5 Steps to Finding Wholesale Swimwear Suppliers and Vendors

Whether you’re expanding your retail business or starting up for the first time, it’s important to have a wholesale swimwear supplier or wholesale swimwear vendor you can trust. Offering a variety of stylish and high-quality swimwear options to customers will keep them coming back to you season after season. In fact, swimwear is a popular retail option year-round! Summer may be the busiest season, but winter vacationers to warmer climates and indoor swimmers will always need excellent swimsuits to get in their fitness and fun.

So, how do you find and choose the right wholesale swimwear suppliers and wholesale swimwear vendors with quality products at competitive prices?

Here’s our how-to guide!

Step 1: Know Which Swimwear Styles and Sizes You Want from a Wholesale Swimwear Supplier

Before you narrow down your search to specific swimwear wholesale suppliers, you need to know which swimwear styles and sizes you want to offer your customers. There are a wide range of swimwear demographics you can cater to in your swimsuit offerings:

• Children’s Swimwear

Children’s swimwear includes boys’ and girls’ styles, ranging from infants up to boys size 18 and girls size 16. There are standard swimsuits, along with cover-ups, rash guards, and board shorts to choose from for both genders. If your business caters to families and children, then you’ll want to seek out a children’s swimwear wholesale supplier or vendor.

• Juniors’ Swimwear

Juniors’ swimwear is the next size group, specifically for pre-teen and teen girls’ sizes. These swimwear styles include one-pieces, two-pieces, tankinis, and boardshorts. The styles are the middle ground between girls’ and women’s, offering more trendy swimwear styles in juniors’ sizing.

• Men’s Swimwear

Men’s swimwear also features a surprising variety of styles. Make sure you give your customers a variety of options, including board shorts and swim trunks both with and without grommets, hybrid stretch swim shorts, 4-way stretch shorts, walking shorts, as well as rash guards and shirts.

• Women’s Swimwear

Women’s swimwear is undoubtedly one of the most popular types of swimwear retailers sell. Look for a wholesale supplier that offers a wide selection of styles in swimwear for women. These include one-piece swimsuits, tankinis, two-pieces, wholesale bikinis, contemporary styles, rash guards, and board shorts. There are also cover-ups to consider offering like sarongs, tube dresses, and maxi dresses.

• Plus-Size Swimwear

Lastly, you might also want to offer plus sizes for different body types, both a wide selection of women’s plus and big men’s sizes. Don’t forget to add women’s plus-size cover-ups, as well.

• Swimwear Brands

Aside from styles and sizes, you’ll also want to consider the swimwear brands different wholesale vendors offer. Swimsuit Station, for example, offers many different stylish swimwear brands from well-known swimwear manufacturers, each with its own key features like styles, patterns, and sizes. Our brands include Beach Party, Breaking Waves, Caribbean Sand, On the Beach, Leilani, and Raisins. You can view them all in our catalog!

Once you know which types of swimwear you want, then you can narrow your search to wholesale suppliers that offer what you’re looking for.

Step 2: Research Prospective Wholesale Swimwear Vendors’ Shipping and Return Policies

Next, it’s important to know a wholesale swimwear vendor’s shipping and return policies. That way, you’ll have no surprises when it comes to delivery times and any return fees.

Some wholesalers might not offer returns, and their shipping times could be slower if they ship internationally. If you’re in the U.S., it might be best to buy wholesale swimwear from a U.S.-based supplier like Swimsuit Station, where shipping times range from 1-6 business days, depending on where you are in the U.S. You’ll also enjoy the benefit of same-day shipping.

In the retail business, occasional returns are inevitable and can be needed for many reasons. Check with your prospective wholesale swimwear suppliers to see what return policy they offer—if they offer one at all. Swimsuit Station, for example, charges a low 15% restocking fee for returns, and no returns will be honored without written permission and a return authorization number.

Step 3: Learn the Wholesale Company’s History

New swimwear wholesale suppliers pop up all the time. It can be difficult to know which vendors can be trusted at first glance. Make sure you do your research and learn about the company’s history. Have they been in the swimwear industry a long time? Do they have a proven track record of delivering quality products with excellent customer service? Are the business owners well-known?

We recommend choosing a long-trusted wholesale supplier like Swimsuit Station. We’ve been selling swimwear as a family for over half a century!

Step 4: Read the FAQs or Contact the Wholesale Vendor Directly with Questions

Every wholesaler operates a little differently, so it’s good to have your questions answered before you make a purchase. Read the FAQs on a vendor’s website, or contact them directly with your questions. If their FAQ doesn’t exist, or it’s hard to get a hold of someone in the company, then you might want to look elsewhere.

Swimsuit Station has a detailed FAQ page, and our team can also be contacted by phone, email, or through our website.

Step 5: Visit a Swimwear Wholesale Supplier Store

Finally, you can also visit some swimwear wholesale supplier or even their retail stores in person. This is a great opportunity to see the swimwear products for yourself, assess the quality, and talk with the staff. You can also get a better sense of the latest swimwear fashion trends your customers will want.

Swimsuit Station’s retail store is located in Ocean, NJ, and is open Monday through Friday. You’re always welcome to stop by!

Many other retailers, including Swimsuit Station, also frequent trade shows, which offer the same opportunity to view the merchandise and connect in person.

Choose a Wholesale Swimwear Supplier You Can Trust

While choosing the right swimsuit styles and sizes is important, what’s most crucial of all is choosing a wholesale swimwear supplier that you can trust and build a long-term business relationship with. Swimsuit Station is proud to be the nation’s leading swimwear wholesale distributor. We offer more than 350,000 brand-name wholesale swimsuits and swimwear items, in more than 500 fashionable swimwear styles, including children’s, juniors’, women’s, men’s, and plus sizes—and all at low wholesale prices and with no minimum order quantity.

Browse our catalog of fantastic swimwear today, and contact us with your questions!