Your A–Z guide to finding suppliers, buying wholesale and building a business from Istanbul.
Istanbul is one of the best places in the world to source fashion, modestwear, occasionwear, accessories and more. But if you’ve never done it before, it’s hard to know where to start. Where do you find wholesalers? What do you say to them? How much do you have to buy? How does shipping work? And how do you avoid looking like you have no idea what you’re doing?
The Istanbul Wholesale Playbook walks you through the whole process, from your first message to your first shipment, in 47 pages and 27 short chapters.
Inside you’ll learn how to:
Find wholesalers beyond Instagram, and spot good suppliers with little online presence
Contact suppliers on WhatsApp and present yourself with confidence
Understand MOQs, size runs and ordering samples before you spend a penny
Visit showrooms in person, including which districts to explore and how to get around them
Handle payments, shipping and consolidating orders, and work out your true landed cost
Price for your customer, not just for yourself
Build supplier relationships that last
Plus an interactive toolkit with tickable sourcing-trip checklists, a before-you-buy worksheet, a supplier tracker and supplier scorecards. You can fill them in directly in the PDF.
How it works: it’s a downloadable interactive PDF. The contents are clickable, and the checklists and worksheets are fillable. For the best experience, open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple Preview or Chrome. Some phone viewers may not save what you type.
Who it’s for: entrepreneurs, boutique owners and online brand founders sourcing from Istanbul, whether it’s your first order or you’re building your supplier network.
