Trying to get a clothing side hustle running this weekend? If you want to start your own direct-to-consumer (DTC) online clothing shop without digging through Alibaba for clothing product vendors, we’ve done the work for you.
Breaking into established markets can be difficult. What makes it a whole lot easier is having reliable suppliers, and a solid product offering. The clothing niche is no different.
And the best part is that NOW is the best time to get an e-commerce store going. Consumers world-wide were responsible for almost $5 Billion in retail sales in 2021, according to recent figures from statista.com!
What are you waiting for?
Start your online clothing shop today. Update your current merchandise range now.
I’m dropping 5 of the best Alibaba clothing product vendor plugs to start your online clothing shopping line from the 200+ pieces of merchandise I’ve done in the last few years below.
Hit them up. Order some samples. Drop some designs, mark ’em up 2-5x, and make some
SolidBasics.co connects creatives to wholesale blank garment suppliers. Repurpose products or rebrand as your own on a wholesale level:
See the original Solid Basics Twitter thread here.
Bella+Canvas began in 1992 as a simple print-screening business. Later emerging as a powerhouse team who manufactures unique cloth and designs, Bella+Canvas were also known as the company who manufactured the most masks during pandemic times in 2020-2021.
The most common choice for most corporate merchandise, Bella+Canvas offers an absolute ton of options to choose from, including:

See the original Bella+Canvas Twitter thread here.
My absolute favorites, Rue Porter is a luxury clothing product vendor that manufactures in Portugal.

See the original Rue Porter Twitter thread here.
Jungmaven clothes are hemp, and of very high quality. They have lots of unique styles, but be warned: their lines are quite expensive.

See the original Jungmaven Twitter thread here.
Ascolour is a clothing product vendor with a wide range of affordable modern styles, plus an online wholesale portal and easy terms applications.

See the original Ascolour Twitter thread here.
For more brand building, inspiration, and supply chain content, shoot me a follow: @orenmeetsworld and if you have blank clothing product vendors you love, drop ’em in the replies!
– Oren
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A product development strategy is a business process that includes ongoing market and consumer research to:
There’s strength in combining ideas and process into something repeatable in your business.
To examine this, we’re going to look closely at an electronics design and innovation legend: Dyson. And while the Dyson product development strategy might not be perfect for your business, it’s certainly worth looking at as a framework to develop your own.
Dyson uses a six-step design philosophy to create objects that change how we perceive and experience common household items. Here’s a breakdown of their products and product design philosophy that helped them hit $8.2B in sales last year!
Each Dyson product goes through the following rigorous steps before hitting consumer shelves:
*This isn’t always a seamless process. It took James Dyson 5,127 tries to get the first vacuum right!
So… how does Dyson do it?
Dyson says that every product starts with a problem to solve and that when designing a product their engineers consider the following 8 elements:
Dyson projects run on a tight schedule and there is time built in for the product to be tested and improved again and again. They know they won’t get it right on the first try and build in time for the product to fail and improve as they go.
Dyson Engineers work in teams, brainstorming solutions. There are no bad ideas, and everything is written down.
Then they work on sketching out the design together. Sketching helps them figure out how each of the parts will fit together.
Dyson engineers make 3D prototypes right away during their design process. They often start with crude cardboard prototypes and then move towards Computer Aided Design (CAD) and later to 3D printing.
Dyson engineers often test their prototypes into destruction. They want to not only test their design specs but to make sure the product will survive use at home.
After products are tested, they will be rebuilt and tested again repeatedly until the engineers are satisfied.
Once Dyson engineers are confident in the design of the machine, it goes into manufacturing. Once again, it will be put through a rigorous testing phase.
It’s inevitable that the product will fail at some point, but the engineers will analyze this data for improvement.
Powerful enough to vacuum up pony beads, this iteration of the classic Dyson cordless vacuum has a motor that runs at 125,000 rpm and an LCD screen that allows you to toggle between Eco, Auto and Boost modes.
Bonus: Up to an hour of Eco vacuum time.
The most cutting-edge tech in the hairstyling market. Even after 3 years on the market, the air-fuelled curling and straightening tool is still consistently sold out.
With detachable heads, barrels, and brushes, get a salon-style blowout at home.
The Dyson Supersonic was the first product in their haircare line. It’s $400 but it’s quieter than any other hairdryer and it’s less damaging to hair.
Bonus: the vent is at the bottom of the hairdryer which means that your hair won’t get caught in it while drying and styling.

