Deep Dive: Line sheets

A wholesale line sheet can be the most powerful document to have on hand if you’re growing wholesale. Many makers spend a lot of time developing a wholesale line sheet to win the hearts and minds of buyers – but lose the sale because of simple mistakes that they could have avoided. So in this article, we’re putting a big old “WATCH OUT!” sign in front of all the pitfalls before you get to them.

Your line sheet is often the only thing a store buyer sees before deciding whether to place an order. Here's how to make sure it's doing its job — from structure and format to common mistakes.

If you’re working to grow wholesale as a maker or independent brand, you probably have (or will have) some kind of wholesale line sheet. But… having a line sheet is not the same as having an effective line sheet. It's often going to be the only representation of your products that a store owner ever sees before they decide whether to place an order. And if store owners are taking the time to consider your line, it’s a shame to squander that attention with a document that doesn’t represent you well.

Yes, your art is meaningful on its own. Yes, your products are tangibly better than others. But ultimately, your story is a key reason that a store owner will choose your line over another. In fact, with all the hullabaloo about Faire accepting international makers (what many US makers read as “cheap stuff coming in from other countries”) this becomes even more important for any maker trying to grow wholesale.

There are a lot of different options for presenting your product line to retailers. You can use your Faire storefront… you can use an online tool like Candid… or of course you can create a PDF document like a line sheet or a catalog. 

There are pros and cons to the different approaches but if you do decide to create a PDF line sheet or catalog, you probably know that it can be time-consuming to set up. We provide a lot of guidance in the Wholesale In a Box course as to what should be in the line sheet… but until now, we hadn’t provided an actual template you could edit, use, and hit the ground running. 

So we’re happy to share that as a bonus to Wholesale In a Box, you’ll now get a Line Sheet / Catalog Template… for free! 

If you’re working to grow wholesale, your wholesale line sheet (or wholesale catalog) is one of your most important tools. It’s a single, cohesive way to present your line, products, pricing, and wholesale terms in a format that lets you tell your story to store owners, exactly how you want to.

Our guide to making quick, affordable changes to your wholesale line sheet — for makers and small product lines.