Fabrics
I spent a fair amount of time in Shanghai a few years ago with some friends and their friends many of whom were, or had been in the textiles industry. One guy in particular springs to mind as he had gone into business for himself sourcing fabrics for manufacturers within China. His theory was that most textile manufacturing was happening in China even for overseas retailers so why pay to export and deal with all the paperwork.
This theory holds true within other markets. Why would a small fashion designer, or home sewing hobbyist import from China or anywhere else? Naturally they won・t they simply walk down to the local fabric store and buy what they need. If you are prepared to do the leg work and find interesting fabrics you pretty much have a captive market.
There are two basic models here, you either become a wholesaler, and provide imported fabrics to retailers, or you become the retailer. The former will require more capital but if this is not a problem and you are ambitious it would be possible to do both.
Assuming that money is an issue, you can buy fabrics online and import them without travelling overseas. If you are patient you can even have swatches of fabric sent to you so that you can check the quality. Of course if you can travel then you get to see a lot more fabrics at once and will probably get better prices.
In terms of distribution you have the following options: -
EBay
Website
Schools / Night schools / Universities
Sewing Clubs
Shops / Market traders
Designers
Manufacturers
Open a shop
EBay has 41236 items listed under fabrics, which may be the highest number I have ever seen. This is actually more of an opportunity than a problem however. When someone is looking for the right fabric they are happy to browse, make sure that you categorise your fabrics carefully and get them all on there, clearly there is a thriving market place.
Similarly a search for <fabrics> gives more than 30 million hits on Google and if you leave of the S this rises to 88 million. You can narrow this down quickly though; <Corduroy Fabrics> brings in just over a million hits as does <hobby fabrics uk>. I suspect that the key opportunity here will be using good SEO techniques and targeting your keywords carefully to match your stock and location. Your website should showcase not just your fabrics but should state how much of each you hold and ideally a payment gateway to ensure immediate orders.
Getting offline is where you are likely to have more success. Whilst most creative folk now can, and do use the internet they tend to be more comfortable with other people; like you. If you approach the sewing instructors at local schools and other educational institutions and explain that you are trying to give more choice to students and small hobbyists at lower costs by importing directly from China/Vietnam/Sri Lanka they are likely to be interested. You can also elicit valuable feedback from them regarding what kinds of fabrics they are looking for, pricing etc.
Sewing clubs are similar, in as much as they will be looking for smallish quantities of fabric which stops them buying at discounts. If you carry a good range of fabrics at affordable prices you are likely to generate repeat customers. The tricky part is the legwork of running around all the groups locally and in neighbouring towns. You may be able to find contacts online though which will save you some legwork. Use local forums and bulletin boards and search for sewing related terminology.
Wholesaling to shops and market traders will require a larger amount of stock, but you will save on rent and the cost of fitting out a shop. Similar to sewing clubs, schools etc you will need to do a lot of legwork to find your buyers. Yellow pages will help but typically there are only a certain number of fabric retailers in any given town, you will either need to get in your car and drive a lot, make a lot of phone calls, or hire someone to do this for you. You will probably also need some warehouse space as at this level you are unlikely to still be storing things in your house or garage.
Designers should be easier to get hold of; they are likely to be heavily promoting themselves and as such will have a website and possibly their own store(s). I would recommend a direct sales approach either by telephone or mail using a carefully scripted approach to gain their interest. Emphasise quality, uniqueness, cost and convenience and you are likely to get some interest. Be careful as designers have a reputation for trying to get freebies and using their reputation to try and negotiate down. If you don・t want to deal with the egos then avoid this customer segment. If you are comfortable with this group then you should definitely be able to build repeat business and possibly end up supplying fabric for a line if your up and coming customers hit the big time.
Manufacturers will be the hardest group to sell to, cost will be a real issue for them and they will want just in time ordering to keep their supply chain costs as low as possible. This means that you need to either hold a large amount of stock or be able to get it delivered very quickly, with no delays. If you are ordering from abroad this usually means holding a lot of stock. Most manufacturers will also try to cut out the middle man and deal with fabric manufacturers themselves in order to cut costs but there will be outfits that are sourcing from other wholesalers and your choice/cost may be able to influence them. I would suggest you look into this only once you have a successful retail business through other channels.
Opening a shop is clearly a choice here. It doesn・t need to be a traditional shop and certainly should not be on a prime site. Locations close to university campuses, retail parks, or even residential areas will suffice. Your customers will come to you once they know where to find you. The more space you have, the more fabric you can show, which is the key to your customers. Choice and cost should be your mantra.
If you are prepared to travel then a little research goes a long way. Places like Cholon in Saigon (Vietnam) have incredible fabric markets at great prices but you can do better by approaching manufacturers directly. A lot depends on how much time you are prepared to put in, whether you can afford the travel costs (is your business big enough) and how much quantity you are looking to buy.
As a start up, I would look to buy remotely through sites like www.alibaba.com. As you grow your market you may want to start taking your annual vacation in spots where you can pick up cheaper fabrics and as you grow migrate towards dealing with manufacturers. Some of this will be down to chance; it is possible that you will meet someone in a chat room or in a bar who can provide you with a dream source of fabrics. As long as volumes and prices make sense then go for it.
This is a fun business, fashion attracts some big characters and you will enjoy yourself with many of your customers.
This is a business how ever much fun you are having, don・t give anything away and don・t expect anyone to make you famous on their coat tails.
You will need some capital to get started, but maybe not as much as you think. Do some research and work out what it would cost you to get going. A small personal loan from friends or family would probably suffice.