After more than twenty years setting up and running sourcing offices for major international groups such as PPR, Quelle, Otto and Beaumanoir, Vandana, founder of Among Friends & Co, chose to place her experience and her knowledge of manufacturing markets at the service of brands.
That experience gave her an in-depth understanding of what matters in the fashion industry: product development, selection of manufacturing partners, cost control, quality, adherence to lead times and coordination of every production stage.
A partner for your collections
Among Friends & Co is an independent sourcing and buying office specialised in ready-to-wear and accessories.
Our role goes well beyond finding manufacturers. We stay involved throughout the development and production of each collection, coordinating the various partners, anticipating difficulties and securing every stage of the project.
Depending on each brand’s needs, we work on product development, sourcing of fabrics and components, selection of manufacturers, sampling, production follow-up and quality control.
Paris and Delhi, close to brands and to production
Based in Paris, at the heart of the fashion ecosystem, our showroom encourages close collaboration with brands and supports the development of their collections. It is a place to work and exchange around products, fabrics, samples and the successive development stages.
In Delhi, our sourcing team draws on a local presence and a thorough knowledge of manufacturing regions to identify, select and manage the partners best suited to each project.
This dual presence allows us to maintain a permanent link between brands and manufacturers, and to follow collections as closely as possible through development and production.
An international network of partners
Our presence in India is the historic core of our expertise, within a deliberately international approach to sourcing. We work with a network of manufacturers and partners in India and across several Asian countries, as well as in Portugal and North Africa.
Each manufacturing region has its own craftsmanship, industrial capacity, price levels and logistical advantages. Our role is to steer each project towards the most relevant partners.
Choosing a manufacturer is never a matter of price alone. It also takes into account technical know-how, available fabrics, volumes, the expected quality, lead times, production capacity and the specific requirements of each brand.
An approach tailored to each project
Every brand, every product and every collection comes with different constraints. Rather than imposing a standard solution, Among Friends & Co builds a sourcing and production approach tailored to each project.
This closeness makes exchanges easier, speeds up decision-making and allows every stage to be followed with the manufacturers.
Our commitment
We favour lasting relationships, with our clients as much as with our manufacturing partners. Transparency, closeness, responsiveness and respect guide the way we work.
For Among Friends & Co, effective sourcing is not simply about finding a manufacturer. It is about building a reliable organisation that secures the development and production of a collection over time.
More than a service provider, we position ourselves as an operational partner to brands, with a single objective: to produce in the best possible conditions of quality, cost and lead time.