There are several basic sources where you can get patterns. It all depends on what you truly need.

Ordering a custom design or purchasing one from a designer's database isn't always the best choice.

I will show you the differences between the sources where you can purchase an interesting design, and for whom each of them, in my opinion, will be the best fit.
The most general comparison includes:

• – design specialists and design studios
• – stock websites
• – graphic designers and graphic studios

This distinction is quite fluid.

Stock websites can have huge databases of various graphics and photos, but there are also portals that specialize exclusively in designs for flat surfaces.

Graphic studios may offer websites, visual identity, and product graphics—including graphics for your fabric.

Another type can be an agency that creates only print graphics: from Christmas cards and decorative papers to patterns for fabrics or wallpapers.

Finally, we have design specialists and design studios, who can create both licensed and exclusive designs. They have their own well-established style that suits you, or they create designs precisely tailored to your requirements.

They sell designs mainly on a licensed basis.

A license can take various forms. The cost of a design may depend on the type and size of the production using the purchased graphic, or it may depend on the quality of the graphic file. It sometimes happens that a design can be purchased for exclusive use, but that exclusivity is usually not for life.

Even though there are more cons than pros, there is a group of manufacturers for whom this will be the best choice.

Print shops and subcontractors

For them, design consistency is of little importance, as the client chooses exactly what they need. A focus on service and quality is then much more important than the design offer.

Small businesses are just entering the market.

They are looking for their niche and testing their target groups, and in this way, they can build and test the foundation of their design offer or the overall company style at a lower cost.

In their offer, they may have many different projects – from packaging to illustrations and fabric designs.

This is currently changing, and both graphic designers and graphic studios are beginning to choose specializations. Still, you can find many companies or freelancers whose portfolios contain illustrations that can be successfully chosen as a fabric design.

For those who know exactly what kind of design they need and it's nothing complicated. This is not so much about specific manufacturers but more about the challenges they face. 

This choice is a good fit when:

• You have a design that needs minor modifications. Just like in the previous point, the design exists, but a graphic designer needs to improve it to match your expectations.
• You want to expand an existing collection, for example, with additional derivative designs. You know exactly what this collection should look like. 
• You want to increase the capacity of your own designers or offload the work of your external ones. Such cases happen, for example, before industry trade shows.

This refers to designers who don't just offer their own pattern database.

A good design studio or designer stays up to date with all the latest market news and trends.

Because of their strict specialization, they know the production process, techniques and technologies, and the specifics of marketing and sales for the products their patterns are intended for. 

It would seem like this is the only right choice? Not entirely. In addition to the pros, there are also cons.

This is certainly not a good solution for the groups mentioned earlier, nor for companies that have their own trendsetters, large design studios, or owners of luxury brands who set global trends themselves. However… exceptions do happen here too.

You should be interested in this type of collaboration if:

• You have your own designers on board, but they irregularly need greater project support on a broad scale.
• You don’t have your own designers, but you need a consistent company style and a thoughtful approach to your target customer

And in addition:

• You need to stand out on the market through design and require a specialist for this.
• You introduce a relatively large number of designs annually and regularly build, or want to build, collections for a given season.
• You don't have time to search the depths of the internet for trends and to wonder about the size of a motif in a design.
• You care about having an exclusive design rather than a licensed one.

The price of a design should be a drop in the ocean of your production investment.

It makes no sense to buy a design, even from the best specialist, for exclusive use if you are just testing the market and want to produce a small test batch. 

Even though it's just a drop, remember that it can make your production investment yield very poor returns. There's nothing worse than having to sell off products at a discount because they're sitting in a warehouse. 

Therefore, do your research and find out exactly what you need. If you're still unsure, contact us. Together, we'll clarify what kind of collaboration you need.