Expensive but so easy to clean! The first humidifier to be certified by the National Psoriasis Institute.
Dyson’s Pure Humidify+Cool is a 3-in-1 purifier, humidifier and cooling system. With a long list of skin, hair, and lung benefits.
Thanks for reading. See the original Dyson Twitter thread here.
– Oren
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Best Domestic and International Clothing Product Vendors
I write a weekly email newsletter of bringing products to life. Follow me on Twitter at
and subscribe via the link below!
We started with some simple fabric samples and ended up with fire joggers… Let’s break down the process of sourcing and ordering an Alibaba merchandise item.
To do this, we’re going to use the 5 Steps in the Buying Process as a guide.
For Korova merchandise, it’s not about making a profit. It’s about offering cool stuff our fans will like for affordable prices.

We searched on Alibaba for
and picked 6 vendors with nice stuff.
We contacted the 6 chosen vendors directly, asking to purchase samples. Of the 6, only 3 had solid English skills and we had good communications. The others were either asking a lot of irrelevant questions or unresponsive to our messages.
We spent $200 on ordering 2-3 samples from each of the 3 selected vendors.

These were fabric swatches. Criteria were primarily shipping costs and ease, with no sample cost more than $15.
Examples of pricing below…

We picked the vendor whose stuff we liked the best and ordered 1 of everything they make that was relevant. That cost $250.
Once we identified which style we wanted, we sent a super-detailed mock-up for quoting.

After some back and forth, we realized they couldn’t do the tags we wanted, even though they were on the samples. We lost a week in communication, but no sweat; we updated the design.

Here’s the full order. The order cost was $1,530 with shipping for 100 units.
Including all our sampling costs we were sitting at $19.80/unit.

Once the order arrived it was photoshoot time.

Flatlays, gels, plus graphic design in post.

We priced at $38. That’s 2x sourcing costs, and we break even after costing the time for photo/design.

This isn’t hard. And it’s not limited to clothes. Everything is on Alibaba. You can go cheap, premium, sustainable, electronics, furniture, you name it.

Search, sample, communicate. The global economy is SO easy to access.
Thanks for reading. See the original Ordering and Sourcing Twitter thread here.
– Oren
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How to Create A Robust Product Development Strategy
I write a weekly email newsletter of bringing products to life, and I’m focused on building businesses and sharing tons of resources along the way— smash that follow on Twitter at
and subscribe via the link below!
We’re going to see streetwear radically change as designers lead with sustainability.
Reclaimed garments, collections made of deadstock, it’s all coming. The results are going to be… very sick.
Peep Defective Garments’ hybrid creations below.
Fashionable clothing needs to become sustainable.
Quick facts:
In our current Instagram, Tik Tok, and consumption-driven culture, what’s in vogue is to have a lot of different outfits, to be constantly showing new styles, and we chase the newest drops and styles.
This tide will turn. We may still want hype, but the emphasis can’t be on new.
The easy answer to fashion becoming more sustainable is more unique items, and brands that create from what exists versus from scratch. It’s harder and often costlier, but also more unique and likely more valued by the consumer.
Curation, combination and personalization.
Defective Garments is an awesome example of how a brand can create a playbook for this new era. They offer
These items are awesome and sought-after.
Launching a fashion brand based on curation, combination and personalization of vintage/deadstock is a new model for Indie designers who put sustainability first.
It’s also an interesting step for popular sellers on @GraiIed or @depop to take to build their businesses and engage with their community online.
Sustainable fashion means modifying existing pieces as well.
Last year Arcteryx did some creativity sessions with local LA artists. Users could bring vintage pieces and use provided gear and techniques to customize their sustainability ideas.

Facilitation like this helps drive value beyond the initial purchase.
What does it take to trigger a shift in the zeitgeist to be more sustainable?
Popular or couture brands need to see the bigger picture, and bet on their customer’s moral compass. If it becomes the trend, we’ll see a change in brand direction.
Thanks for reading. See the original Sustainability Needs To Come To Fashion Twitter thread here.
– Oren
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Tips for Sourcing and Ordering from Alibaba
I write a weekly email newsletter of bringing products to life, and I’m focused on building businesses and sharing tons of resources along the way— smash that follow on Twitter at
and subscribe via the link below!
My life in branding revolves around constant references on design sourcebooks for inspiration and assets.
Here’s are the ones that really make a difference to me.
The Los Logos/Dos Logos compilations are an inspiring collection of current developments in logo design – a must-have for designers, brand managers, and marketers.

