Vetting A Bedding Supplier

Every buyer eventually receives a bad shipment. Almost all of them trace back to something that was visible before the order was placed.

Five things to verify before you commit

• Who actually manufactures. Ask for the production licence and the address on it, then confirm the address you are shipping from matches. A trading company quoting factory prices is not automatically a problem — but you should know which one you are dealing with.
• Whether they have run your construction before. Ask for the last three orders of the same item: fabric, gsm, destination market. A supplier learning on your order is expensive.
• Their inspection process, in writing. Not a promise to check quality — the actual gates, who signs off, and what happens when a batch fails.
• A shrinkage figure and a colour-fastness grade. If they cannot produce both numbers, they have not tested the product.
• Who handles export documents. The company on the invoice should be able to issue the bill of lading, the certificate of origin, and whatever conformity documents your customs broker will ask for.

The two questions that reveal the most

Ask what their last failed shipment was, and why. A supplier who cannot answer has not been told — which is its own answer.

Ask for the name of a customer in your market. Not a logo wall. A reference you can actually contact.

Red flags worth walking away from

• Quotes that arrive without anyone asking about your destination or your specification.
• Sample lead times given in days with no mention of how the sample differs from production.
• A price more than 20% below the rest of the field on a commodity item. On textiles, something is usually being substituted.

Where we sit

We manufacture our own bedding lines in Nantong and export under our own documents. Where a range is produced through our Nantong manufacturing network rather than in our own workshop, we say so plainly. Ask us the five questions above — we would rather you arrived at the order with the answers.