

Overall, garment production in foreign countries can be a positive and financially rewarding experience. However, you ABSOLUTELY will have a very big learning curve. You ask about pitfalls and you will definitely find plenty of them. Unfortunately, I can not lay them all out for you here on this one single message.

Learn about Duty Rates (check with customs brokers), Freight Forwarders, Testing Labs, Inspection Services etc.. These are equally important to finding an actual factory. You definitely do not want to calculate your costing and forget that you may have a 9% duty rate on a garment when importing that you did not account for in your calculations.

Also, if you are importing you will need an RN# for your care labels...

You can find information about RN#'s, freight forwarders, clothing factories, inspection services etc., at my other website Apparel Search. If you have trouble finding anything let me know.

Good luck.

Replies

Gazala May 22, 2008 at 3:43pm

Hello there,

I am a fashion Consultant in US n my family in India cater to both national and international clients.

If you can provide more info ...i can help.

Thanks
Sanjay Kumar May 22, 2008 at 11:33am

Hello,
I would be glad to assist you if you plan to manufacture in INDIA
Apparel1 - February 6, 2008 at 1:11pm

As an American, I would obviously prefer that you keep production in the USA. However, as a business person, it may make good sense for you to move production to India, China, etc. The reality is that producing in Asia is less costly then producing in the USA.

When making a decision, many factors need to be considered.

If you are selling rather small quantities and working on good margin, you may be better off staying local. Even though you can get very good quality in other countries, it is always best to keep a "close" eye on production. If you are working locally, you can at least stop into the factory to check on the progress etc. If moving does not generate a large savings, why bother moving?

If you quantities are large and margin is tight, saving the pennies are important. Even after calculating duty, freight, inspections services, etc., you are most likely going to have a cost savings when producing outside the USA. However, your negotiating skills will ultimately tell the tale of how much you will save...

In my opinion, EVERY COUNTRY has great factories and EVERY COUNTRY has horrible factories. The tricky part of this business is finding the proper factory.

If you have been working in this industry for a long time, you may have already noticed that if something can go wrong, it often times does. When dealing with foreign countries, you may take for granted simple things like loss of power, flooding, seasonal holidays. When you have an urgent shipment, you certainly do not want to hear that your factories power generator has stopped working and they have no electricity for sewing etc. Certainly this can happen in New York, but the situation would be extremely rare. In other countries it can be a regular occurrence.

Overall, garment production in foreign countries can be a positive and financially rewarding experience. However, you ABSOLUTELY will have a very big learning curve. You ask about pitfalls and you will definitely find plenty of them. Unfortunately, I can not lay them all out for you here on this one single message.

Learn about Duty Rates (check with customs brokers), Freight Forwarders, Testing Labs, Inspection Services etc.. These are equally important to finding an actual factory. You definitely do not want to calculate your costing and forget that you may have a 9% duty rate on a garment when importing that you did not account for in your calculations.

Also, if you are importing you will need an RN# for your care labels...

You can find information about RN#'s, freight forwarders, clothing factories, inspection services etc., at my other website Apparel Search. If you have trouble finding anything let me know.

Good luck.

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Producing in India

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