What Makes Private Label Clothing Manufacturers Outrun Manufacturer-Brands?

Since its inception, fashion industry has been witnessing a kind of competition- in the form of -

• Combat between Clothing Brand Stores & Clothing Manufacturers
• Combat amongst manufacturer-brands of same products
• Combat amongst National/International Brand Stores & Retailers

And most recent one that has been gaining lots of prevalence in last 2 decades is - combat between Private Label Clothing Manufacturers & Manufacturer Brands.

What led to this competition?

“Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity”- Nancy Pearcey

Competitions are good, they provide better options, & fashion industry imbibes habit of constant competition in its genes. Big manufacturer brands, from Ralph Lauren to Benetton, in a way of competing with each other, have established themselves as fashion houses.

They have consumer power; have their own stores/franchised stores, which sell their own merchandise, and hence have great fan base. However, this rather created urgency for traditional retailers to use Private Label Brands as their cornerstone, so that they can compete with encompassing power of manufacturer brands.

Now, in market, private label manufacturers are competing with manufacturer brands fittingly, and according to stats, they are even doing better. From 2005 to 2015, sales of private label brands grew at double the rate of manufacturer brands. Earlier, private label clothing was considered as second-class alternatives, but today, they have rather bridged that gap in terms of quality, style, fashion & pricing, and even, they are outplaying sales of national/international brands.

How Private Label Apparel Manufacturers outdo Manufacturer Brands?

• Premium Quality @ Lower Prices: If I would be writing this article fifteen years ago, I could not guarantee about the quality of Private labels clothing. However, today, the gap of quality between brand name apparels & private label apparels is narrowed.

On average, Private Label Apparels are 30% lower in price compared to apparels of branded stores. Established private-label- clothing-manufacturers like, Stylus Apparel Group, Billoomi Fashion, or American Apparel, provide premium quality apparels in USA at best prices

• Custom Design & Money Saving Strategies: This is where Private Labels are quite beneficial as they can provide design & quality according to the customer demographics of retailers. Well-customized apparels are effective in creating a loyal customer base for retailers.

Private label apparel suppliers aid retailers during economic downturns by including money saving strategies in their manufacturing & designing processes, which fulfill retailers’ need of cost-effective sales & aid users in financially sound purchases. Private label kid's garment manufacturing is the best example

• Higher Profit Margins for Retailers:  Private label offers higher profit margins to retailers because with private labels, retailers can manage supplies even at lower costs. Even in the time of recessions, functioning of retailers can be profitably channelized because of the lower pricing of private label apparels

Along with private label & tags, retailers also get advantage of a fewer intermediaries in distribution process that ensures increase in ROIs.

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