Are you worried about not being able to find a suitable factory?
Have you ever been cheated by a factory?
Is the factory found actually a trading company?
As the factory of the world, China is one of the main areas where most traders are looking for suppliers.
Yet, when there are too many choices in front of you, it becomes a very difficult task to find a reliable factory.
As a business development in Max Hosiery (compression socks factory) for 10 years, I will help you find a suitable socks manufacturer from the following aspects.
Focus your search on China’s main sock hubs in Zhejiang and Jiangsu, where cities specialize in different qualities and types. Use B2B platforms like Alibaba or attend trade shows like the Canton Fair to connect with suppliers. Vet potential partners by checking their business license and industry certifications.
The common areas of socks manufacturers in China
Types of socks in different regions
The majority of manufacturers are located in the south of China. The reasons are 1. Natural conditions. The climate in the south is warm and humid. So it's suitable for crop growth, and the time of the year available for production is also significantly higher than in the north. 2. China's reform and opening-up policy in the 1980s introduced some economic stimulus policies, setting up special economic zones mainly in several southern regions. 3. Convenient transportation. Especially some incoming material processing, most coastal areas in the south have good natural seaports, which is of great help to promote coastal areas for foreign trade.
The main production provinces of socks in the south are Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The main production area of regular socks is in Zhejiang province, such as dress socks, sports socks, tights, work socks, compression socks…etc.
Among Zhejiang province, 5 cities are the main areas ( Zhuji, Haining, Yiwu, Taizhou, and Shangyu). The first two cities mainly produce regular socks, and Haining was the first city in China to start producing socks. There were more than 60 sock factories with more than 7,000 sock machines in 1924, thus gradually forming an industrial zone with raw materials, shaping, and packaging. Later in 1969, Zhuji also had its first sock factory and distinguished itself from the Haining area in terms of technology and raw materials. While Yiwu and Taizhou produce tights and pantyhose. TOP 3 tights factories in China also locate in Yiwu, such as BONAS, MENGNA, and LANGSHA. And toe socks are mainly produced in the last city Shangyu.
Sock factories in Jiangsu Province are mainly concentrated in Jiangyin City, which also has many knitted garment factories in addition to sock factories. The main types of socks are slipper socks, leg warmer, slouch socks.
Differences in quality in different regions
To show unique advantages and form a healthy competition, the quality of socks varies from region to region.
Haining in Zhejiang Province mainly exports to Europe and the United States, as well as the high-end markets in Japan and South Korea. It is known that these markets have relatively high-quality requirements, requiring raw material certifications, product testing, and factory inspection reports... etc. Besides, the Japanese market also requires needle detection, so Haining socks factories always have high-quality control requirements.
Zhuji city mainly focuses on the middle and low-end market, and 80% of customer groups are from supermarkets and promotional products with a cost-effective price, so if your sock style is relatively simple then Zhuji is a good choice to control costs.
For tights & pantyhose, the quality in Yiwu is relatively higher in Taizhou. Meanwhile, the markets in the two regions are not quite the same, so you can choose the right supplier according to your needs. Last but not least, it is not always right that the price in a high-quality area must be expensive, and the medium / low-quality area offers a cheap price.
Sock price is mainly affected by local raw materials, factory labor/ costs, customization... etc.
How to figure out whether it’s a factory
This problem is very easy to solve, you only need to look at the business license of the other company. But the premise requires you’d better have Chinese friends or someone who knows Chinese. Of course, you can also find Chinese translation through third-party platforms such as Fiverr.
There’s information showed on the business license whether it’s a manufacturer or not. The following photo is our company business license, and you should focus on the words in the red part. And if you need a free consultant, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
How to recognize the quality of different factories
Based on the following aspects, we can also get a general idea of the factory quality.
Certifications
There’re 2 kinds of certifications, one focuses on factory audit, factory responsibility, human rights. Another is the certification for the textile industry. Not all certifications are needed, and customers have different requirements for certification. Below some common ones for your reference.
Certifications for textile industry are as below:
Customers/ cooperated brands
Customer group can also help us get a basic idea about the quality of the factory. For example, if the Japanese market is the main market, the quality requirements may be higher; if the Southeast Asian market is the main market, the quality is relatively low end. You can also ask the supplier's cooperative brands, then make research of these brands. If the factory can provide the production video of these brands is better, which is more credible.
Scale of factory
Before proceeding to the sample or bulk order, you can ask for the basic information about the factory. Like the location of the factory, the number of workers, the number of machines, and so on. If the factory has a factory audit report, then the above information will be shown in the report.
Ways to find a factory
It is not a difficult thing to find a sock factory in the era of information explosion. But a problem to find the right supplier. The following are a few regular channels to find factories.
Trade shows
Exhibitions are the best way to have a face to face meeting with factories. Some exhibitions about socks in China are: Shanghai International Hosiery Purchasing Expo（middle of March)，Canton Fair (April-May, October-November), Yiwu International Commodities Fair (middle of Oct), China sport show ( May/ September ), ISPO Shanghai ( July )...etc. In addition, the exhibitors' information will be displayed online, so you can directly download the corresponding information directly on the official website. Thus, there is no need to go to the site to find suppliers.
B2B platform
This way is also one of the most common ways to find sock factories. The B2B platforms in China are Alibaba, Made In China, Global Sources, etc.
You can also find some sock factories with their own websites by searching Google.
SNS
Some companies that focus on social networking platforms will also create their company pages on Linkin, Facebook, Youtube, etc. You can enter the corresponding keywords such as hosiery, socks, and other words to see.
The above suggestions came from me, who is in the sock business for 10 years. I hope to give some advice to entrepreneurs, buyers, sourcing companies, or else who are already or start to do this business. Do not forget, we Jiaxing Max Hosiery -- mainly produce compression socks and sports socks, if you have any questions about socks,
or need some suggestions on finding a factory,
or any other problems you want to solve about sourcing in China, please feel free to contact us.
Here is the introduction to our company, and our SNS contact information.