Sourcing clothing, shoes & bags from China

Apparel was the largest department of the old marketplace, and it splits into four families that behave very differently once you order in bulk: womenswear, menswear, footwear and bags. The sourcing platforms are the same for all four; the traps are not. This is the family-wide guide — women's fashion has its own deeper guide.

Nothing here is for sale. The Don Express storefront is offline (see marketplace status), but the factories behind those listings still sell directly — this is how to reach them without repeating the usual mistakes.

Where to buy

• 1688 — domestic Chinese wholesale, where factory pricing actually lives. Chinese-language; most foreign buyers work through a sourcing agent who also consolidates and inspects.
• Alibaba — the English-language route to largely the same suppliers, with Trade Assurance escrow.
• Guangzhou's garment districts — Shisanhang (fast fashion), Baima and Zhanxi for wholesale clothing; Guangzhou's Baiyun district is the leather-goods and bag cluster. Footwear volume is concentrated in Jinjiang and Putian (Fujian) and in Wenzhou. See the wholesale markets guide.

Sizing: the mistake that ruins whole orders

Chinese "standard" sizing is cut smaller than US/EU equivalents, and there is no reliable conversion table — only measurements.

• Get the factory's measurement chart in centimetres for every style, with the tolerance they work to (±1 cm on a chest measurement is normal; ±3 cm is not).
• Order a graded size set, not one sample in one size. Grading errors show up between sizes, which is exactly where a single sample hides them.
• Menswear: shirts are sold by collar and chest, trousers by waist and inseam in cm — decide whether you are relabelling to your market's system and who does it.
• Footwear is the worst offender. EU/US/UK conversions differ by last, so specify the insole length in mm per size, plus width. Chinese lasts tend to run narrow; a sample that fits you may not fit your market.

Fabric and construction: what to verify, not trust

• Fibre composition — a listing that says cotton often means a blend. If composition matters to your label claims, pay for a lab burn/FTIR test on the bulk fabric, not just the sample.
• Fabric weight (GSM) is the honest quality proxy for tees, hoodies and denim. Specify it; a 180 gsm tee and a 140 gsm tee are different products at a similar price.
• Colour-fastness to washing and rubbing, and shrinkage after wash — ask for test reports or run your own wash test on the sample.
• Stitching and trims — stitch density, bar-tacks at stress points, and whether the zips are branded (YKK) or generic. Trims are where quiet cost-downs happen between your sample and your bulk run.

Footwear specifics

• How the sole is attached decides the lifetime: cemented (glued) is cheapest and the usual failure point, vulcanized and injection-moulded are more durable, stitched construction is a different price class. Ask, and test a pair to destruction.
• Midsole material — EVA compresses, PU can hydrolyse and crumble after long storage in a humid warehouse. Don't buy three years of stock.
• "Genuine leather" is used loosely. Split leather, bonded leather, coated split and PU are all sold under that phrase; get the material named precisely, in writing.
• Run a sole-adhesion pull test on the bulk run — it is the single most common warranty complaint in imported footwear.

Bags and leather goods

• Most "leather" bags are PU or PVC on a textile backing — which is fine if it is described honestly in your own listing, and a legal problem if it isn't.
• Hardware plating thickness decides whether zips and clasps tarnish in six months; lining fabric and edge-painting decide whether the bag looks cheap after a week of use.
• Exotic skins are a customs trap. Python, crocodile and similar require CITES permits; without them the shipment is seized, not delayed.
• Chrome VI (hexavalent chromium) limits apply to leather in the EU under REACH — relevant for anything worn against skin.

Labels, compliance and who is liable

As the importer, you are the responsible party in your market — not the factory and not the platform.

• Fibre-content and care labelling is mandatory in most markets and in the local language(s): the US Textile Fiber Products Identification Act, EU Regulation 1007/2011, and equivalents. Factories will sew whatever label you supply, so supply the right one.
• Children's clothing carries extra rules — flammability, drawcord design, small parts and (in the US) CPSIA tracking labels and third-party testing. Budget the testing.
• Chemical restrictions: azo dyes, formaldehyde, nickel in fasteners, phthalates in prints, Prop 65 in California.
• Counterfeits. Branded logos, "inspired by" prints and designer silhouettes get seized and destroyed, and the importer of record wears the consequences.

Duty, freight and storage

• Apparel and footwear carry higher duty rates than most goods, and the HS code depends on fibre, knit vs woven, gender and — for shoes — upper and sole material. Get the code right before you price the product.
• Textiles are light and bulky, so ocean freight is usually billed on volumetric weight. Flat-pack and compress; hanging-garment shipping costs more and is only worth it for tailoring.
• Mould is the classic sea-freight loss on garments and leather: insist on dry cartons, polybags and desiccant, and don't let a container sit in a humid port.

Quick answers

• What MOQ should I expect? Stock designs can be dozens of pieces; custom private-label work usually starts in the low hundreds per style and colourway.
• Do I need an inspection? For anything past a test order, yes — a pre-shipment AQL inspection, plus needle/metal detection for garments, costs far less than a rejected batch.
• Where did the old listings go? See marketplace status.

Start with the shipping & sourcing guide for freight and incoterms, then the wholesale markets. Other category guides: women's fashion in depth, consumer electronics, solar, machines & equipment, vehicle spare parts, jewelry & watches, general retail goods.