Buying Fabrics Online: Pros & Cons and Where to Buy Them

Views and perspectives on fabric online buy can vary. Some buyers would love to spend time purchasing their textile (fabric and design) needs online, while others prefer to see, feel and check their fabric option before buying it. 

Several amateurs and professionals related to the textile industry, like home decorators, dressmakers, furniture makers, fashion designers, interior designers, tailors, etc., now go online to source their needs. Why you may ask? Simple! Their needs and demand for fabric are varied, and several of them choose to buy from foreign retailers or manufacturers. As they know what they need, they find it more comfortable making online purchases for fabric.

Comfort and convenience pop up as the major factors when making online purchases, especially for textile fabric products and designs. It's obvious to look out for samples of your preferred fabric options, get assurance of quality, and connect with top manufacturers. 

With the rapid digitization and technological advancement, online platforms have become an interlinking source for both manufacturers and buyers (brands and professionals). Brands, textile professionals, and manufacturers can leverage these online platforms to connect quickly and smoothly. 

However, there are two sides to a coin, and the same goes for buying fabric online too. It has its own pros and cons, and one always outweighs the other. Below are some of the well-researched and surveyed pros and cons of buying fabric online. 

Buying Fabrics Online: Pros

1. One-Stop-Shop 

The online platforms allow you to buy fabrics with the freedom to choose your favorite one from thousands of available options. The great variety of fabrics and designs from top manufacturers around the world enables a one-stop-shop for brands and professionals like you. 

2. Cheaper Option To Shop

Buying fabrics online is a much cheaper option than buying them from a real-time dealer. This is because fabric manufacturers and retailers set a low-profit margin on online platforms. They add no-overhead costs and help you save a lot of bucks. Also, ordering in bulk has its own benefits.

3. Variety In Fabric

If you need a variety of fabrics to source for your brand or work, you'll enjoy surfing through the online platforms. These platforms connect you to all types of fabric manufacturers in the industry with a range of choices. Whether it's silk, cotton, or nylon, the variety will give you the benefit of choice. 

4. No Stress of Endless Search

The endless search can become time-consuming, hectic, and frustrating when buying fabric from local stores or manufacturing units. It can be a futile exercise, wasting your brand or work hours. However, buying fabrics online ensures easy navigation to find the right manufacturer within seconds and a filtering feature for sorting the needs precisely.

5. 24/7 Available Options

Generally, you run out of options when you look for fabric and designs from local manufacturing units or stores. You may not be satisfied with the quality or the design that you want. In that case, you may end up going for the next best alternative to your preferred option. However, buying fabrics online saves you from such trouble. As a brand or fashion professional, you'll enjoy a range of options in designs, quality, and types of fabrics. Best online platforms assure quality checks for simplifying the task too. All of these will be available 24/7, ensuring that you don’t need to look for alternatives anymore. 

6. Deals And Bargain Discounts

When buying fabric online for your brand or textile work, you'll enjoy great deals and bargains. When connecting with trusted manufacturers from around the world, you'll take a step closer to bargain discounts, clearance sales, amazing deals, and even free shipping in some cases. All these deals, bargain discounts, and offers vary from one manufacturer to another. 

7. Order In Bulk

When ordering fabric online, you'll enjoy the benefit of bulk orders. You can order as many fabrics as you want after connecting with one of the manufacturers. The order size can happen by the yard, and half yard cut bundles, quarter bundles, and tons. Several online manufacturers and fabric stockists are ready to sell a minimum quantity of fabric, which is a single yard. In simple words, there is no minimum order requirement when you buy fabrics online. 

8. Great Place For Design And Templates

Every fashion designer, art and crafts enthusiast, and decorator will enjoy buying fabrics online. This is because they enjoy sourcing great designs, templates, and patterns over there. The uniqueness, variety, and beauty of the designs and templates are what make online different from local manufacturing stores or units. 

9. Get Samples 

The online platform helps you get the best, authentic, verified, and top-quality fabrics and designs. It enables you to get as many fabric samples as you want. They will be sent to you before making any purchase. This is one of the best ways to ensure the best quality purchase. 

Buying Fabrics Online: Cons

1. Impalpable

When buying fabrics online, you'll be unable to feel or touch the fabric through the device's screen. This will require ordering samples to verify the quality and authenticity. This sample checking may take a few days or more. 

