Who buys wholesale on this route
Three kinds of buyer keep a wholesale sneaker program alive. Distributors, who need repeatable depth in styles their region sells through. Chain and department-store buyers, who need consistency across doors and a clean paper trail from program to carton. And online or marketplace sellers, who need breadth cheap enough to test and fast enough to restock while a listing is warm. All three are really buying the same thing: finished, current-season shoes they can order by the carton, reorder on a rhythm, and plan a margin around without a production queue in the way.
The stock route is built for that. Shoes are finished and racked in the partner's spot warehouse, the current list carries 37 model codes across casual sneakers and sandals, and confirmed orders are picked immediately. What you are planning is not a production run - it is a slice of live inventory, confirmed in writing at the moment you commit.
Buying by the carton
The carton is the unit everything else hangs on. Each carton holds 12 pairs in a size run, typically stepping 1-2-3-3-2-1 across the six size steps, and most models run EU 36-45 with some women's and kids' runs at 36-41. Carton dimensions sit at about 70-77 x 41.5-45.5 x 32.5-34.5 cm, which matters more than new buyers expect: it decides pallet math, warehouse slots and freight class before any other planning is done. Your exact size runs and carton plan are confirmed in writing at RFQ.
Planning in cartons also disciplines the range. A wholesaler who thinks in cartons can split a budget across models and colors deliberately instead of letting one attractive style absorb it. Keep the arithmetic visible: cartons times twelve is the pair count, and the size run tells you how many of those pairs sit in the sizes your customers actually buy.
Mixed cartons and first orders
Mixed models are allowed within a carton, and this is the single most useful fact for a first wholesale order. It means breadth does not require depth: one carton can introduce a style, and four cartons can test four styles without committing twelve pairs to any unproven one. A typical first program spreads cartons across a cushioned runner, a court-inspired low, a leather casual and a kids' line, weighted toward core colors. The exact mix is written into the program sheet before picking starts. The desk's lot buying guide walks through structuring that first order.
Core colors, on purpose
The stock list skews to blacks, whites, greys and browns. That is not a limitation to apologize for; it is why the list moves in volume. Core colors sell across seasons and across channels, which is what a warehouse needs to turn inventory and what a wholesale buyer needs to turn capital. Seasonal colors and prints are a different product: they belong to the OEM route, where depth is planned rather than bought. If your channel calls for a specific colorway at depth, use stock to prove the silhouette and move the winner to custom production.
| Building block | What it looks like | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Unit | 12 pairs per carton in a size run | Per program, in writing |
| Size run | Typically 1-2-3-3-2-1 across six steps; EU 36-45, some runs 36-41 | On the program sheet |
| Mix | Mixed models allowed per carton | In the picking list |
| Colors | Core range: blacks, whites, greys, browns | Against the live list at RFQ |
| Carton | About 70-77 x 41.5-45.5 x 32.5-34.5 cm | On the packing list |
| Dispatch | Picked on confirmation, typically within days | Date confirmed per program |
The reorder rhythm
Wholesale is a rhythm, not an event. The stock list changes as cartons ship, so a reorder is planned against the list as it stands that week - which is why the desk confirms the live list at RFQ instead of publishing a catalog that quietly goes stale. The pattern buyers settle into: watch sell-through by model and size, hold a reorder trigger per style, and confirm the next program while the previous one still has shelf life. Dispatch is typically within days of confirmation, so the trigger can sit close to the sell-out line instead of weeks ahead of it.
Two records make the rhythm work. A simple sell-through log by model, color and size - which styles move, at which sizes, how fast. And a standing note of what your channel asked for that the list could not supply, because that note is next season's OEM brief.
Where OEM completes the program
Stock and OEM are not competing routes for a wholesaler; they are two halves of one program. Stock proves what your channel buys, at carton minimums, this quarter. OEM takes the proven styles and locks them in: your design changes, your colors, your labels and boxes, produced in about 45-60 days after sample approval for the following season. A wholesale program that runs only stock rents its range from a list; one that converts its winners builds an own range the list cannot pull back. Compare the routes on the OEM page and private label.
First order, in practice
Start narrower than feels comfortable: a handful of cartons across three or four styles in core colors, with the mix written down before picking. Check cartons against the list on arrival, log sell-through from week one, and set the reorder trigger per style. When a style proves itself twice, that is the moment to price it as an OEM program with your own branding. Send the channel, the sizes and the quantities on the request form and the desk replies with the live list and a proposed mix in writing. For the terms behind the numbers, read MOQ and lead time and wholesale footwear terms explained.