How can we find a manufacturer in the U.S. for our swimwear line, and should we work with an experienced designer?

Shana, to answer your questions I will make a few assumptions. If these assumptions are wrong, the answer might need to change. I assume you want to manufacgure in the USA because that is your primary market. If not, consider manufacturing in the location of your primary market. If your manufacturing is close, it will be easier to quickly respond to variations in demand or design trends in the market. I can talk with you more about that if we need to. As far as choosing a manufacturer, I recommend 3 criteria. 1- Experience with manufacturing personal apparel made with the fabrics you will be using, 2) adeqaute capacity for the volume you expect to sell, 3) a proven quality management system, such as ISO 9000 certification. Then of course it comes down to price and lead time for selection. With respect to designers, I assume you have already done the fashion design and you are asking about industrial design. A well established manufacturer is almost certain to have designers on staff, I suggest you use them. This does mean that you need to build into your schedule, and possible budget, an allowance for them to do their work. Best of luch on your endeavor. Ray Sheen

Hi Shana,

You absolutely want to work with someone who is experienced in swimwear in all aspects of your business. This is a very specialized part of the industry, much like the lingerie business and you are going to want to make sure that your designer, manufacturer and patternmaker, etc all know how to deal with these fabrics and how to account for not only the stretch involved in them, but also the close fit to the body to be comfortable, still allow for movement, etc.

Just curious as to why you want to manufacture in the US. There are many reasons why one would want to manufacture here, but is this a branding decision? A location decision? Etc? I'm curious as to why you want to make your items in the US. There are many good places to manufacture in the US that can do swimwear and can even do low quantities (which many be good for a start-up brand such as yourself) but the reason has to make sense to the brand from a logistics point of view as well as an overall production/ resource strategy.

You can try to google them but you aren't likely to find anyone. My advice is to go to the local geographic areas where these people tend to be centered: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and find the manufacturers. I have a list I would love to email you to help you out and make things a bit easier. But make sure you get references, check the quality of their work, don't just go on price alone and take their word for it that they can "handle it" you have to do some serious research on any place you contract with to manufacture. Let me know if I can be of any more assistance.

Best of luck,

Kat