2. No Real-Time Shopping Pleasure 

If you like to order for your brand or textile shop after visiting the manufacturing unit or local store, you'll miss going out. You have to pick from the range of virtual pictures and wait to check the quality until the sample arrives. 

3. Fraud Online Platforms

At times, even after taking precautions, you might fall prey to fraudulent online platforms. However, it's just a matter of picking the right platform to proceed with buying fabric online. 

By now, it must have been clear that the pros of buying fabrics online outweigh the cons. With the swift technological progress, maybe it's time for your brand or textile profession to hit the benefits of online purchase. 

Various Fabrics To Source For Clothing Line: Pros/Cons

Some of the most common types of fabrics that you or your brand can source from one of the best manufacturing units online, along with their pros and cons, are:

1. In Stock Fabric 

These fabrics are always available in stocks of the manufacturer and are ready for sale. The fabrics are complete in terms of their colors, finishes, and quality, and you can buy them like that or roll as it is. Many brands are now opting for these fabric options, and it has become a popular mode of sale over the years. 

Buying In Stock Fabric Online: Pros

• It's instantly available.
• It's always in stock, which indicates its re-availability within six months when you'll need to reorder. However, it's crucial to confirm the continuity while knowing their stock availability and guarantee of color matching. 
• The MOQs are usually much less.

Buying In Stock Fabric: Cons

• You may not always get the exact fabric quality or color you want
• You get stuck with limited customization (usually beyond decoration, design, and printing)
• Any other brand can use the same fabric, leaving with no uniqueness

2. Deadstock Fabric 

These are the leftover, disputed, or rejected fabrics from a manufacturing unit. It may fail in the quality control inspections, or some other brand may have overrun it. 

Buying Deadstock Fabric: Pros

• It's instantly available from the manufacturer
• It's a lot cheaper than usual types of fabrics

Buying Deadstock Fabric: Cons

• Limited supply quantity ( if the manufacturer sells well)
• The quality may not be the best 

There is a controversy still going around on whether deadstock fabric is sustainable or not. 

3. Greige Goods Fabric

It is a type of raw fabric that comes in undyed and unbleached form. These are widely popular and essential for brands and textile professionals as they come ready for custom finishes, designs, colors, or treatments. Typically, brands and professionals buy a large/bulk quantity from the manufacturers online and then get it fabricated as per their  preferred specifications. 

Buying Greige Goods Fabric: Pros

• They're completely customizable for finishes, colors, designs, or treatments by brands and textile professionals. 

Buying Greige Goods Fabric: Cons

• The minimum order quantity can be 500-1000 yards, or even more. 
• Overhead costs and deadline (You have to spend storage expenses to keep whatever fabric is not dyed/finished, and raw fabric degrades in quality over time)
• More number of moving parts
• The lead times can be as long as a couple of months.

Fashion And Design Startup Tip: Deadstock or in-stock fabrics are budget-friendly and low-risk. So, it’s a great way to start. If you go to buy greige goods, you have to make a huge investment. It may become risky, involve liabilities, and not worth it for your startup brand. 

About Fashinza - Your One-Stop Fabric & Design Destination 

Fashinza is a platform that lets you or your brand connect to the best fabric suppliers in the industry. Over the years, Fashinza has evolved to become the authoritative voice in the industry. Whether it's design or delivery, this platform handles all those tasks, so you won't have to stress on a thing. It's the one-stop destination for buyers (brands and professionals) to connect, leverage resources, make deals, and enjoy smooth business execution. Fashinza also ensures to communicate with the suppliers to perform thorough quality checks to guarantee top-notch quality on the manufacturing orders. 

With every passing year, Fashinza takes a step closer to its goal of solving the global supply chain difficulties by fusing sustainability with technology. The platform has recorded a network of over 400 manufacturers, which is growing every day. Leading brands (Nykaa, Forever 21, etc.) and professionals (fashion designers, decorators, etc.) from all over the world like Mexico, the USA, UK, Canada, India, UAE, and Singapore trust these platforms for their manufacturing orders and design needs. So, if you need any help with sourcing clothes, fabrics, and designs, you can reach out to Fashinza 24/7.