sourcing · 7 min read

How to verify a Chinese fabric supplier

Anyone can send you a price list and a photo of a factory. The question is whether that factory is theirs, whether they can actually run your order, and what happens when something goes wrong. These five checks take a week and save you a deposit.

By Weft Bridge · Reviewed by our Guangzhou sourcing team · Updated 2026-11

1. The business licence and the scope

Ask for the business licence (营业执照) and check three things: the registered name, the registered address, and the business scope. Fabric manufacturing should appear in the scope. If it only says trading or import/export, you are talking to a trader, which is not automatically bad — but the price and the accountability are different.

The registered address should match the address on the invoice and the address they give the courier. A mismatch is worth a question.

2. The factory address, seen live

Ask for a short video call from the production floor, with the machine running and the address visible. A pre-recorded walkthrough is easy to reuse; a live call is not.

If a live call is refused for three different reasons, that is the answer. A real mill will find five minutes.

3. References you can actually contact

Ask for two customers who bought a similar fabric in the last twelve months, in a market you can call. Then call them and ask about defects, delays and how the supplier behaved when something went wrong.

Suppliers who cannot give references are usually new to exporting, which is fine — but price the risk accordingly.

4. How they behave on a small sample

The sample stage is a preview of the bulk stage. Did they send the exact quality you asked for, or the nearest thing they had? Did they flag a limitation before you found it? Did the swatch arrive when they said it would?

A supplier who overpromises on a swatch will overpromise on a container.

5. Payment terms and who owns the risk

T/T with 30% deposit and 70% against documents is the normal baseline.
Be cautious with suppliers who demand 100% before production, or who only accept payment to a personal account.
Ask what happens on a quality claim: replacement, credit note, or arbitration. Get the answer before the order, not after.
For a first order, a letter of credit or an escrow service costs a little and removes most of the risk.

FAQ

Is a trading company worse than a factory?

Not necessarily. A good trading company can manage several mills better than one mill can manage your order. What matters is that you know which one you are dealing with and that the price reflects it.

Can I check a Chinese business licence online?

Yes — the national credit information system publishes registration details. Ask the supplier for the licence number and compare the registered name with the invoice.

How much should I pay up front?

Thirty percent is standard. Anything above fifty percent on a first order deserves an explanation.