When outsourcing the manufacturing of your own sunglasses brand overseas, you need to know how to find a sunglass manufacturer. In addition to cost and quality, there are many factors to consider and review.
Firstly, the risks of regulations, customs, logistics, and cultural differences are important considerations. It’s not just about cost-effectiveness that makes a manufacturer the “best partner” for sunglasses manufacturing.
How do you assess these factors? The key is to establish a reliable partnership with the supplier. It all starts and ends with open, constructive, and professional communication.
You can use the following professional questions to start a conversation with an eyewear manufacturer and better evaluate them before starting to work with potential sunglasses manufacturers.
1. Are you a sunglasses trading company or a manufacturer?
It is important to know whether your custom sunglasses manufacturer is a factory directly involved in eyewear manufacturing or a wholesale dealer/trading company that sells eyewear stock. Understanding the difference in company nature is crucial because it all boils down to professionalism, speed, and most importantly, quality. Manufacturers produce their products, and they can communicate and execute all cooperation agreements and quality standards comprehensively and quickly, maximizing consistency in quality.
On the other hand, trading companies purchase products from different manufacturers, and each manufacturer’s management and quality may vary. As a result, you may receive different qualities and textures of eyewear, which can often leave you puzzled as to why there are two or more different quality versions. Additionally, they may not be able to quickly respond to your questions because they are not the primary manufacturers, requiring multiple layers of communication to obtain the desired quality and feedback.
If you work with an eyewear manufacturer, you can directly discuss any technical, quality, and delivery issues you may encounter with them. You can also quickly get the answers and high-quality products you want.
We recommend that you visit the factory, review its facilities, examine its various management systems, and determine whether the products are produced internally or outsourced. If this seems like a time-consuming task, we have a solution. Keep reading below to learn more.
2. Do you have prior experience in manufacturing similar eyewear?
This step is the most informative vetting process in how we find eyewear manufacturers.
Ask your manufacturer about their existing products. Learn about their eyewear manufacturing techniques and ask about the machines and equipment they use, the number of engineers they have, their organizational structure, whether or not they use sustainable products, their quality management system, how they handle any unexpected quality issues, and so on.
Asking specific questions will help you better understand your manufacturer. This conversation will also help address your first question – whether they are a trading company, wholesaler, or intermediary. If there are any warning signs, such as a lack of professional experience in eyewear production or outsourcing products, you will know that they are not suitable for your organization.
Your ideal situation is to find a professional sunglasses manufacturing partner to collaborate with, rather than a middleman.
3. How do you ensure eyewear quality control, and what is your workflow process?
Having a well-developed management system and proposing solutions is an important sign of a good manufacturing partner. Talk to your manufacturer and find out if they have a dedicated sunglasses quality manager, how they test eyewear, at what stage of production they test, what the testing standards are, and how they handle and resolve any products that do not pass the test.
Quality is the top priority for any sunglasses brand. This allows you to understand how the sunglasses manufacturer deals with quality issues before, during, and after production.
In addition, it is best to establish an agreement with your manufacturer on emphasizing and preventing quality problems, and special process flows for each new model of sunglasses before production. It is crucial to maintain consistency in the manufacturing process, especially when you are working thousands of miles away.
how to find a sunglass manufacturer? After reading this, I believe you have mastered many methods, but not enough, please continue to the following important factors.
4. Will the scalability of future eyewear production capacity be a problem?
Understand the flexibility of eyewear manufacturers in small-batch production to large-batch orders. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where your original manufacturer cannot scale up production to meet your business growth. From the start of establishing your own sunglasses brand, collaborate with eyewear manufacturers who can meet the growing demands of your eyewear business. This also means that you need to understand their production scalability before looking for a manufacturer.
You should know that Italy’s Safilo company can be said to be the world’s largest optician, 90% of which are made in China. There are glasses manufacturers of different sizes and levels in China
5. How do you manage the transportation and logistics of eyewear?
Ask your sunglasses manufacturer if they have logistics partners and if you can speak with them to learn about their delivery rates and how they handle delayed deliveries. Ask your manufacturer about their delivery time – how long it takes from when you place an order to when the product arrives in your hands. This includes the time for eyewear design, production of structural samples, production of sales samples, and logistics for shipping
6. How do we bridge communication and business culture gaps?
Working with eyewear manufacturers in China means dealing with different time zones, language barriers, and work styles. Consider discussing your expectations for production, working relationships, output, and delivery with your Chinese eyewear manufacturer, while also understanding their views on work style.
To prevent misunderstandings and ensure a smooth workflow, we recommend creating a framework to simplify the working relationship. Do not leave any room for confusion and discuss everything that could potentially lead to misunderstandings.
In conclusion, how to find a sunglass manufacturer? Finding the right sunglass manufacturer partner is crucial to the success of a sunglass brand. By asking these 6 questions, you can evaluate potential partners and choose the eyewear manufacturer best suited to your needs. Whether you’re looking for an experienced eyewear manufacturer committed to sustainability, or a custom sunglass manufacturer, asking the right questions will help you make the best decision for your business.
