Wholesale sourcing guide.

Factory Cut is our B2B wholesale department. It exists for independent designers, CMT cutters, costume-shop owners, film wardrobe departments, upholstery studios, and anyone else who buys fabric in bulk metres rather than off a haberdashery shelf.

You do not need to be an approved SAFM vendor to buy from Factory Cut — the department is open to any authenticated account. If you have a customer login, you can already source fabric.

Each fabric SKU has an MOQ set by the mill. This is the smallest length they'll cut off a bolt. It ranges from 3 metres for niche premium fabrics to 20+ metres for lower-cost commodity textiles.

The MOQ is displayed on every fabric card and enforced at checkout — you cannot pay for less than the MOQ, but you can absolutely order more. Your cart shows a friendly warning if you drop below the threshold.

Fabric is priced per metre, in ZAR, VAT-inclusive. SAFM retains a flat 15% platform commission on the fabric subtotal — the mill sees the remaining 85% plus 100% of any shipping fee. Commission is the same across every sale on SA Fashion Mall (garments, fabric, and custom orders).

• You place an order for N metres at R X per metre.
• Subtotal = N × X.
• Platform commission (15%) is retained by SAFM.
• The mill's payout (85%) sits in escrow until you confirm delivery of the roll.
• No separate shipping fee — mills fold logistics into their per-metre pricing or arrange freight with you directly for pallet-scale orders.

Buying fabric off a screenshot is a leap of faith even for veteran sourcing managers. Most SAFM factories will send a small A5 swatch pack of any fabric you're seriously considering, usually free of charge with paid postage. Contact the factory through their listing page.

All Factory Cut orders are paid up-front through the simulated secure checkout. There are currently no net-30 or trade credit terms on SAFM — this keeps the escrow model coherent and the mills' cashflow predictable.

Your payment receipt is a tax invoice for the mill’s portion (85%) and for the SAFM platform fee (15%). If you need a consolidated monthly statement across multiple orders, SAFM can generate one on request through your account settings.

Orders above 200m of a single SKU, dyed-to-order runs, and bespoke woven blends are best organised off-platform directly with the mill after an initial through-platform order to build trust. SAFM is happy to broker the introduction and vouch for both sides once you've completed one clean escrow-backed transaction on our system.

The 7-day cooling-off right in section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 protects natural-person consumers transacting outside their trade. Businesses purchasing fabric stock through Factory Cut or on wholesale terms are not natural-person consumers for the purposes of that transaction and therefore do not have the s44 cooling-off right on Factory Cut orders. Fabric that has been cut to a specified length is, in any event, goods made to the buyer’s specification and is separately excluded from s44 under section 42(2)(f)(i).

What remains available. Statutory Consumer Protection Act remedies for defective, unsafe, non-conforming or non-delivered goods (CPA s55–56) apply to Factory Cut orders on the same evidence-based basis as retail orders. If the mill delivers a fabric that materially deviates from the listed specification (composition, weight, width, or dye lot outside disclosed tolerance), or fails to deliver within a reasonable time, open a dispute from the order page and SAFM will review the evidence from both sides.