Tips On How To Obtain Wholesale Clothing From Designer Brands Like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste Etc…
As many of you reading this blog may have already found out, it is not easy nor simple to obtain clothing from certain designer brands in bulk, and for wholesale prices. Usually, the more popular the brands and their products are, the harder they are to obtain.
The main reason that it’s so difficult to obtain merchandise from these brands, is that they do everything they can to control and protect their brand image and reputation, as anyone would do being in their position. No one can blame them for protecting the years of investment they have made promoting their brands, and now that they are popular, the effort they put into having control of where their merchandise is sold.
The side effect of this “control” is that these brands, being popular and difficult to obtain, become high in demand, and the few people who are able to obtain clothing from designer brands like Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, amongst many other popular brands, are able to build a profitable businesses, reselling these items.
So, how does someone obtain wholesale authentic designer clothing from these brands?
Considering how controlled the clothing of some of these brands are, there are truly only 4 methods of obtaining this authentic designer clothing in bulk and for wholesale prices, and only two of these methods can be considered realistic:
Directly from the brands - probably the most unrealistic.
To be able to obtain merchandise directly from the brands is practically impossible. The brands already have contracts with established distributors, and the distributors have a network of approved retailers they provide the clothing too. The brands will not offer their merchandise to anyone, unless you own a large business and can prove to them that working with them, and selling their clothing, will also be profitable to them. Even so, if you are able to get their attention, they will certainly have a list of requirements, including constant orders of thousands of their items at a time.
From the factories that produce the clothing/merchandise - extremely hard and complicated to work with.
There are many who claim to be legitimate authorized manufacturers of clothing for designer brands. The problem lies in the fact that they are not able to prove it. To control their merchandise, the brands usually have manufacturers sign strict contracts, to prevent them from reselling their merchandise, or producing it without their authorization. But, there are some loopholes in this system.
Factories are located in different countries, and laws are different in each country. Some countries enforce some of the restrictions on contracts, as well as completely annul other restrictions, as it doesn’t comply with their laws. In other words, some factories are able to take advantage of their local law, and do offer authentic designer merchandise they manufactured for wholesale and at extremely low prices. Also, as part of their contract, some factories are able to sell clothing that did not pass quality standards, and any overruns, or over produced clothing they end up with.
The main problem is that manufacturers are usually not able to truly prove that the merchandise is authentic, as they will never have an actual resale letter of authorization from the brands, which makes it extremely complicated to export/import.
Obtaining the clothing from the official distributors - hard, but possible.
In many cases, if a retailer has a large quantity of overstock from a certain merchandise, the retailer can return the merchandise to the distributor. The distributor for their part, must then liquidate and sell that merchandise as seen fit.
Offers from distributors are usually specific to one single brand, and will either contain an assortment of items/styles or give buyers the option of choosing the quantities of each style they would like to order. These offers are brand specific, but in general they sell fast, as they are hard to come by, and only sporadically available.
Because distributors don’t want to infringe any part of their contract with the brands, they are very cautious on deciding who they should offer the overstock merchandise to. Distributors usually work with large and reputable wholesalers and liquidators to sell their overstock clothing/merchandise.
Acquiring overstock and closeout merchandise from wholesalers - most common and easiest to obtain.
The most common method of obtaining wholesale authentic designer clothing, is through a trusted and verified wholesaler of overstock and closeout merchandise. The merchandise wholesalers offer are for the most part obtained from large retailers, department stores, and the distributors of these designer brands.
Wholesalers who work directly with department stores and distributors are usually able to offer documentation/proof that the merchandise they offer is authentic, and obtained from reliable sources. Department stores usually offer a release letter, while some distributors only offer sanitized invoices, as they do not want to cross any legal lines with their brands. There are though, circumstances where the brands control their products to a certain level, that not much proof can be offered, as retailers and distributors will not risk their business with their suppliers, simply to liquidate overstock products.
Overstock and closeout offers from distributors are different from offers from department stores or large retailers. Offers from distributors, as mentioned previously, usually consist of items from one single brand, and sometimes (depending on the distributor) there is also the opportunity of picking the exact styles and quantities of each style you would like to order. Please take into consideration, that wholesale offers for certain merchandise from some brands are more difficult to come by than others. For example, it is almost impossible to find an offer with only Ralph Lauren Polo Shirts, or Lacoste Polo Shirts, while it is more common or easier to find offers from distributors for Ralph Lauren and Lacoste Shoes.
Offers or lots obtained from department stores and other retailers, on the other hand, can either consist of an assortment of different clothing styles from one single brand, or consist of a variety of brands and clothing styles that are simply separated into different categories. Most department stores divide their closeout merchandise into lots or categories, as they carry a large list of different clothing styles and brands in their stores. Even though each lot category will contain an assortment of brands and syles that already come mixed from department stores, obtaining these lots is the easiest and most reliable method for obtaining wholesale clothing from designer brands like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, and many others.
Honestly, being able to obtain wholesale clothing from designer brands is not an easy task, but with some effort and insistance, it can be a very profitable business. If you are interested in obtaining wholesale designer clothing and other merchandise from designer brands, or have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].
