What to Bring to a Wholesale Appointment

A wholesale appointment is not a performance of how much a brand can carry into a room. It is a working session in which a buyer tries to connect product, customer, price, delivery, terms, and evidence. The best kit makes those connections easy and leaves a controlled record of what was actually discussed.

Bring less material, but make every item current, identifiable, and consistent. A beautiful sample with an obsolete price, a line sheet with no pack basis, or a sustainability claim with no evidence creates more work than confidence.

This guide is a preparation framework, not a claim that every showroom or buyer wants the same format. FashionMember has not observed a real appointment for this draft. Confirm the showroom’s instructions and complete buyer, product, compliance, finance, and legal review before using the checklist.

Start with the appointment’s purpose

Confirm who will attend, how long the meeting is, whether it is in person or remote, which categories are in scope, what season or delivery window is being reviewed, and whether the buyer requested particular files, samples, or pricing.

Choose one primary outcome: an initial line review, category fit discussion, sample feedback, order-writing session, or follow-up plan. Do not treat an exploratory introduction as an order meeting. Ask whether photography, recording, or sample drop-off is allowed before the appointment.

Create a dated agenda with the line-sheet version and responsible contacts. A 20-minute appointment may need three hero styles and a clear follow-up, not two rolling racks.

Bring samples with durable identity

Each physical sample should connect to a style and version. Use a removable internal tag or sample card with:

• style or model ID;
• sample version and date;
• color and size;
• material and trim references;
• sample purpose, such as development, salesman, size-set, or production reference;
• known deviations from intended production;
• owner and return status.

Do not let a buyer photograph a sample and later receive a different construction under the same ID without documented change. GS1’s GTIN Management Standard explains that meaningful product changes can require new identification in open supply chains. A brand’s internal sample ID is not necessarily a GTIN, but the discipline is similar: identity must follow the actual object and version.

Carry only samples that are safe to handle and honestly described. Mark pins, temporary fasteners, unfinished edges, missing labels, fragile embellishment, and non-production materials. A sample is not evidence that production capacity, final quality, or compliance is complete.

Use one current line sheet

The line sheet should be dated and versioned. For every orderable item, include only fields the team can support:

• style ID and clear product name;
• accurate image tied to the same version;
• color and size offer;
• wholesale unit price, currency, and unit basis;
• pack, prepack, case, or each basis;
• minimums and any color minimum;
• suggested retail reference, when used and properly reviewed;
• order window and delivery definition;
• country of origin and material summary when appropriate;
• contact and ordering route;
• stated terms or a clear reference to the full terms.

Keep wholesale price separate from pack price and suggested retail. If a case contains six units, state whether the shown amount is per unit or per case. GS1’s logistics guidance distinguishes trade items and logistic units; the appointment kit should likewise distinguish the sellable unit, inner pack, case, and shipment.

Never display a former or prevailing retail price without evidence. The FTC’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing address comparison-price representations. A suggested retail reference is not proof of what a retailer has charged or will charge.

Bring the product-data appendix

A one-page visual line sheet cannot contain every important attribute. Prepare a digital appendix that can be filtered or exported and includes product and variant identifiers, dimensions, weights, fiber content, care basis, country of origin, package hierarchy, carton data, materials, claims evidence links, image rights, and last-updated date.

Mark fields as approved, provisional, not applicable, or open. Do not fill an unknown field with plausible text to make the record appear complete. State which system controls the value and who may change it.

The buyer may need this information for e-commerce, receiving, inventory, accessibility, customer service, and returns. Product data is not administrative debris; it is part of whether the item can be sold and supported.

Carry evidence, not a blanket compliance statement

Create a product-scope register for the line. Identify intended user, age group, product type, materials, construction features, destination markets, and claims. Link each applicable requirement to the responsible party, test or reasonable-testing basis, certificate, report, label, and version.

CPSC guidance states that manufacturers or importers of general-use products subject to its safety rules must issue a General Certificate of Conformity based on testing or a reasonable testing program. Children’s products have separate third-party testing and certification requirements. Do not promise that a generic supplier report covers every style, color, material change, or shipment.

FTC guidance says most textile and wool products need fiber content, country of origin, and responsible-business identity, and covered clothing requires care instructions supported by a reasonable basis. Bring a clear image or sample of intended labels and state what remains provisional.

Do not hand a buyer confidential laboratory, worker, customer, or supplier records without authority. Provide the appropriate evidence summary and a controlled route for qualified review.

