I’m sharing all my trade secrets that will help you find the perfect swimwear fabric supplier brand.
HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
- Challenges Finding Swimwear Fabric Suppliers
- The Science Behind High-Performing Swimwear Fabrics
- Stretch And Recovery
- Chlorine And Saltwater Resistance
- Sun Resistance
- Abrasion Testing
- Questions You Should Always Ask Your Fabric Supplier
- Test Reports
- Running Qualities And Stock?
- Custom Dye And Custom Printing
- Happy Customers
- Should You Go Eco Or Not - Pros And Cons
- Price
- Quality
- Market Saturation
- Where To Find The Best Swimwear Suppliers
- Tradeshows
- Swimwear Fabric Suppliers I Love (With A Low Moq)
- Additional Resources
BUT BEFORE WE GET STARTED...
I love helping startup brand founders succeed, so I created a bunch of free guides that will help you with your business.
They won’t be free forever, so make sure to grab them while you can.
- CUT YOUR SOURCING TIME IN ½ - the industry sourcing doc you didn’t know existed but definitely need
- HOW MUCH DOES IT REALLY COST TO START YOUR BRAND – I have helped people with as little as $2,500 get started; here’s how…
- NO MORE EXCUSES – get the exact productivity system I use to get things done
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO FIND A GOOD SWIMWEAR FABRIC SUPPLIER?
… Especially if you are a small brand just starting out.
The biggest challenge in finding quality swimwear fabric suppliers is usually the minimum order quantities (MOQs). If you didn’t know, an MOQ is a commitment made by a brand to a supplier to buy a certain amount of yardage. Fabric suppliers have these MOQs because it is not cost-effective for them to create custom fabrics for tiny orders (read, they will lose money).
Now, the thing that makes swimwear the most challenging compared to other product categories is that even if you plan on ordering 1000+ pieces, bikinis require a very tiny amount of fabric, so your fabric order is still going to be quite small.
The rest of this article is explicitly dedicated to strategies for small fashion startups to use when navigating fabric suppliers - because while it’s hard to find one that will take your small order, it’s not impossible.
HOW TO PICK THE BEST SWIMSUIT FABRICS
What a lot of people don’t realize about souring fabrics, is that while it’s fun and creative, it's actually science. Textiles programs in colleges are actually considered engineering programs, not art and design.
At The Fashion Institute for Technology (F.I.T.), I spent an entire semester in their laboratory where I learned all about testing fabrics. Inside the lab, I got to use, first hand, all the scientific machines and learn how to do tests that unequivocally can tell you if a fabric is actually good quality or not. Pretty cool, huh?
Brands that care about their performance and creating a good product do this type of testing. And, if you are curious about learning more, there is a ginormous book by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (The AATCC) called The Manual of International Test Methods and Procedures that lists every kind of fabric test there is.
The only problem is, these tests can cost any where from $300 to thousands of dollars, so many brands skip them.
But…
Even though it can be expensive, I still recommend trying just a few tests, especially in the swimwear category. This is because swim fabric degrades quickly. There’s chlorine, salt, sand (read abrasion), sun, and more all breaking down the materials.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND HIGH-PERFORMING SWIM TEXTILES
To create a good swim product, you need a good fabric - period. So, to make sure you are getting the best fabric, here are the tests I recommend to my clients.
The test I am about to share are not only the most important but also the most widely used across the industry, so chances are your supplier already has the data - you just need to ask for it.
ONE: STRETCH AND RECOVERY
A common email I get from brands is “I want a super stretchy, buttery (marketing loves that term) fabric.
And while the stretch is important because it creates comfort, it’s only ½ the picture.
What you also need is recovery. Recovery is how a fabric snaps back after it is stretched. Because without recovery the swimsuit is going to stretch out (especially when wet) and then not be functional.
TWO: CHLORINE AND SALTWATER RESISTANCE
The second types of testing you are going to want is chlorine water resistance and saltwater resistance testing.
Because, it’s kind of obvious that with swimwear, your customer is going to be in chlorine pools or saltwater oceans.
Basically how this testing works is that fabric is exposed to chlorine or saltwater multiple times and the lab tracks what happens to the fabric.
There are actually two types of chlorine and saltwater tests a lab can run - one is for quality, and the other is for color.
With a quality test, the lab is checking to see if the fabric becomes weaker with each exposure, and with a color test, the lab is tracking how much the colors fades.
FYI. Chlorine is known to weaken spandex. This is because it eats away at that spandex creating microtears. And, the spandex in a swimsuit is very important because that is the secret to great stretch and recovery (see above). So while there is nothing you can do about chlorine and salt breaking your fabrics down, you can choose textiles that hold up to these elements better than other options out there.
THREE: SUN RESISTANCE
Sun resistance tests are similar to the test I just explained, in that they are looking for what happens to the quality and color of the fabric, but this time instead of looking at the effects of salt and chlorine, we are looking at UV lights.
While chlorine and salt can be done using 1 testing machine, sun resistance requires a set of different laboratory tools.
Pro Tip: Chlorine and saltwater are going to ruin the quality of a fabric long before the sun does. So, if you want to save money, do the sun resistance color test but skip the quality test.
FOUR: ABRASION
The fourth test you're going to want to consider is an abrasion test - which is going to tell you how well the fabric will hold up to rough pool walls and sand.
An abrasion test takes a piece of the fabric and rubs it against a kind of gravel-like, cement-like surface. The test is done once for 30 seconds, once for a minute, once for half an hour, etc, and with this, you can see how much the fabric degrades and even pills over time.
THINK YOU FOUND A FABRIC SUPPLIER? MAKE SURE TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS
If you still are looking for a supplier, you can scroll down to the end of the article, I’ve got a bunch of tips and even share some of my favorite suppliers.
