Textile Logistics Packaging & Shipping Clothing The Right Way

Textile logistics involves the transport and shipping of fabrics and finished garments and products from point A to point B. The way manufacturers pack and ship textiles and garments, both completed and samples, is crucial to saving costs and ensuring sales to retailers. Read on to find out more about the importance of exemplary B2B courier services. 

No matter whether you are shipping from a factory or a warehouse, there are a number of challenges associated with textile logistics within the fashion industry. Problems with shipping and transport can lead to disruptions of your supply chain, while finding the right solutions can keep your textile business moving. This is often done by choosing the right logistics company to partner with, ensuring that they can provide the service and efficiency that is crucial when it comes to textile logistics. 

The textile industry, on a global scale, is huge, and it is continuing to grow, year on year. In 2021, the global textile market size was estimated at 993.6 billion USD. This is expected to reach 1,032.1 billion USD in 2022. Furthermore, the textile market is expected to continue to increase with an annual growth rate of 4.0% from 2022 to 2030, reaching 1,420.3 billion USD in eight years’ time. This continuous growth makes the fashion and apparel industry a key player in the business space, both now and in the future, making textile logistics a crucial part of your fashion and apparel business. 

With such a huge share of global industry, textile companies need to be aware and conscious of the best, most effective, most efficient ways of packaging and shipping their products. There is no shortage of things to consider when packaging and shipping clothes: weight and size are both very important, but so is fragility. When sending clothes to multiple retailers for sale, it is essential to know the best way to transport. Different clothing requires different types of packaging. There are four main forms of transportation used when it comes to textile logistics: air, sea, rail and road. 

Road transport is often considered to be the most affordable option once in the same country as the retail outlets, however, air freight is more efficient, timely and provides a better and more reliable service, saving costs in the long run. It is, therefore, crucial to choose a courier partner who has experience in offering top-tier air freight, and provide an unparalleled level of service to your business. There are benefits to using road transport, but air freight is a more business-friendly, high-quality option. The cost of air transport delivery services is based on freight density, cargo classification, weight and dimensions. 

If your textiles require to be transported overseas, the two options are sea or air freight; air is the most obvious, realistic and effective option, as sea freight can take months, which is not a viable option for most businesses. There are two key methods of shipping garments overseas, yet only one is relevant for manufacturers sending samples and garments: 

• Flatpack method 
  Examples of flatpack textiles: t-shirts, pyjamas and other casual clothing samples. 
  The ‘flatpack’ method is the traditional way, with suppliers folding the items of clothing before packing them in a box. This takes up less room and is a more cost-effective option for textile logistics. It is most commonly used and is ideal for high-volume or fast fashion. It is not a viable option for certain items of clothing, however. Those that are more fragile or delicate can be damaged before reaching the retailer. This increases supply chain costs and causes a breakdown in effective textile logistics. 

Shipping in any industry can be expensive, so it is key to get it right the first time. Partnering with an experienced courier company can make a huge difference to your textile logistics when it comes to not only making shipping simple, streamlined and stress-free, but also saving on unnecessary, avoidable costs. 

We have put together a list of simple ways to help you to reduce your shipping costs. 

• Avoid additional cushioning – clothing, especially those being flat packed, aren’t likely to get damaged and are certainly not going to break. Avoiding unnecessary cushioning can help to save space, thus reducing increasing dimensions for packing material that isn’t needed. 

• Choose the right packaging – while clothing is not likely to get ‘broken’ per se, some items are delicate. It is therefore necessary to pick the right packaging, such as using rigid packaging to protect delicate items. 

• Ship items together – if you are sending textiles from a warehouse to a specific retail store, it makes sense (in terms of both time, ease and cost) to group these items together, and send them in one shipment. (Talk to your courier partner to find out how this can help to reduce your textile logistic costs). 

• Volume discounts – Work with a courier company who can offer volume discounts to help save on your textile logistic costs. When you start to work with a dedicated and trusted courier company, you can also encourage your suppliers to switch to the same company on your account, to further your overall benefit from potential volume discounts. 

• Experience – There is no substitute for experience, so make sure you partner with a logistics company who has significant experience at all stages of the process. Imports and customs can be dealt with by an experienced company too. You need to be able to trust them to have the ability to control all elements of your textile logistics, making sure supply chains don’t collapse, and everything runs smoothly. 

Even if you do everything in your power to control costs and standardise the packaging process, you will probably still find a great degree of variance in your shipping expenses. This is why you need to ensure your company’s shipping partner is experienced and skilled in all facets of textile logistics. 

Royale International is one such company who can make your textile logistic woes disappear. With over 20+ years’ experience in partnering with companies, including many high-profile clothing and apparel brands, Royale International is a perfect company to complement your needs. Working with dedicated account managers, and with a reach that spans the globe, Royale can eliminate the stress and specifics of your textile logistics, making shipping your clothing easy, simple and cost-effective. Click here to learn more about our Courier services: https://www.royaleinternational.com/services/international-courier/