Prepare commercial terms as a separate record

A price list is not a complete set of terms. Bring or link a dated record that defines:

• parties and authority;
• product, version, pack, quantity, and price;
• currency, tax, and resale-document process;
• payment method and timing;
• order acceptance and changes;
• shipping point, freight, title, and risk;
• inspection, shortage, damage, and claims;
• cancellations, delays, returns, allowances, and chargebacks;
• product safety, recalls, records, and notices;
• dispute and governing-law review.

Do not invent terms in the room to avoid an uncomfortable pause. Mark the question, name the person who can answer it, and set a follow-up date. California’s Commercial Code provides legal context for sales of goods, but an actual wholesale agreement requires transaction-specific professional review.

Show the delivery path behind the date

If the line sheet says “November delivery,” define whether that means ex-factory, warehouse arrival, buyer receipt, or another event. Break the path into material, production, inspection, export, transit, customs, domestic receiving, and shipment stages. State which steps are confirmed and which are estimates.

For consumer-facing orders, the FTC merchandise rule requires a reasonable basis for shipping representations and describes delay, consent, cancellation, and refund obligations. Wholesale transactions have their own terms, but a buyer still needs to know whether the brand’s downstream promises rest on evidence.

Bring a contingency statement for material change, production delay, failed test, shortage, transport disruption, and cancellation. A contingency is not a promise that no delay will occur.

Prepare the physical and remote room

For an in-person appointment, bring:

• samples in the intended review order;
• hangers, clips, steamer, lint tool, tape measure, and a clean work surface;
• swatches and one approved color reference where relevant;
• charged devices and an offline copy of essential files;
• a sample checkout and return record;
• accessible seating and clear movement space when the venue controls allow it;
• blank notes separated from order documents.

For remote review, test the camera, color limitations, audio, captions, file links, screen sharing, and backup connection. Do not claim that screen color proves a physical shade. Send the agenda and lightweight files early enough for the buyer to access them.

Record questions without turning notes into an order

Use a structured follow-up log with question, owner, evidence needed, due date, answer, and approval state. Separate buyer feedback from commitments. “Likes blue” is not an order. “Considering 24 units” is not a purchase order. A photograph of notes is not authorization to produce or charge.

After the meeting, send a concise recap and links to the exact versions reviewed. Ask the buyer to correct misunderstandings. If order interest advances, move into the agreed ordering and credit process rather than converting informal notes into an invoice.

A reproducible fictional appointment-kit audit

FashionMember created four invented kits in content/data/FM-194-wholesale-appointment-kit.json. The script scripts/fm194-wholesale-appointment-audit.php checks sample identity, line-sheet version, price and pack basis, minimum and order window, labels and care, safety-testing scope, delivery and terms, order and follow-up process, image and claim rights, and ownership.

WA-01 and WA-03 route to appointment-review because all fictional fields are documented. WA-02 is held because line-sheet, price, label, testing, terms, and rights fields remain open. WA-04 is held because sample identity, minimums, testing, order process, and ownership are incomplete.

The fixture contains no real brand, buyer, product, document, price, term, or outcome. appointment-review is not buyer interest, safety certification, wholesale acceptance, a purchase order, an invoice, or payment authority.

The final readiness test

Before leaving for the appointment, ask whether every sample can be matched to its data, every price has a unit and currency, every delivery date has a basis, every claim has evidence, every open question has an owner, and every file can be accessed without exposing confidential information.

If the answer is no, narrow the presentation or mark the field open. A buyer can work with an honest limitation. The buyer cannot reliably work with a polished contradiction.

Sources and verification

• GS1 GTIN Management Standard — official guidance on trade-item identity and material product changes.
• GS1 Logistic Label Guideline — official logistic-unit, trade-item, carton, and data-linkage context.
• FTC Apparel and Labeling — official overview of fiber, country-of-origin, responsible-business, and care requirements.
• FTC Clothes Captioning — official care-label reasonable-basis and whole-garment guidance.
• CPSC General Use Products: Certification and Testing — official GCC responsibility and testing-program guidance.
• CPSC Third Party Testing Guidance — official children’s-product laboratory, testing, and CPC context.
• eCFR: Guides Against Deceptive Pricing — current official comparison-price guidance.
• California Commercial Code, Division 2 — official California sales-of-goods legal context; not a template or legal opinion.
• FTC Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule guide — official consumer shipping-promise and delay context.