[Startup story] Mrs. Miranda from Amaiakids Store – UK

This is a story shared by K-Embroidery from real customer feedback.

[My difficult entrepreneurial journey when finding a children’s clothing supplier in China]

Hello everyone, I’m Miranda, a 29 year old British girl. Today, I want to share with you the story of my arduous journey of starting a business.

Promising start

Since childhood, I have always cherished the dream of owning my own children’s fashion store “Amaiakids”. After many years of saving and preparing, in 2018, I finally had enough capital to realize my dream. However, opening a 400m2 store in London was not easy and in fact it cost me more than expected. From renting space, setting up stores, hiring staff,… all are not cheap. If you are planning on doing a similar business, my advice is to have at least $180,000-$200,000 ready.

At this time, I still had 20,000 USD to start finding the first products for the store – although the capital was not large, it was all I had. I arrived in Guangzhou, China – a place known as the “paradise” of the garment industry. I was led to major embroidery companies (whose names I would like to remain anonymous), but their products really did not leave any impression on me.

I also went to traditional markets in Guangzhou such as Shahe and Xing Hao Pan and was really stunned by their bustle. Like me, many foreigners come here to buy clothes for their stores.

Asking the sellers in Shahe market, I was directed to the area near the end of the market and found a quite bright children’s clothing warehouse, about 200 square meters wide. However, when I remembered later, I realized that this store was quite deserted, which was not a good sign :))

Here, I met a stall owner named Wang. He offered me children’s rompers at extremely attractive prices, lower than surrounding stores. He showed me all kinds of documents and even though I didn’t understand everything because they were all in Chinese, I still felt somewhat reassured.

Actually, the romper models that Wang showed me also made me quite satisfied. They have many choices of colors, patterns, quite smooth fabric, and meticulous seams. At least that’s all a newcomer like me knows.

Greed and inexperience made me hastily order 2,000 Romper products with a total value of 15,000 USD, which is only 5 $/piece. I agreed with Wang on Cotton material and the order will be sent to England within 3 months, shipped by sea. I advanced 50% of the cost and a few days later, receiving the invoice, I returned home. Joy overflows when it seems like you have found a satisfactory source of goods.

Challenge comes

However, the joy was short-lived. When the goods arrived in the UK, I was completely disappointed. The product material is not the same as the product I saw directly at the store. It’s not 100% Cotton but has been mixed with Polyester, making it prone to wrinkles and very hot to wear. The seams are also sloppy, with many errors and loose threads. Because these things were not clearly stated on my commitment when making the invoice, I cannot complain. I contacted Wang again and asked him to remake or refund, but he used every excuse to avoid it. After a few weeks, Wang stopped responding to my messages.

Worse yet, the romper’s style did not suit the tastes of customers in the UK. Surely you also understand how high British standards are and even though prices have been greatly reduced, most customers who come to Amaiakids criticize the products and do not want to buy them.

Shock and recovery

My store is stagnant, inventory is piling up. With heavy debt, plus rent and staff costs, I almost collapsed and wanted to give up the dream of “Amaiakids”.

In 2019, the Covid pandemic struck, making the situation even worse. My store was forced to close for many months, leaving me at a standstill.

However, a ray of hope appeared in early 2022. While attending a fashion fair in Manchester, I met Alida Nguyen, a similar store owner in Bristol. She is Vietnamese and did not hesitate to reveal the source of the goods she got. That is K-Embroidery, a company specializing in manufacturing smocking embroidered children’s clothing products. When researching on the internet, I was impressed by their sophisticated and trendy hand smocked dresses. I really have to thank Alida Nguyen, because this is truly a quality source.

Important turning point

Still wary after the previous scam, I decided to fly to Vietnam and visit their factory directly. I arrived in Hanoi in March 2022 and was warmly welcomed. I was taken on a tour of the factory by the production manager of K-Embroidery. A factory with hundreds of Vietnamese workers sewing beautiful embroidery patterns by hand. I witnessed firsthand each process of creating high-quality children’s dresses. A memorable experience and helped me understand many things.

On March 15, for the first time, I ordered 500 100% cotton hand smocked dresses with a value of 10,000 USD. Joy burst out when all products were sold out after only 2 months.

K-Embroidery’s premium quality, unique designs and professional customer service have helped “Amaiakids” gradually regain its reputation and attract customers.

Success and development

Continuing the success, in May 2022, I continued to order 3,000 children’s rompers embroidered with the unique logo of “Amaiakids”. This time, the product was also sold out after only 6 months.

K-Embroidery not only provides high quality products but also has a professional customer care team, always supporting me anytime, anywhere. They also have a clear return policy and guarantee policy, so you can have complete peace of mind.

K-Embroidery is currently the main partner of Amaiakids store. Like Alida Nguyen, I want to share this wholesale smocked children clothing manufacturer with everyone.

Lesson learned

My entrepreneurial journey is not as full of roses as many people imagine. It was a journey full of hardships, challenges and tears. However, with perseverance, effort and a little luck, I gradually achieved success.

My story is proof of the saying “Diligence is the mother of success”. If you have a dream, courageously pursue it and never give up.

Finally, I want to send my sincere thanks to Alida Nguyen, my friend who introduced K-Embroidery to me. Thank you K-Embroidery for accompanying “Amaiakids” on the path of development.