Getting a Booth Quotation That Survives the Show

A quotation written on a show floor is often wrong by the time it reaches your office. Not because anyone is dishonest, but because both sides were talking fast in a loud hall, with no volume agreed, no specification on the table and no time to check what was actually included. The fix is not to distrust the number. It is to make the conversation precise enough that the number has a meaning.

The same basic shirt in a different colourway: the question that matters at a booth is not whether they can show it, but what a different colour does to the price and the lead time.

Give context before you ask for a price.

A price without a quantity is a guess, and a guess is what you will get. Before asking what a style costs, say what you would realistically order, which market you sell into and whether you need it for one season or as a core line. The same garment can carry a very different figure depending on whether you are testing a style or filling a repeat programme - and a supplier who knows which one it is can answer properly instead of defensively.

Ask what the number includes.

The word quotation can mean very different things. Does it cover the trim and the labels? Is packing included, and what kind? Does the figure assume the freight term you would actually use, or the one that is easiest for the supplier? None of these questions is difficult on its own, but asking none of them leaves you comparing two numbers that were never the same thing.

Ask what will change once the show closes.

A show-floor quotation is a snapshot taken during one of the busiest weeks of the season. Workshops are full, materials are being allocated, and every producer is balancing new conversations against confirmed orders. Ask directly: if I confirm this after the show, what changes - the lead time, the material, or the price? A supplier who answers clearly is telling you how they run their capacity, which is worth knowing before you commit.

Put it in writing the same day.

Send a short note that evening restating what you discussed: the style, the fabric, the quantity range, the freight assumption and anything the supplier flagged as uncertain. Ask them to correct anything you have wrong. That note becomes the reference the real quotation is measured against - and if the two never match, you have learned something important about the supplier before any money moved.

The questions worth asking at a booth:

• What quantity would this price be based on, and what changes above and below it?
• Does the figure include trim, labels and packing, or are those separate?
• Which freight term does the number assume?
• If I confirm after the show, what moves - price, material or lead time?
• What is the one thing you would not promise on this style?

Practical takeaway.

A show quotation is a starting point, not a commitment, and the supplier knows it. The buyers who come away with something usable are the ones who made the conversation narrow: a quantity, an inclusion list, a freight assumption, a note sent the same day. Precision on the floor is what turns a pocketful of cards into a comparison you can actually run.

A half-zip pullover with a zip chest pocket - the kind of detail that changes cost and construction, and belongs on the inclusion list you send the same evening.

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