Where Fashion Questions & Answers

When asking the question of “where,” we are typically looking for a place. In fashion that place question takes a few recurring forms: where to buy clothing, where clothing is made, and where to look for stores in a particular city or region. This page collects the where questions of the Apparel Search questions library and answers each one in short — where to find a clothing factory, where to shop for clothing in New York, where the best fashion shopping destinations in the world are, and how to search for retail clothing stores by location, including shopping for clothes and footwear by region.

Where Can I Find a Clothing Factory?

If you are starting a clothing line or placing a production order, the factory question comes first. Clothing factories that work for other brands — cut, make, and trim shops and full-package manufacturers — are found through the CMT and manufacturer listings, where they are organized by what they make and where they operate. Before contacting any factory, settle the basics that every factory will ask about: what garment you want made, how many units, in what fabric, and whether you are supplying patterns and materials or need the factory to source them. Minimum order quantities vary widely, so a small test run and a large production run may point to different factories. Working from a directory listing keeps the search structured instead of random.

Where to Shop for Clothing in New York

New York answers the where-to-shop question by neighborhood. The linked New York fashion shopping destinations guide maps the city's main clothing shopping areas, from the flagship stores of Fifth and Madison Avenues to the boutiques of SoHo and the fabric and trim suppliers of the Garment District. Choosing a district first — by the kind of clothing and price range you want — saves hours compared with wandering the whole city. The wider guide to the best fashion shopping destinations in the world puts New York in context alongside the other great shopping cities, for travelers planning a trip around retail.

Searching Clothing Stores by Location and Region

For everyday shopping closer to home, location directories do the work: retail clothing stores can be searched by store location, and clothes and footwear can be shopped by region, so the results are stores you can actually reach. Start with the region, narrow to the city or shopping area, and then compare the stores listed there. That same location-first approach works for outlet hunting, for finding a category of store while traveling, and for checking whether a retailer has a presence near you before ordering. If your question begins with a different word, the word index above leads to the who, what, how, is, and are collections as well.