Textile Country of Origin; What’s Your Opinion?

Sourcing textiles around the worldRecently, while chatting with a friend and fellow textile-folk, I started to think about country of origin.  I, personally, tend to deal in fabrics that were born in countries like Korea and Japan while she works most often with cloth from the likes of India and China. As our discussion continued, we discovered that we each have our own opinions and ideas of what various countries have to offer. I started jotting a few things down and was intrigued by the prejudices associated with some. Now, don’t get your fabric in a wrinkle, I’m just throwing out a few points.

  • Japan– beautiful quality fabrics but unless you need to outfit a small country, reaching their minimums is nothing short of impossible
  • Korea– eventually gets the job done but only after 5 Strike-offs and  “almost-but-not-exactly” sample yardage
  • China– The Dollar Store of fabric manufacturers
  • Italy– an elite air and booked a year in advance; or at least it feels like that long before they answer an email or ship an order. I think it’s all the siesta time!
  • India– tend to yes you to death and then deliver something that looks like it’s being held together with tape and staples
  • Turkey– I have no idea! Neither myself nor my bias counterpart have ever worked with Turkish manufacturers.  Have you?

So, what do you think?  Does any of this ring true to you?  Are you among the opinionated when it comes to sourcing your textiles? Do tell.

Nicole Giordano

Nicole is the founder of StartUp FASHION, an online resource and community supporting for independent designers around the world with building their businesses. A deep love for the craft of fashion paired with an adamant belief that success is defined by the individual, led her to found StartUp FASHION, where she helps independent designers and makers screw the traditional fashion business rules, create their own paths, and build businesses they truly love. More than anything else, she’s in the business of encouragement and works every day to remind makers and designers that they have something special to offer the world and that they can, in fact, do this thing!

2 comments
  1. Nicole

    Yes, the folks in Italy do take long vacations, don’t they…but they sure do make beautiful fabrics!

  2. Jennifer Dennard

    You’re spot on with regards to Italy. It’s been my experience in dealing with textile companies based there that the entire country is closed during the summer. If only the States had a similar vacation policy!

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