Umgee Wholesale: What Boutique Buyers Should Know
If you have been buying wholesale women's apparel for more than a season or two, you have almost certainly sold an Umgee piece. The flowy printed midi, the open-front cardigan a customer bought in three colors, the tiered dress that moved all spring — a lot of those come out of one building in the Downtown Los Angeles Fashion District. Umgee has been there since 2001, and it has quietly become one of those vendors boutique owners reorder from without thinking much about it.
That familiarity is exactly why it is worth reading the fine print. The catalog is easy to love and the policies are stricter than most buyers realize, particularly around returns, damages and store credit. Here is what the brand is, how to get an account, what the terms say in plain English, and how to build a first order that tells you something useful.
Who Umgee is, and where the clothes come from
Umgee USA was founded in 2001 in the heart of the Downtown Los Angeles Fashion District, and describes itself as a wholesale clothing manufacturer rather than a reseller. That matters practically: you are buying from the people producing the styles, which is part of why the line turns over so fast and why stock on a hot style can move within a day.
The company runs two addresses, and buyers mix them up constantly. The warehouse and returns address is 1565 E 23rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90011. The showroom is somewhere else entirely — 933 Towne Ave #102, Los Angeles, CA 90021, listed in the LA Fashion District's official directory as "industry only," meaning it is a trade showroom, not a place to walk in and shop. If you are planning a buying trip, Towne Ave is the address you want. It sits in a dense pocket of the district — Ambiance Apparel and Wax Jeans are directly across the street at 930 Towne Ave, with paid parking a hundred feet away — so you can hit several showrooms on foot in an afternoon. Our guide to LA Fashion District wholesale brands maps out more of the neighbors worth a stop.
What the line actually covers
The assortment is broader than Umgee's reputation suggests. The catalog spans tops (prints, short and long sleeve, sleeveless, sweaters), dresses in short, midi and maxi lengths, bottoms including shorts, skirts, pants, jeggings, jumpsuits and rompers, and outerwear covering kimonos, jackets, cardigans and vests. There is a dedicated plus-size collection rather than a few graded styles, two sub-lines — MOHMe by Umgee and UMG Exclusives — and an outlet of closeouts at reduced price points.
The aesthetic sits in comfortable, print-forward, everyday-wearable territory: clothes that photograph well on a live sale and don't require a customer to be a particular size or age. If your store leans that way, Umgee pairs naturally with Zenana for basics and layering and Entro or Easel for more elevated contemporary prints. For the extended-size side, our roundup of plus-size wholesale clothing suppliers shows where Umgee fits against the rest of the field.
Getting an account: what Umgee will ask for
Umgee's site is gated. You cannot see wholesale pricing or order until the company has verified you are buying for resale. Per Umgee's own FAQ, the process is: click Be a Member in the top right of umgeeusa.com and complete the application; upload a resale document; wait one to two business days for review, after which login credentials arrive by email.
A seller's permit is the standard document, but Umgee explicitly accepts a business license, state certification or Federal Tax ID (EIN) instead — useful if your state doesn't issue one under that name. If three business days pass with no access, call (323) 526-9138 or email web@umgeeusa.com rather than reapplying. International buyers are welcome; country or regional business certificates satisfy the requirement.
If you don't have resale paperwork yet, fix that first — essentially every real wholesale vendor gates access the same way. Our walkthrough on how to get a seller's permit for wholesale clothing covers the state-by-state differences.
Order processing, shipping and the rules that catch buyers out
| Term | What Umgee states |
|---|---|
| Account verification | 1–2 business days after documents are submitted |
| Standard order processing | 1–3 business days, excluding weekends and holidays |
| Expedited processing | Same business day if received before 8:00 a.m. PST |
| When you're charged | At shipment, not at order placement |
| Signature required | All international orders and any order over $3,000 |
| Return/damage claim window | 10 business days from receipt of goods, by email |
| Refunds | Store credit only — no cash refunds |
Carrier choice is a real decision, not a formality. Umgee is blunt about this: UPS is the only option carrying insurance for lost, stolen or damaged packages. Choose USPS and you cannot file a claim. UPS also won't deliver to PO boxes, and Umgee may switch your method if you've entered one. On international orders, USPS tracking stops once the package leaves the country, which is why the company strongly recommends UPS throughout. Saving six dollars on a method that voids your ability to claim a lost box is a bad trade on a $900 order.
Expect a card authorization on expedited orders, and note there is no Saturday or Sunday delivery. On international shipments, Umgee does not reimburse customs, conversion or import fees — budget those into landed cost before you price the goods.
