National Register: Apparel Manufacturers Directory

What Each Listing Gives

The Apparel Manufacturers directory includes the following information, if it is available: names of officers; company address; telephone and fax numbers; email address; annual sales in millions; garment categories; number of employees; years established; price range; buying minimum; type of market — men's, women's, children's, accessories; and more information. Read as a set, those fields answer the four questions every approach depends on. What does the company make (garment categories)? At what level (price range)? At what scale (annual sales and number of employees)? And on what terms (buying minimum)? A listing that answers all four lets a representative or buyer qualify the account before spending a call on it.

Years established carries its own information. A manufacturer founded decades ago has survived the industry's cycles and usually has stable production arrangements; a newer company may be more flexible on minimums and quicker to take a chance on a young line. Neither is better in the abstract — the register's job is to put the fact in front of the reader, next to the sales and employee figures that show the company's present size, so the approach can be pitched correctly.

More Than Manufacturers

These directories carry detailed information about apparel manufacturers who are also in the following categories: apparel contractors, apparel exporters, apparel importers, apparel licensors, apparel private label, and apparel manufacturers who also have retail stores. Each overlap opens a different kind of business. A manufacturer that is also a contractor can sew for other labels; one that is also an importer can supplement its own production; a licensor can offer brand rights; a private label manufacturer can produce a retailer's own line; and a manufacturer with retail stores sells its production directly as well as wholesale. A researcher using only a name-and-address list would miss all of that; the register's category notes make the overlaps visible in the listing itself.

Hard Copy, Disk and PDF

The directory is available in three formats: hard copy directory, computer disk and PDF. The printed register is the desk reference, complete in itself. The disk and PDF versions serve offices that work lists electronically — sorting manufacturers by garment category, price range or market type, and printing extracts for a sales trip or a sourcing project. Choosing between them is a question of workflow: a single researcher usually works fastest from print, while a sales organization preparing territory lists benefits from the electronic formats. Learn more about The National Register and the fashion industry directories it provides through the links in this section.

Using the Register to Qualify Manufacturers

A practical method runs in three passes. First, select by garment category and market type, so the list holds only manufacturers making the right goods for the right customers. Second, qualify by price range and buying minimum, removing companies whose level or terms cannot fit the line. Third, check scale and standing — annual sales, employees and years established — to order the survivors by likelihood. What remains is a working list of manufacturers worth a researched approach, each with officers and contact details in hand. That is the purpose of a register with this depth of field: not more names, but names that arrive pre-qualified.

Checking Directory Data

Apparel Search does not maintain or own the directories described on this page, and is not directly associated with the publishers of these guides; the information is provided so viewers can research and purchase fashion industry guides and directories more easily. Questions about any aspect of a specific guide should go to the publisher directly. Reliance on directory data should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy and timeliness.

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