USA Buyer Looking for Wholesale Markets for Fashion/Home Decor

Most people here (On the website) obviously shop retail, certainly London has a large number of wholesale merchants, but you likely need a different website that has experience with that aspect. Of course there are also some other things to work out, just saying you own a shop won't get you wholesale prices, and having some type of credentials, if your expecting tax exemptions etc. may require registering or having some type of legal standings. Of course when you return to the US, any items brought or shipped need to be declared as items for re-sale, going through Customs and paying duty.

Thanks, Paul. I do have a resale license in the USA. Yes, of course, I would want to comply with all the laws. I will Google international buyers and see if there is other licensing required.

I am wondering if the wholesale markets are called something else. I am not finding the information I would expect, hence just asking the forum for some insights if there are any.

I recall encountering the term "to the trade" but don't know whether that's an Americanism or an Anglicism. Obviously, you could go to large markets open to the public, along with your credentials, and inquire of individual booth-holders as to whether they also wholesale. Seems as if that would be a slog, though.

I don't know that any of this will help:

The Art Basel market (very high-end, I believe) used to include decorative items such as art glass. I was told by a London glass dealer a couple of years ago that a separate craft market was going to be spun off. I don't know whether Art Basel is wholesale, retail, or a combination, and I don't know whether the planned craft market has come to pass.

Although London Glassblowing has its own shop on the South Bank, I've seen its glass in at least a few other UK galleries. I guess that means they wholesale to at least some degree.

There are a couple of annual (late July) ceramics fairs near Penrith in northern England. Potfest-in-the-Park is juried; I didn't get to that one. Potfest-in-the-Pens is not juried (though there's some overlap), but I saw some nice things at reasonable prices, and quite a variety of styles. The website of the organizer is potfest.co.uk.

I saw some production pottery in Bulgaria in 2015 that I thought was quite attractive. Don't know where it was made, but it cropped up in more than one city. I've never seen it in the US. Crafts and art (watercolors, jewelry, etc.) seemed very inexpensive in Bulgaria.

There's a fairly major outdoor ceramics festival held over a weekend in Goerlitz, Germany, during the summer. I don't know whether it's annual or only every two year. Nice stuff but not as much variety as at Penrith. Stunning city, though. Finding out about this one takes some Googling, and the information might not be posted terribly far in advance. You may need to try some German search terms to find it. This is right on the Polish border, and there's considerable commercial production happening in that part of Poland, I think.

I also went to an outdoor (weekend) pottery market in Sibiu, Romania. This was heavily focused on functional pottery. It was very nice to see local people (I may have been the only tourist) buying handmade pottery for everyday use. Most likely this isn't what you're looking for.

There are ceramics being produced in Ubeda, Spain. Most of it looked production (frequently a very attractive green/terracotta combination), but I also saw some pieces that may have been one-offs. Reasonable prices (about 9 euros for a soup/cereal bowl), and the quantity piled up in the shops suggested that they wholesale. I wondered whether this was low-fired, though, which would perhaps be an issue for shipping. I think I saw that same pottery (certainly the same green glaze) up in northern Spain. I don't know whether there's more than one company involved. There used to be a lot more, but many have closed.

Finally, there's a major ceramics competion held every two years in Faenza, Italy. Awards are made in odd-numbered years. I'm not clear on what else goes on, related to this, but there's an excellent ceramics museum in Faenza.

London Fashion Week is twice a year, February and September. https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/News/LFW-Dates

For home decor you might try to find a similar show, likely in either London or Birmingham.

Aren't some of these products affected by Trump's trade war?

Might you consider looking at China which has relaxed some of its trade problems this week?

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and links. I'm getting very excited about my trip.

I am looking for higher quality goods. I will look online at each one of your suggestions to help me see what I might sort out.

Let me know if you want the name of a few nice glass galleries in the UK and a good ceramics gallery near the British Museum. Except for London Glassblowing, none of them are producers.

I think "Craft" magazine may still be printed. If so, you might get some leads from it. I've basically just hit the Internet hard, following leads from one website to the next. Even so, my traveling companion from this year turned up quite a lot of places I had missed. But we were looking for retail galleries, which I think must be easier to find than what you need.

Is this the sort of list you are looking for?

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=london+fashion+wholesalers

Great insights everyone. Thank you.

Nigel and Joef32 are on the right track. In the states, there highly concentrated areas/buildings within majors cities that house all fashion wholesalers. I was trying to find out if this is also the case in London.

Make sure you hire a freight forwarder in the US to import your goods and a REALLY good US Customs broker to clear your freight, since importing for resale gives you zero exemptions per US law.

Thank you Emma and Skunklet. Great tips!!

Susan, are you planning on attending Maison et Objet in Paris in January? It’s really the preeminent event for home fashion trends. I attend every year to get a sense of the trends.

Hi Barbara.

I’m not, but I’d appreciate any information you can pass on to me. Is there a fall show ? I plan to be back in London next September.

Yes, I am looking to import goods.

Thank you!

The Maison et Objet Fall dates are September 4-8. For tabletop vendor showrooms in New York City, have you looked into 41 Madison?