The hard truth is, sometimes suppliers will say what they know you want to hear to get your business. I wouldn’t call them scammers - they just kind of, stretch the truth.
So here are all the questions you need to ask so you don’t get taken advantage of.
DO THEY HAVE THE TEST REPORTS?
As I already mentioned, mills will already have the testing reports. For whatever reasons, they never just offer them up, but if you ask, they almost always share them with you.
Now, how much weight should you put on test reports when choosing a fabric? Kind of a lot.
Let’s put it this way - if you are choosing between a fabric that you 80% love with testing reports and a fabric you love 100% without testing, I would choose the one you love only 80%. This way you know you won’t have quality issues in the future.
DOES YOUR FABRIC SUPPLIER HAVE RUNNING QUALITIES OR STOCK?
Fabric MOQs are an issue when it comes to swimwear. Asking about running and stock qualities might help you work around this.
Running qualities are fabrics that the mill is making right now for other customers. If it just so happens that the fabric you want has an order from another customer, the mill might let you tack onto their order and order a quantity that is lower than the MOQ.
Stock qualities are fabrics that the mill might have extra inventory of. They are their best sellers, that people are always buying, and the machines are constantly knitting. So the factory tends to keep inventory of them on hand. Sometimes when you buy one of these fabrics that is currently being made and in the warehouse you can get around the MOQ requirements.
WHAT ABOUT CUSTOM DYE AND PRINTING?
Some swimwear fabric suppliers will help you dye and print your fabric, while some will tell you that you need to find another supply chain partner for that step.
If they are able to help you with the dye and printing, make sure to ask the MOQ. Sometimes the MOQ for greige fabric (undyed or unprinted) can be higher or lower than for custom printing or dying.
DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE
Lastly, it is your job to make sure that your factory is honest and is going to be a good partner.
The best way to do this is to ask them for a few clients they currently work with, and chat with them about their experience.
If a supplier tells you, they can’t because they signed an NDA (I break all that down here) - know that this is a load of BS, and they are probably hiding the fact that they don’t get much repeat business.
THE PROS AND CONS OF ECO SWIM FABRICS
A swimwear fabric guide wouldn’t be complete without a discussion on the pros and cons of eco (read, recycled polyester) swim fabrics.
So let’s break down all the pros and cons.
PRICE
Here is the hard truth. Making recycled poly fabrics does not cost much more than virgin options. But, and this is a big but, many suppliers know that brands need these fabrics for their marketing, so they mark them up… A lot. I’ve seen fabrics that I buy for my clients that cost about $5 a yard being sold for $15.
The reality is, when you have a small MOQ sometimes you need to cave and pay for these inflated prices, and then when you get bigger orders you can switch suppliers and get better pricing.
Typically I see that most suppliers give better pricing around 1000 piece orders, but my supplies will give competitive pricing around 50 pieces (it’s all about who you know).
QUALITY
When recycled fabrics first hit the market (nearly 50 years ago), they were kind of gross and felt like styrofoam. But today, most recycled fabrics are just as good as virgin options. So for quality, it’s a tie.
MARKET SATURATION
Everyone and their mom is using recycled swimsuit fabrics made from fishing nets or ocean plastic these days. Even the big fast fashion brands like Walmart, and Target.
So, it’s just not that special anymore - it’s kind of the norm (which is actually pretty great).
The thing is, the big guys are getting much better pricing. So, how is a small brand supposed to compete?
SO ARE ECO FABRICS WORTH IT?
This is where your niche becomes important. Because as I just mentioned you will never be able to compete with price - but there are other places you can compete.
It’s not enough for small brands to be eco - you need a solid brand foundation that just so happens to also be eco - and this is how you compete successfully (just like my clients Earthy Surf and Vanhope Swim) in a market where you will always have lower margins.
SWIMWEAR FABRIC SUPPLIERS
THE BEST PLACES TO FIND SWIMWEAR FABRIC SUPPLIERS
Don’t meet people in Facebook groups.
Stop Googling.
And, never respond to people who slide into your DMs.
Instead go to tradeshows - where you will meet qualified reliable suppliers, who are actually interested in new business.
One of my favs is Miami Swim Show.
HERE ARE A FEW SUPPLIERS THAT ARE GREAT TO GET YOU STARTED
The following swimwear fabric suppliers are my favorite! They also all have low MOQs.
-
SOLID STONE FABRICS - My top favorite supplier is Solid Stone Fabrics. They are my go-to for Carvico brand recycled fabrics that are sold by the yard. This supplier is not the cheapest, but you aren’t getting completely ripped off for low MOQS, so I think they are a safe bet. They offer custom printing too which is a huge plus.
-
PINE CREST FABRICS - Pine Crest Fabrics also offer low MOQs and are small and brand-friendly. They even have an auction and discount fabric section where you can get great deals. This especially works if you are paying attention to the sales and planning ahead.
-
FABRIC WHOLESALE DIRECT - There’s also Fabric Wholesale Direct. They offer by-the-yard fabrics at decent prices plus they sell stock prints. So, you can still include some printed fabrics in your collection without having to commit to the higher MOQs custom prints require.
-
RECYCLED SWIMWEAR FABRIC - Recycled Swimwear Fabric (yes, that is the name) offers low-MOQ-friendly, recycled swimwear fabrics. The only downside is that you would need to apply for an account. But, once you are in they are a great option.
-
IT’S A SECRET - I am not going to give out my best suppliers for free. You’d have to work with me to find those out. I have been in this industry for 15 years, and while grinding away, I have maintained some great contacts. If you want those - consider working with me.
GOT QUESTIONS? OR, SOMETHING YOU WANT TO SHARE?
Drop your thoughts in the comments, and let’s chat!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Leave a comment