The struggles begin
As we set out to find a production partner somewhere in July 2023, we set our sights on Portugal, knowing the country's great reputation for quality in clothing manufacturing and it's textile industry. Many of the known brands have done or are producing some parts of their collection in Portugal.
Our goal has always been to keep things centered around Europe, where production quality is top-notch, workers have rights, earn fair wages, and are treated with respect. Since we’re based in Europe (Portugal) ourselves, it’s close to home, allowing us to visit and inspect the facilities regularly to ensure everything meets our standards.
Producing in Europe is often more expensive than in Asia, but the cost of one child laborer working in a sweatshop in a hidden part of the world, is one we'd rather avoid having on our conscience. This is a subject I'm thoroughly passionate about, and while writing this newsletter we ended up writing several more paragraphs on it before realizing it wasn’t today's topic. It’s a significant global issue, so we’ll dedicate a separate newsletter to it at a later stage.
Finding a reliable manufacturing partner in Portugal is a bit like going through job applications. It often feels like your messages are going into a void. Most production houses are extremely busy, running on tight schedules and constantly chasing deadlines. To make matters worse, many lack account managers or client services, making communication and coordination even more challenging.
After sending about who knows how many emails, we started getting a few replies. From the responses we got, it became clear that many of these companies struggle with English communication and lacked professionalism. Which would make it difficult to build a solid relationship and foundation for our brand. Additionally, it was evident that getting the attention we need, would be tough as a new brand, just starting out.
In follow-up conversations, we quickly discovered that many had minimum order quantities (MOQs) that were too high for us, or they simply couldn’t produce the items we wanted. But thanks to a bit of internet sleuthing on another brand’s website, we stumbled upon a potential manufacturer that actually got us excited.
A small family company based in northern Portugal with over 20 years of experience. They appeared to deliver high-quality products, allowing for small-batch production and possibly even made-to-order options—very promising indeed. But if you think that was the end of our struggles, you’d be mistaken.
More on this in next week’s newsletter!