The sourcing agent model is broken. Here's what it costs you.
Matias Santos, Founder·
Most independent clothing brands start with a sourcing agent because it feels like the safe option. Someone else handles the factory search. Someone else manages the relationship. Someone else deals with the language barrier and the time zone and the production complexity.
The problem is that "someone else manages the relationship" is not a feature. It is the most expensive thing you will ever pay for.
What you're actually buying when you hire an agent
A sourcing agent charges 10-15% commission on every production order you place. On a €60,000 production run, that's €6,000-9,000 in a single season. On €150,000 in annual production, it's €15,000-22,500 every year.
For that money, you are getting:
A factory that the agent chose, not you
The Sourcing Agent Model Is Broken: What It Costs You | NovaSupplier
A relationship that the agent owns, not you
Pricing that the agent negotiated, with their margin included, not disclosed
Communication that goes through the agent, not to the factory
You are paying to not own the most important asset in your supply chain.
The dependency problem compounds
In the first season, the agent dependency feels manageable. They found you a factory. The samples were good. The production went okay. You move on.
By the third season, the dynamic has shifted. The agent knows that switching factories is painful for you. They know you've built a rhythm with this manufacturer even if they control the relationship. The commission feels like the cost of doing business.
By the fifth season, you are paying 10-15% forever on a relationship you've already paid to build, and you don't actually own it. If your agent retires, pivots, or raises their rate, you are starting from zero with a factory you've worked with for five years but don't know how to contact directly.
This is not a hypothetical. It is the most common story among brands that come to NovaSupplier having used agents for multiple seasons.
What the math looks like
Let's be precise about what the agent model costs over time.
Year 1: €80,000 in production. Agent fee: €10,000. Year 2: €150,000 in production. Agent fee: €18,750. Year 3: €200,000 in production. Agent fee: €25,000.
Total paid to the agent after three years: €53,750.
At the end of year three, you still don't own the factory relationship. The agent still controls the contact. The pricing is still opaque. The dependency is actually deeper because your production volume makes switching more painful.
That €53,750 could have funded your sourcing process for a decade. It could have paid for factory visits, sample rounds, quality control, and the establishment of direct relationships with three different Portuguese manufacturers, all of whom you own directly, forever.
What "no agents" actually means
When NovaSupplier says no agents, no intermediaries, it is not marketing language. It is the design of the system.
Every conversation between a brand and a manufacturer on NovaSupplier is direct. The brand knows the factory name from day one. The factory knows the brand. The relationship is established between them, not between them and a platform that acts as gatekeeper.
NovaSupplier charges a 3.5% commission on new relationships discovered through the platform. Not on existing relationships. Not forever. Once the relationship is established, it is yours. The platform's fee is for the discovery, not for every order you ever place with that manufacturer.
This is the fundamental difference. An agent's business model requires you to remain dependent. NovaSupplier's model only works if the relationship is real and direct.
The information asymmetry problem
There is a specific problem with the agent model that rarely gets discussed: you don't know what you're actually paying for production.
An agent negotiates your price with the factory, marks it up by some amount, and presents you with their price. You never see the factory's original quote. You don't know if the €25/unit price you're paying is a fair factory price or a €17/unit factory price with an €8/unit agent markup included.
This information asymmetry is not accidental. It is the mechanism by which agents protect their business.
When you work directly with a factory, you see the actual price. You can ask for a breakdown. You can compare quotes from multiple factories for the same product. You can negotiate on actual numbers, not on a number someone else has already inflated.
Transparency on pricing alone often recovers 15-20% of unit cost in the first season of direct sourcing. That is before you factor in the saved commission.
The counterargument, and why it doesn't hold
The standard defence of agents is expertise. They know the factories. They know the production process. They manage complexity so you don't have to.
This argument is strongest when you are very early, first season, no experience, no idea how to read a tech pack. In that specific moment, an agent's knowledge is genuinely useful.
But the argument weakens with every season. After one or two production cycles, you understand the process. You know what questions to ask. You know what a good sample looks like and what a bad one signals. The expertise you were paying for is now yours.
The agent's incentive is to make you feel like you still need them, that the process is still too complex to manage directly. Pay attention to whether that feeling is based on reality or on narrative.
When you can't go fully direct yet
There are brands that are genuinely not ready for direct sourcing. If you have never produced before, if you don't have a tech pack, if you don't have a realistic budget for a sample process, going fully direct on your first season is harder.
But the solution is not an agent with a permanent commission. The solution is a structured process that helps you build the knowledge to go direct as quickly as possible.
NovaSupplier is not a managed service. We don't handle production on your behalf. We connect you directly with verified Portuguese manufacturers and give you the workflow to manage the relationship yourself, RFQs, quotes, sample management, payments, all in one platform.
The first order is harder than the tenth. That is true everywhere. But after the first order, you own the relationship, the contact, and the knowledge. You pay 3.5% on that first order and nothing on every subsequent order with the same factory.
Compare that to 10-15% forever.
The brands that have done this
The clothing brands that have built the strongest supply chains in Europe, Norse Projects, Corridor NYC, Asket, Hiut Denim, built them through direct factory relationships, not through agents.
Dan Snyder from Corridor NYC drove around Portugal personally, visited every factory he could find, and built relationships that have lasted a decade. That investment in the first season compounded into a production partner who has grown with his brand.
This is not accessible to a brand in year one. It is accessible to a brand in year two or three, one that has done one or two seasons with a factory through a direct channel, built the relationship, and is now in a position to deepen it.
The path is: first direct order → established relationship → growing partnership. Not: agent forever → someday go direct.
What to do if you're currently using an agent
You don't need to end the relationship abruptly. But you should start building the parallel path now.
Ask your agent which factory produces your product. If they won't tell you, that answer is itself useful information.
Start sourcing one new product category directly, not through your agent. Use that experience to understand the process and build the confidence that you can do this.
When your agent relationship comes up for renewal or renegotiation, you'll be negotiating from knowledge rather than dependency.
NovaSupplier is the direct channel between independent European clothing brands and verified Portuguese manufacturers. No agents. No intermediaries. You own the relationship from the first message. Start at novasupplier.com.