A pattern guide set with source library cd – having the patterns to quickly trace and look at visually or over a physical item is great, and browsing the book over the files when looking at repeating patterns is 10x improved.
If you order off of Alibaba or direct from overseas factories, this is the best reference book! Features detailed information on textiles so you actually know what you’re asking for. Great for understanding what the ups/downs of each individual fabric or polymer is for what you’re creating. Super thorough!
This design sourcebook has so many innovative layouts and nostalgic idea inspirations for web experiences and brand identities.
This one might seem strange, but if you’re working on modern brand identities you’re inevitably going to consider “natural” colors in your directions. What better source of natural colors and combinations than nature itself?
This design sourcebook comes complete with companion image library of useful vector objects of surprisingly diverse type and quality. A level above stock sites!
ARTWORK contains tons of sketches and process inspirations from throughout Abloh’s career, with a markedly unique approach that often inspires teams I work with to think differently than the traditional processes out there.
I work primarily in complex industries where digital advertising is restricted. Inspiration from previous generations of designers focused on regulated industry is crucial.
Have you got any other design sourcebooks you rely on to get your job done? Definitely drop your ideas in the comments!
Thanks for reading. See the original Design Sourcebooks Twitter thread here.
– Oren
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Sustainability Needs To Come To Fashion
I write a weekly email newsletter of bringing products to life, and I’m focused on building businesses and sharing tons of resources along the way— smash that follow on Twitter at
and subscribe via the link below!
In this episode I break down the social media advertising on Facebook and Instagram for Ten Thousand Inc and Soft Services.
The brand Ten Thousand Inc is running more than 217 creative and copy variations. That’s months and months of A/B testing.
These are perfect templates for your own ecommerce ads.

First, testimonial with five bullet points:
“Running, lifting, HIIT — I wear them for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.” – Geoffry T.
✔️ Permanent anti-odor treatment.
✔️ Cling-free & ultra-wicking shell.
✔️ Stretch for max range of motion.
✔️ Perfect pockets.
✔️ Anti-chafe liner.
They’re testing this with a similar version, longer quote, less bullets:
“By far the most comfortable, no nonsense pair of shorts I own for workouts, bike rides, and general outside activities, from the water to the hiking trails.” – Auden S.
✔️ Bombproof Durability.
✔️ Abrasion-Resistant Fabric.
✔️ Pockets Perfected.
Other ads are focusing on value for the customer, positioning against more mainstream brands, and making the offer to essentially try for free. There are tons of variations on these:
✔️ No BS tech gimmicks.
✔️ No promises that our gear can make you a better athlete.
✔️ No stretchy office clothing.
✔️ AND NO SHIPPING OR RETURN FEES!
“Our promise to you is simple: The best workout gear you’ll find, made for men who prioritize function over everything.”
Next ad is retargeting, offering a free product to convert:
✔️ Free Socks! Spend $50 and get a free pair of our ultra-versatile, anti-odor training socks.
✔️ Use code: SOCK50 at checkout.
✔️ *Must add sock to cart to apply discount.
✔️ Limited time offer.
Quiz prompt + validators:
“You’re 30-seconds away from discovering your perfect pair of training shorts! Take the quiz to get matched with a pair of shorts to take your workout game to the next level.”
✔️Lifetime guarantee.
✔️10,000+ 5 star reviews.
✔️Free shipping & free returns.
Information focused sales ad:
“Our exclusive End of Season Surplus Sale is here now through Monday. Save up to 40% on some of our top styles, and take an additional 10% off when you purchase two or more sale items with code ENDOFSEASON10.”
I break it all down, with visuals, on my YouTube series Value Machine:
Thanks for reading. See the original Ten Thousand Twitter thread here.
– Oren
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If you’re interested in modern brand building, I’m breaking down new strategies consistently. I always appreciate your follows @orenmeetsworld
and be sure to subscribe via the link below!
Nearly 70% of all consumers think it’s important that a brand is sustainable. They’re looking to invest in brands with eco-friendly or sustainable product packaging.
Building a completely sustainable company is daunting and may not be an option for many, but the journey starts with a single step. The easiest step to beginning to reduce your organization’s impact on the environment is by reducing your unsustainable product packaging practices.
Looking around, you’re sure to find some easy choices in sustainable product packaging suppliers advertised online. There are definitely pros to going eco-friendly, such as low minimum order quantities and low barriers to entry. The con? It comes at a slight cost increase.
Here are 7 eco-friendly packaging vendors to help your organization align with your customers’ values:

