Product is the core competency in a company, which means the supply chain is extremely important. As a buyer or a purchase manager, he or she will have their own criteria when choosing a supplier, while what conditions should a premium socks factory have? In this article we have listed a few standards for a high-quality hosiery manufacturer for reference, hope to provide you with some ideas.
The basic 10 standards to find a good sock factory is to check their sample quality first, and response rate, the communication between you and the factory to see if they can understand your need well. Then you should know some basic information like certifications, production machines amounts, price differences compared to others, after-sale service, customization ability, normal delivery time. Last, you can ask if they have cooperated with any big brands.
1. Quality
Sock quality is a basic requirement for a sock factory. We have previously published an article on how to identify the quality of socks, which mentioned the basic inspection standards and notes, and there are also corresponding international textile AQL inspection standards. We can select a few sock factories with similar prices to compare at the sample stage, and then follow the points in the previous inspection standards. Sometimes you can't choose a factory because of the low price, because there must be other reasons for the low price, and you still need to make multiple comparisons.
2. Response Rate
If you are looking for a supplier on Alibaba, then it will show the response time of each supplier. Generally speaking, the response time in 2 hours is more responsive factories. The timeliness of the supplier's reply can improve the efficiency of communication between the two sides and speed up the project process. If it is in the form of an email, better to get a response on the same day. In our factory, we normally reply back to customers within an hour during daytime working hours in China.
3. Understanding of demands
Each person's understanding is different, so you will get different responses from different suppliers even with the same request. Some sock factory sales can understand your requirements well and provide a professional response, while others may just ask for more details to offer a quote. This can also be compared with the responses from multiple suppliers.
4. Certifications
We’ve written the article for socks certifications before, click here to read. Again I would like to mention the certifications for compression socks, which are required in Europe (CE) and North America (FDA), both of which we have in our factory. There are also certifications for raw materials and factory inspection, which are a reflection of the supplier's ability.
5. Price
The purchase price determines the profitability of your sales, so a good price is also very important. But a good price does not mean a low price, when the price difference is huge we need to know the exact reason to cause this result. Taking compression socks as an example, our factory can produce a variety of compression socks in different price ranges because of material and specifications, and here’s the article about the different specifications of compression socks. Therefore, no matter how high or low the price is, you can take that price and ask different factories why their prices are high or low, to see if they can give you a reasonable reason or if they are deliberately giving you a high price or low one with different material specification.
6. Production machines
Production equipment determines the performance of products, to a certain extent, it can increase productivity and reduce production costs. Our factory renews equipment every 8 years, in addition to the normal hosiery machines, we also have medical machines to meet the demands of different customers. Moreover, we have a part of the automatic all-in-one machines, which shorten the production process and minimize the production time.
7. After-Sale Service
No factory can produce a 100% perfect product, so when there are after-sale problems, the factory's ability to solve problems and responsiveness is very important. You can ask the after-sales service when sending an inquiry, or observe the supplier's reaction when there is something wrong with the sample. The pass rate of finished products in our factory is about 98%, and there are corresponding inspection measures in every production process to reduce the defective rate. We also have solutions for different customer complaints.
8. Customization Ability
Customization is a basic requirement for a sock factory, but the drawing ability of each factory is different, which will lead to different effects of the same pattern. Therefore in the sample stage, we suggest finding several factories for comparison. Some factories will use a more appropriate ratio of raw materials and thickness in order to achieve the perfect product, while someones will use the cheaper version to reduce costs. In our factory, we always take into account the price acceptance of customers and the final effect of the product to determine the process and raw materials.
9. Delivery Time
Stable product delivery can reflect the management ability of a factory, and by making a clear plan of each process can ensure final delivery. You can compare the sample and bulk time by asking a few suppliers. If it is an ordinary style without other accessories (such as printing, embroidery, sewing, etc.) the sample time is usually around 4-7 days, and the delivery time for regular bulk order is around 20-30 days. If the time quoted by the factory is longer than this, then there is a high risk of delay in the delivery of a bulk. A stable delivery time is necessary to ensure sales.
10. Customer Reputation
If you are looking for a supplier on Alibaba, then you can find the seller's history of transactions and ratings, as shown in the picture. Here you can also see the seller's main product categories, main markets, and approximate order quantity to figure out the ability of this supplier.
The above are several important standards for selecting a high-quality sock factory. If you are looking for a factory through Alibaba, there will be more information, such as factory inspection reports, factory videos, response rates, and so on.
Any inquiry or any other problems with socks please feel free to contact us -- Jiaxing Max Hosiery, manufacturer of sports and compression socks.
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