sew your own diapers

Question for those of you who sew diapers for sale:  Do you purchase your fabrics, notions and other supplies from the same sites as for home sewing, for example the sources listed on this forum?

I've had many inquiries as to whether I would consider sewing diapers and clothing for sale.  When I took adult commissions, my clients usually provided their own materials or paid for them in addition to my services.  In looking around online, I'm wondering if those who sew for profit use different (higher?) quality materials and/or have sources that help keep the costs down, because most diapers seem to be priced reasonably inexpensively.  Also, do you have to get a tax-exempt number, or do you pay taxes (if applicable) on your raw materials and then don't charge them on your final product?

I'm stumped when it comes to quality hand-made children's clothing.  I've seen items similar to mine sell for $40, yet the fabric alone for a friend's baby's dress cost $30!

Thanks for any insight,
Audrey

Sorry this post went without a reply for so long.

I think most small scale wahms will generally purchase fabrics and supplies at retail from sites listed here.  I know we at VeryBaby.com service a lot of wahms, big and small with our bulk discounts on high quality fabrics.

When a wahm gets busy or gets serious about her business she will start sourcing out the fabrics on her own, buying in large quantites direct from fabric mills to increase her profit margins.

The quality does not generally differ - small home sewists use the same kind of waterproof fabric that large scale wahms do as there are often limited suppliers who will make fabric suitable for use in diaper making.  On the other hand, small scale diaper sewists might repurpose flannel blankets and the like, whereas a large scale diaper sewist wouldn't necessarily have the type to recycle those types of fabrics and would purchase custom milled/new.

The tax issues vary by state and I would bet a lot of the smaller scale wahms aren't set up properly, but many are.  I generally recommend registering a business name through your city council offices and they'll tell you what else you need for your location.

I believe most will pay sales tax when ordering the raw materials and not usually pass a new tax onto their customers except for state-specific sales tax that is required, but again requirements may vary from state to state.

Right, if you're buying retail to make that baby's dress it'll be expensive to purchase the materials.  Turning around and selling something you've made from fabric bought at retail by the yard is not going to have a large profit margin.  So say you got serious about sewing baby dresses, you'd need to pick the prints/fabrics you wanted to offer and buy them by the roll or bolt at a discount or direct from the manufacturer/ mill to increase your profit margin.  I know a lot of small business owners are afraid to take that kind of leap, because it's an investment and they worry they won't be successful and then they'll be stuck with a bunch of fabric. 

There are two schools of thought 1) you can't be successful until you take that investment dive, as the profit margin is too miniscule to make it worth your time otherwise.  OR 2) Starting out small and living with small profits is a level headed way to go about things and once you build up a clientelle you can invest more in bulk fabric/supplies.

I hope this helps!

Yes, it helps very much, thank you for taking the time to reply!  I go through cycles of wanting to go into business again and wondering what the heck I'm thinking, .  For a long time I've been mulling over picking one or two items that I know I can turn around quickly and without too large an investment until I see if it's going to work out.

I tried a couple of coops, and while I got some neat stuff for my own personal use, I've decided the uncertainty of the ordering timelines won't work for me.  I'd much rather click a "submit order" button in an online store (yours is particularly attractive, well-organized and user-friendly), or buy in person when I can find what I want (especially on a rare trip to a large city with a fabric district!).  If I wanted to research buying fabric in bulk, could you point me towards some resources?

On a different topic, thanks for sending out the message about the forums.  Off to see what's new in your store!   Warmly,
Audrey

Thanks Audrey, I'm glad it was helpful -- our site is under construction at the moment, but will be pretty soon!  I'm working hard at it...

Yes, true, if you're going to get serious about production, co-ops can be very frustrating.

Sourcing can be tricky, it takes a savvy googler and someone willing to call and pester and request samples and even travel and minimums are often very high (thus all the co-ops) but it certainly can be worth it if you know what you want/need and are willing to invest in your business.