Custom, on-brand packaging for brands and retailers. Features a range of compostable packaging made from renewable plant-based materials and/or bio-polymers that breaks down within 90-180 days. Recycled packaging is made from previously used plastic products which have been processed and put back into circulation. Reusable packaging that can be used multiple times for a variety of functions features heavily in the NoIssue catalog.
Location: 8 facilities around the world
Website: https://noissue.co/

Industry-leading suppliers of eco-friendly packaging. Focused on the sustainable courier, products include mailers, satchels, envelopes, labels, stickers, tape, and garment bags. Custom packaging queries are welcome, too.
Location: 5 facilities around the world
Website: https://www.betterpackaging.com

A boutique source of à la carte packaging solutions featuring eco-friendly glass bottles. Includes sustainable product packaging for food and beverages, as well as beauty industry products.
Truly bespoke services, from the initial design right down to the last detail.
Location: Spain
Website: https://www.estal.com/

PCR materials are all made from recycled materials, but aren’t recyclable again. A great option for PCR Jars, tubes, tins, and bottles, SKS offers sustainable product packaging for the beauty industry, food insudtry, and cosmetics in general.
Location: New York, USA
Website: https://sks-bottle.com/

A source for simple eco-friendly bags and pouches, labels and stickers, liners, closures, e-commerce and shipping packaging, and more. Custom products on request.
Location: Chicago, USA
Website: https://elevatepackaging.com

An easy choice for some of the most sustainable product packaging in recycled, recyclable, and naturally biodegradable options, but discourage using compostable packaging. Choose from poly mailers to paper mailers, shipping boxes and accessories like tape and void fill.
Location: Louisville, USA
Website: https://ecoenclose.com

A little more niche for food service bags, films, and straws. Biolo’s packaging replaces single-use plastic and paper with high-performance, eco-friendly flexible packaging and food service products. Using biodegradable polymers, products remain sturdy and packaging withstands the demands of fulfilment, then degrades once introduced to a microbial environment.
Location: Kansas City, USA
Website: Biolo.com
Your best bang-for-buck for custom options will always be going direct overseas. I’ve got an entirely FREE e-book on working on the Alibaba platform linked in my bio on Twitter to help get you started – including vetted factory links!
If you’re interested in modern brand building, want to know more on products and packaging, are looking for inspiration, or are interested in supply chain content, shoot me a follow @orenmeetsworld. Remember to subscribe for more like this.
– Oren
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Understanding Good-Better-Best Pricing for Products
It’s a golden age for selling your own products and services. Understanding good-better-best pricing will help you develop strategies around your prices, and position you to win… consistently!
Have you ever been to a Best Buy and noticed how they always seem to have three of something in every category? This is part of their retail mix strategy — picking products to sell that appeal to a wide range of consumers with an even wider set of expectations.

Understanding why retailers price this way and what consumers buy will help you further understand which category is crucial for your business.
Good, better, best is exactly what it sounds like:
Cables are a great example:

And… then there’s a product that looks like the Monster cable but doesn’t have the brand name, with a price point in the middle.
Consumers act accordingly:
There are benefits to each category. If you’re in the “good” category and have the lowest price in your offering, and you have good distribution to ensure your product is seen… you WILL make sales. Lots of them. Low price is always a strategy that works for sales.
The downsides of the low price?
Medium price is tough. It’s cut-throat:
It’s a grind at this level. The medium niche is where the soda wars happen:
“Best” products price at the highest level. Way more people choose this category than you’d think, especially in the social media era where “best” brands are statements.
The challenge is… the quality needs to match and stay at that quality, and the brand has to be excellent.
To succeed at the “best” category everything about the product and brand needs to be perfect… this is an extremely tall order. Customer service, packaging, product experience, in-store displays… everything must be the best.
– If you’re a retailer or selling other products, this is an excellent, tried-and-true method for building out your product mix. Also, having all three options is proven to sell more across the board!
– If you’re starting your brand or have a product in the market, you need to pick a niche you feel you can survive in.
– Once your brand is considered on one end of the spectrum, it takes an act of god to move it across categories (although tiers and offshoots can work well).
Remember….
If you want to be the cheapest, be prepared to keep that up and keep lowering as completion comes in. It’s your only moat.
If you want to be in the middle, you better believe your marketing can dominate the competition, or help you carve out a direct niche or demographic different than others.
If you want to be the best… you need to have that experience around every aspect of your company… and you can NEVER let your standards fall.
Hope this post helped with understanding good-better-best pricing. If you’re interested in modern brand building, looking for inspiration, or are interested in supply chain content, shoot me a follow @orenmeetsworld
– Oren
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I’ve worked extensively with products that are more expensive than their competition. Sometimes they’ve had feature advantages, many times they haven’t. So, how do you differentiate a luxury brand from a premium brand?
I’ve compiled a content toolkit on strong luxury brands. These are some of the top need-to-know extracts from that toolkit:
Pay great creatives, use top-tier equipment, and ensure things are lit perfectly. The proper lighting matters for the little things — especially in e-commerce photos.
A great example are these shots from a launch. We saw this lighting in a previous shoot, so we brought it to the whole product style guide.
Establish which benefits you want from association with other premium brands:
@type7 is an Instagram daily lifestyle magazine from Porsche. It is also an amazing example of using content to build a lifestyle component for a luxury brand. The magazine showcases Porsche and the luxury lifestyle you can expect to lead when you own a Porsche, side-by-side. These are real stories, in and around the space they want to associate with owning the Porsche lifestyle.