"Ship as ready" is the recommended default, and there's a reason. Umgee notes stock on popular styles can change within a day, and that back-ordered and pre-order items ship as they become available. Granting ship-as-ready authority means you get what's in stock now instead of waiting on the whole order to consolidate. The tradeoff is more inbound boxes and more receiving work — usually worth it for a store doing weekly drops, less so for a single seasonal buy.
Once an order is confirmed, it's locked. Changes are not permitted after an order moves to "Confirmed" or "In Progress," cancellations must be in writing, and none are accepted after shipment. Review the cart carefully: items in a cart are not reserved, and availability can change without notice.
The returns policy, read carefully
This is the section most worth your attention, because the penalties are concrete. Claims go by email to webreturns@umgeeusa.com within 10 business days of receiving the goods, and you need a return authorization before shipping anything back — unauthorized packages get sent back at your expense. Merchandise must be unworn, unaltered and unwashed, with tags attached and original labels included.
The fees: a 20% restocking fee if you fail to follow all return requirements, a 10% restocking fee on any return that isn't a verified damage, and return labels provided for damaged goods only — non-damage returns ship back at your cost.
For damage claims, include photos of the defect, your Sales ID or invoice number in the subject line, and company name, address, invoice number, style number, sizes and colors, quantity and reason in the body. Umgee will not issue authorizations after the stated window.
Two more hard limits: all refunds are store credit, including on damage claims, and shipping and handling charges are never refundable. And every sale or discounted item is final, including the outlet section. If you're loading up on closeouts to hit a price point, treat those units as unreturnable from the moment you confirm.
None of this is unusual for an LA manufacturer; what's unusual is how precisely it's written down. The takeaway is a receiving habit: open and inspect every Umgee box the day it lands, photograph anything defective immediately, and email the claim that week. Ten business days disappears fast when a shipment arrives during a busy market weekend.
Where to buy, and where to meet them
The most complete assortment is on umgeeusa.com itself, where new arrivals, the plus collection, the sub-lines and the outlet all live together. Buying direct means the terms above apply — including charge-at-shipment, which is friendlier to cash flow than it sounds.
Umgee styles also surface on third-party wholesale marketplaces, where the economics differ: opening-order minimums, net terms and return windows are set by the platform, not by Umgee. Faire applies its own returns policy on first orders with a brand, which can be a lower-risk way to test a vendor you've never carried, at the cost of a narrower assortment. Our comparison of FashionGo vs. Faire vs. OrangeShine breaks down which marketplace suits which buyer.
Umgee also keeps a real trade show presence, which is the best way to evaluate fabric weight and fit before committing. Per the brand's published 2026 schedule:
| Show | Location | Dates | Booth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Apparel | AmericasMart, Atlanta | October 6–9 | 1-512 |
| Dallas Apparel Market | Dallas Market Center | October 20–23 | 12-4300 |
Building a first Umgee order that teaches you something
A first order's job is information, not volume. Buy across categories rather than deep in one — three or four styles from different categories will tell you which part of the line your customer responds to, which photos can't. Treat the cardigans and kimonos as anchor items: open-front layering is what Umgee is best known for, it works across a wide size range, and it holds a longer selling window than a trend print.
Keep the first order out of the outlet — closeouts are final sale and usually represent styles that are ending, not beginning. Choose UPS, grant ship-as-ready, and put the receiving inspection on your calendar for the day tracking says it lands. That last habit is what makes the claim window workable.
Our Peach Love wholesale guide takes the same close look at another LA brand worth comparing against Umgee before you commit a season's open-to-buy to either one.
Is Umgee right for your store?
Umgee makes the most sense for a boutique selling comfortable, print-driven, size-inclusive everyday clothing to a customer who wants to look put-together without being styled. It is a workhorse line, not a statement line. The breadth lets you build a coherent floor from one vendor, and LA manufacturing means fast domestic turnaround instead of a twelve-week lead time.
Where it asks more of you is operationally. Store-credit-only refunds, a ten-business-day claim window, final-sale closeouts and locked orders after confirmation all mean your receiving process has to be tight. Buyers who treat inbound freight casually eventually eat a restocking fee on units they can't return; buyers who open boxes the day they arrive rarely have a problem.
Verify current terms with Umgee directly before a first order — minimums, shipping thresholds and fees change, and the version in your inbox beats the version in any article. See the full listing, categories and contact details on the Umgee brand page, alongside the other LA vendors in our boutique wholesale clothing vendor directory.