As an interior designer or product manufacturer, the quality of your product significantly depends on the quality of linen fabric you use.
Whether it’s shopping at a retail store, buying wholesale or working with a linen supplier, you have several options available to you.
This leads many interior designers or product manufacturers to ask...Where should I buy linen fabric?
Purchasing linen fabric from a linen supplier offers several benefits, including:
- Suppliers can fulfill quantity and design options
- Suppliers offer custom services
- Suppliers offer competitive prices
- Suppliers ensure fewer potential order issues
- Suppliers offer a higher quality of product
1. Suppliers Can Fulfill Quantity And Design Options
Whether you’re creating slipcovers, table linens or window treatments, you will most likely need large quantities of fabric.
If you fall in love with a linen fabric that has limited quantities, that could present a problem and force you to choose another fabric that isn’t your first choice. A quality linen supplier, on the other hand, can work with you to make sure you have the quantity of fabric you need in a timely manner.
When you work with a supplier, your choices are rarely limited. Suppliers typically have more color options and larger quantities of those options. This is because suppliers must ensure they have enough fabric to supply needed quantities to distributors, retailers and their own customers.
When combined with the opportunity to customize your fabric choices, this opens up your possibilities exponentially.
2. Suppliers Offer Custom Services
Textiles are never one-size-fits-all. You may want a different color or a custom print put on it.
A quality linen supplier will provide customized services, such as custom dyeing and print services, as well as special finishes. They will also offer these services in small or large quantities, depending on your project.
Although customization may lengthen delivery time slightly, the best suppliers will be able to offer these services in a reasonable timeframe, allowing you to reach your deadline or goals.
3. Suppliers Offer Competitive Prices
Price is always a factor in any purchase decision. Working with a supplier can offer some cost advantages.
If a retailer buys linen fabric from a distributor, the retailer is buying the fabric with the distributor’s markup on top as well. That means the price a consumer pays is going to be higher.
Directly purchasing fabric from a supplier or from a retailer that has partnered with a supplier is typically more budget-friendly. As a bonus, if you are buying larger quantities of fabric, a supplier will usually offer an extra discount.
4. Domestic Suppliers Ensure Fewer Potential Order Issues
When you choose a supplier to work with, it is often better to choose a company that is located domestically rather 
than overseas.
That’s because working with a linen supplier located overseas can cause several problems including:
- Difficulty communicating and overcoming time zone barriers
- Longer shipping times
- Potential issues that could delay products at customs
- Inability to make routine visits onsite to verify manufacturing practices onsite
- Less recourse should the supplier not fulfill an order correctly
Working with a domestic linen supplier also provides more assurance that you can reach the company via phone with any questions or problems. This provides you with a sense of security that your questions will be answered and the linen fabric you order will arrive in a timely manner.
5. Suppliers Offer A Higher Quality Of Product
Top suppliers know the history of the fabric they provide … all the way back to the farm where the flax for the linen fabric was grown.
In fact, top suppliers have built strong relationships with the farmers who are responsible for growing and cultivating the flax, the mills where the flax is spun and weaved, and the dyeing mills that are run by highly skilled workers who are experienced in producing fabric for furniture and home textiles.
Quality control is of the utmost importance to top suppliers so that they can ensure their linen fabric meets the highest standards.
You can read more about the centuries-old growth process of flax in our article, What Is Linen Made From?
Bottom Line
For larger projects and those that require finer linen fabric, working with a supplier provides several benefits that significantly impact the quality of your project.
In addition to knowing where the flax for your linen is sourced and where your linen fabric is woven and dyed, working with a quality supplier helps ensure that you:
- Have greater access to the quantities needed to complete your project
- Can customize your linen fabric, whether through custom dyeing and print services, as well as special finishes
- Get the best prices for large orders and aren’t marked up by a distributor
- Will have access to the best quality linen fabric
To avoid limitations to getting the linen fabric you need for your project, your best bet is to work with a quality supplier who will ensure you get the perfect fabric in the quantity you need and in a timely manner.