Plenty of customers aren’t looking for the cheapest option, but are instead looking for the best. Showcasing the process of creating your best might not be your top performing content, but it’s a giant validator.
Is this the most boring ad ever made? Not if you appreciate obsessive craftsmanship. Leica Camera spends 45 minutes polishing the new Leica.
It’s always worth giving the interested buyer an extra dive into the brand’s lore. Cover history, materials, sustainability, and values.
Take Arc’teryx, for example: WhoWeAre is EXTENSIVE and immaculately designed.
Showing off concept products showcases the team is thinking of the future, and has the resources to dedicate to R&D. You see this in vehicles constantly, but not much elsewhere.
One of my favourite examples is the one-seat Lamborghini concept car.
Pushing limits and going for records associates your brand with the pursuit of greatness. Doing what hasn’t been done before costs $$ but generates true interest.
Have the best how-to videos. An extremely elegant manual. Bags, shippers, stickers, every single thing needs that extra labour of love that gives customers delight.
Example: The Shoe Surgeon magnet clasp and metallic shoe box

For almost any product: showcase it in a premium way. Show off your processes, push the limits of your content, take the little things seriously, and you can command extra $$.
Don’t be afraid to give yourself the room in your margin to be great, to differentiate a luxury brand within your range of product offerings.
Oftentimes, even with more dollars, the cost to do things like the above makes a company no more profitable than its lower-priced competitors. Is this worth it? Yes, because luxury commands staying power. It’s memorable. It’s a long-term business, not a short-term hustle.
If you enjoyed this, I tweet multiple threads a week on brand identity / the zeitgeist / cannabis. Smash that follow @orenmeetsworld
– Oren
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So you’ve bought (or built) a website and you’re looking to build your website traffic. The most impactful initial steps to make sure it can grow are discussed below…
@Landforce, @JamesonCamp, and @OrenMeetsWorld go in-depth and share some major alpha on strategies to grow websites on the Builders Build podcast series here, and break it down even more for you in the key points below:
1. Make sure you have email capture:
a. On every page of the site.
b. In an exit popup.
c. Linked to a service that lets you do onboarding automation to nurture new leads.
2. Set up your SEO:
a. Each page should have a term you’re looking to rank for.
b. Titles and meta descriptions should be filled out.
c. Set up a service like Ahrefs or Semrush to monitor opportunities.
d. Look to establish more links back to your site.
3. Put your content on social:
a. YouTube is an overlooked resource. Republish content there as videos and embed them on the site and landers
b. Evaluate appropriate social assets to add. Don’t go where your customers are not.
c. Make sure your social links are on on your website and in your emails.
4. Add useful content – and then add some more:
a. If you have some SEO success or if you’re starting from scratch, there’s no such thing as too much content, as long as its USEFUL.
b. Focus on 2-3 blog entries a week, with video versions for YouTube.
c. Put your content to work in email automation!
Find all the podcast deep dives on Anchor, Spotify, and Apple.
Thanks for reading. See the original Top Tips To Build Your Website Traffic Twitter thread here.
– Oren
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Fitness Ad Examples From Ten Thousand Inc
If you’re interested in modern brand building, I’m breaking down new strategies consistently. I always appreciate your follows @orenmeetsworld
and be sure to subscribe via the link below!