Where Do Boutiques Get Their Clothes? Ten Sources Compared

Ten sources side by side

Of these ten, Shopify Collective and consignment are the only ways to put clothes on display before paying for them. Collective needs an online store running Shopify Payments. A store selling new clothes bought wholesale pays for nearly all of its first stock. A $50 first order on Faire is a small way to try a label you've never carried, and on 60-day terms you can sell some of it before the bill is due.

Hayden, FashionGo's vendors and Lonca all sell by the pack, which fixes the size mix for you. If your customers mostly wear small and medium, the L/XL half of a FashionGo pack of three S/M and three L/XL is what's left on the rail at markdown time.

A trade show deposit means paying a third to half of an order before the brand ships anything. A new account usually gets net 30 to 60 terms after two seasons of paying on time. FashionGo's Dynamic Net Terms costs nothing extra. The limit starts from your credit and your history on the site and rises as you pay on time. Anything over it goes on a card.

Paperwork you need before you buy

FashionGo and Dallas Market Center both require a state sales tax permit, called a seller's permit in California and a sales tax license or permit in other states. California issues it free, though it sometimes asks for a security deposit. A resale certificate carrying your permit number lets you buy stock for resale without paying the supplier sales tax.

LA Market Week registers a store that hasn't opened yet if you bring a letter on an attorney's or bank's letterhead naming you and the new store. Registration there is free. Faire reviews screenshots of an unlaunched site's cart, checkout or landing page, and if the site still isn't live it can cancel the order without charging you. Dallas charges new businesses $150 to apply and gives them 90 days to send the documents. A permit that's still being processed counts there if you send the revenue department's confirmation email showing your taxpayer ID. Stores in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, states with no statewide sales tax, show Dallas an EIN in place of a permit.

Faire won't fulfill orders for retailers selling on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, TikTok, Poshmark, WhatNot, Cratejoy, private Facebook groups or other marketplaces. A store whose sales run through TikTok Shop has to stock up somewhere else. Some brands sell only to stores with a physical shop. Brave Little Ones, a children's label, is one of them. Faire says some of its brands have the same rule.

For a store that sells only online, FashionGo, Lonca and Shopify Collective are the easiest places to start. None of them asks for a storefront. Faire is open to the same store as long as it doesn't sell on a marketplace.

What imported stock costs

The $800 duty-free allowance for small parcels was suspended for goods from China on May 2, 2025, and for every country on August 29, 2025. CBP's interim final rules of June 24, 2026 made the suspension indefinite. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act the exemption ends for good on July 1, 2027. Duty on cotton knit sweatshirts (HTS 6110.20.20) made in China is 36.5% of the goods' value: the 16.5% base rate, 7.5% under Section 301 and a 12.5% forced-labor tariff in force since July 24, 2026. The same sweatshirt from Türkiye pays 29%, the base rate and that 12.5% tariff.

Lonca sells women's clothing from hundreds of vetted Turkish vendors to boutiques and online sellers abroad. It has no minimum order and gathers everything you buy from different vendors into one parcel. A US buyer pays shipping and customs charges in the checkout total and owes nothing more at import. Returns work as exchanges, requested within seven days of delivery. For a first import, a checkout total that already includes duty tells you the landed price before you pay. Faire's European brands leave the duty to you as the importer. Faire paid it on eligible orders for its paid Insider members until June 30, 2025.

On a $400 order of cotton sweatshirts from a supplier in China that ships by FedEx and leaves customs to you, duty comes to $146. Goods under a Section 301 tariff worth more than $250 need a formal entry, whose merchandise processing fee starts at $34.58. Most formal entries need a customs bond. CBP puts the average minimum premium for a single-transaction bond at about $54. FedEx charges at least $17.50 for paying the duty on your behalf. Those three fees come to at least $106, more than a quarter of the order, before any broker's fee. On a $2,000 order they rise only to about $107, or 5%, and the 36.5% duty makes up most of the extra cost. CBP proposed dropping the $250 limit on October 8, 2026, and it holds until a final rule takes effect.

Markets and shows to plan around

At a mart you can buy immediates, which are in stock and ship now, or book a later season's line for future delivery. Atlanta's February market sells women's spring and summer with children's fall and winter. The October market has winter immediates next to the following year's spring and resort lines. In January and August, Dallas adds KidsWorld and WESA's western and English apparel market for children's and western-wear stores.

Floor 7 of Building 3 at AmericasMart stays open daily between markets for cash and carry apparel and accessories. Anyone with a photo ID can get a day pass at the Building 3 desk without trade credentials, then pay for goods and take them home the same day. A store still waiting on its permit can buy there.

More than 800 brands showed at MAGIC Las Vegas in 2026, in categories from young contemporary to kids and footwear. PROJECT runs alongside it for menswear. At OFFPRICE, in the same convention center, closeout dealers, liquidators and distributors sell excess inventory and in-season goods at prices the organizer puts 20% to 80% below wholesale. Verified retail buyers get in free. According to OFFPRICE, vendors are most likely to cut prices for last-minute orders on the third day.

Orders you write at a show ship later, on dates agreed with the brand. An order carries a ship date and often a cancel date, and the stretch between them is the ship window. If the goods haven't shipped by the cancel date, you can cancel. A cancel date set to the last week a style still suits your season keeps a late delivery from landing after full-price selling is over.

Margins by source

Many brands set MSRP at keystone, twice the wholesale price. A keystone piece sold at full price earns a 50% gross margin before markdowns, card fees and shipping. A brand with a minimum advertised price policy can stop you advertising its clothes below that price, online or in the store, even though the price you actually charge isn't covered. Brands enforce MAP with warnings first and, after repeated violations, by cutting off supply.

A closeout bought 50% under wholesale and sold at 30% off the keystone price still makes a 64% gross margin, against 50% for a regular piece at full price.

On consignment the consignor owns a piece until it sells and takes back what doesn't. Serendipity Boutique pays consignors 40% on regular items, and at Revolver the share runs from 20% to 60%, rising with the sale price. A $50 sale at a 40% payout leaves the store $30 for a piece it never paid for. You and the consignor put in writing how long a piece stays on the floor, who sets its price and discounts, and who pays if it's damaged or stolen.

Brands, reps and order platforms

Hayden Los Angeles sells to stores through its own wholesale site with no overall order minimum, though every style comes in pre-packed size runs and net terms are decided case by case. Claims are due within five business days of receiving the goods. A return may carry a restocking fee at the rate in the wholesale agreement, and Hayden puts the industry range at 15% to 25%. A reorder can have a lower minimum than the opening order. Texas True Threads, a graphic tee label, takes six pieces per design and four on a restock within 30 days.

Brands that sell through independent reps and showrooms usually pay them 10% to 15% commission on what they sell. A showroom may cover one region or the whole country. The commission is the brand's cost, not yours.

Many brands take wholesale orders through JOOR or NuORDER, two ordering sites that are free for retailers. A free JOOR account opens the digital line sheets of more than 14,000 brands and lets you message them. You can pay through JOOR Pay when the brand uses it. NuORDER's free account covers brands already on NuORDER and shows live stock, separating pre-book from available-to-sell.

When to start your own label

The factory costed in our clothing line business plan takes 50 pieces a style, more than eight six-piece prepacks, and wants its deposit before production starts. A run that size suits a style you've already sold through and reordered at wholesale. Manufacturers from small-batch makers to full-package factories exhibit at SOURCING in New York and Las Vegas.