In search of wholesale dress stores

There are many, many, many, many wholesalers.  You would need a local who knows the quality of the goods and helps you to negotiate the price.  On your own, you will not be able to do that.

Beware that dress sizes in Vietnam are very, very small.  I'm 5'1", 110 lbs; in the States, I wore XSP (Extra Small Petite), or 0 - 2P depending on the designers.  Here, I have to wear M or even L sometimes.  It's not only the size is different, the cut is much narrower in the waist and hip even for the same bust size dress.  I've stopped buying ready-made clothing because of that; now I send fabrics to two semi-retired tailors who promised to keep my measurements on file permanently -- the husband makes my trousers and dresses, the wife makes my tops, skirts, and pants.

Thank you for the reply, it was really helpful

My apartment had a Nigerian expat who had a business exporting clothing to Nigeria.  He had a small home based factory in a house in the neighborhood where he had about five or six women sewing and a few men packing and cutting.  Most of what he did was fashion tee-shirts of his own design.

I asked him why he did not make his clothing in Nigeria where labor would presumably be less expensive.  His seemingly objective answer was that he could not find the level of quality seamstresses as were common in Vietnam.

THIGV wrote:

My apartment had a Nigerian expat who had a business exporting clothing to Nigeria.  He had a small home based factory in a house in the neighborhood where he had about five or six women sewing and a few men packing and cutting.  Most of what he did was fashion tee-shirts of his own design.

@OP:  That's probably a better option for you, finding a business that produces clothing with African customers in mind. 

If you buy from Vietnamese wholesalers whose customers are Vietnamese, the smallest size that would fit a size M African woman (39 - 42" hips) is Vietnamese XL, so you'll have to buy XL and bigger for your customers, and that's awfully difficult if not impossible.

I mentioned in the last post that the cut in VN is very narrow.  Here's one example:  Aside from bust, waist, and hip measurements, seamstresses here cut the pattern based on customers' weight and height as well.  Size XL in Vietnam is for women who weight at the maximum 60 kg (132 lbs) and stand between 5'4" - 5'5".   You'll need to keep that in mind and think whether it would fit your typical African customer who wears size M.

Thank you, I will narrow my search down to those who’ lol produce for Africans

I agree with Ciambella, you need to find out what sizes locally are appropriate for your market in Africa because the sizes are not the same.  For example, look at my avatar and look closely at me, they gave me the largest Ao Dai for men and it was still way to small for my upper body (thanks to good genes and years of good exercise).  I look like a tic ready to pop. 

In addition, wife would buy me clothes in VN in the largest size, still to small for the upper body and for shorts, always tight around the waist and the thighs.  I have a 32' waist and 42' chest, never a problem in the USA, but in VN, not easy, even with the largest sizes.

I sort of agree with Ciambella but I don't think you need to find a factory that is making clothes for Africans already.  What you need is cutting patterns for the sizes and styles you like.  Then you could contract most any place and have the dresses custom made.  Perhaps you could send to Nigeria for patterns if you know people in the business there.  Alternatively, you could bring samples of the dresses, in the styles and sizes you want, and have the seamstress take them apart at the seams.   I have seem my wife do exactly that.  She took an old blouse that she wanted to copy, dissected it, and created a new paper pattern to cut her new blouses.  As long as you are having a fair quantity manufactured, the added cost over regular Vietnamese production should be minor.

Yes, making your own clothes. yet another secret skill that any Vietnamese woman seem to have, if you only thought to ask!

Thank you so much

THIGV wrote:

I sort of agree with Ciambella but I don't think you need to find a factory that is making clothes for Africans already.  What you need is cutting patterns for the sizes and styles you like.  Then you could contract most any place and have the dresses custom made.

Excellent idea.  African women wear clothes that fit more loosely than women in most countries so patterns cut by African designers for different sizes and styles are ideal.