Eco Friendly Clothing Dropshipping Suppliers

[ba15]

Hi all - I am looking for an eco friendly dropshipping clothing supplier that has organic cotton/recycled polyester clothing products. I've been looking for a while and manufacturers either only do wholesale, don't have the right blends/designs I'm looking for, or have a very limited color selection. I 'm just starting out so wholesale isn't an option for now. I am also wanting to lean away from overseas suppliers as I am US based but am open if it's a right fit. Thanks!

[JoesIdeas]

I would start with a print on demand company, I know Printful has some eco friendly options because I've used them before.

Then you can test the market and product types that sell, essentially gathering data that you will later use to start ordering wholesale. Once you start building up some sales, you can then predict inventory levels and order wholesale with confidence.

[ba15]

I've done a good amount of research on Printful. They do seem to have a very good setup for Shopify integration that allows for easy dropshipping. However, their eco friendly clothing selection is very limited for products and even colorways. They also don't have a large selection of clothing items that incorporate both organic cotton and recycled polyester. 

[JoesIdeas]

I hear ya, for POD suppliers it's hard to find a lot of eco friendly options unfortunately but as demand increases there will hopefully be more.

If I were going down this route today, I would contact various POD suppliers and request the items you want. Since they buy materials in bulk and have the access, the more demand they get the more motivated they would be to give it a go.

[ba15]

Thanks. Can multiple manufacturers be used to integrate with a Shopify store? Right now, I've found some good eco-friendly suppliers such as APLIIQ, PRINTIFY, TTOP and SHIRTEE that will work for now and can eventually switch to wholesale as it progresses. 

[JoesIdeas]

Yes of course, it's your store you can do whatever you'd like.

[organgrinder]

It's July 24 and I'm still looking. Trendsi has some bamboo T-Shirts and are considering adding more environmentally friendly products but haven't as yet. The companies that only sell wholesale are missing what could be a great opportunity IMO.

[JoesIdeas]

That could be a good opportunity in disguise. I've actually thought about this before, here's my idea:

1. Contact some eco friendly wholesalers to get prices on order in quantity

2. Calculate costs of ordering a base level of products

3. Build a business plan to start an eco friendly print on demand company (cost of inventory to start, rental space, employees to ship and manage orders)

4. Present the plan to investors

5. Start the business, build a Shopify app to integrate seamless, hire a marketing person

Result: You now own the go-to eco friendly print on demand clothing company ✊

I don't have enough enthusiasm for this compared to my other ideas, but someone should  start this company =D

[organgrinder]

I don't know how old your post is but since I just saw it take a look at both Teemill in the UK and Gelato if you haven't done so already. They both have Shopify apps for integration.