# I need a wholesale rhinestone vendor!



## Blessed GiggleZ (Feb 13, 2012)

I am planning on purchasing some rhinestones soon. Has anyone purchased rhinestones from Specialty Graphics Supply offers vinyl cutters, heat presses, transfer sheets, sign and t-shirt vinyl and more before? If so, are the rhinestones a good quality? I need to know ASAP. Thanks!


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## Knehmer (May 6, 2007)

I buy all of my rhinestones from them and I love their template material, too


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## mamag (Feb 17, 2012)

are they made in the USA? I am new to the business and have heard the stones coming from China/Korea are not as good quality as those made in the USA. True? Not true?


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## Knehmer (May 6, 2007)

They are Korean. I'm not sure I've heard of a vendor who actually makes them in the US.


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## taricp35 (Dec 10, 2008)

mamag said:


> are they made in the USA? I am new to the business and have heard the stones coming from China/Korea are not as good quality as those made in the USA. True? Not true?


There are no rhinestones that are actually manufactured in the USA to my knowledge.


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## jean518 (Sep 23, 2009)

MOST Korean stones are better than Chinese. I think the Chinese are low end. There are grades of Korean.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

There are actually now high grade Chinese stones that are better than Korean. I saw a whole bunch of them at the Magic show this week. I will still continue to import and use only machine cut stones because their quality is so superior. All of the rules about what grade and type of stone is better than another are totally changing.
It was interesting to talk to so many different people from different factories in China. Most rhinestones, even "Korean," are made in China these days. And there are even different levels and grades of machine cut stones.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

DivineBling said:


> It was interesting to talk to so many different people from different factories in China. Most rhinestones, even "Korean," are made in China these days.


I would have to disagree with you on this statement as they were trying to sell you a rainbow. There are just as many factories in Korea producing rhinestones as there are in China. The difference is that you have more Suppliers out China than out of Korea. If you are buying your stones in 500 gross or 1000 gross bags, that is a supplier, not a manufacturer/factory. The place that they source them from to sell to their customers is the manufacturer/factory. All these sites that we see online selling rhinestones in bulk are simply suppliers. They are sourcing the stones. So from that perspective, yes China far out numbers Korea, or anyone else for that matter. And although Korean grade stones are being made in China, There are still just as many factories producing them in Korea. There are so many types of stones available and manufactured around the world it is crazy. I have visited factories in Dubai, Brasil, and Italy. They were beautiful stones but they were crazy stupid expensive so I had to leave them alone. The Dubai stone was higher than a Swarovski! As for the grading system, that came out of China. Korean suppliers in the beginning did not use a rating system. That was adopted after Westerners started requesting certain grade stones. Anyone remember years ago (2008 I think) on TSF when we were discussing the color of the glue on the stones and questioned whether there was an actual grading system? No one wanted the white, silver, or the dark green glue stones and when many of us spoke with our Korean suppliers they told us no Korean stones do not have grades. Look what happened, We started requesting gray glue when we placed our orders, now most stones come standard with the gray glue and everyone carries stones with different grades. Do I think you can get an excellent quality stone out of China in 2012, yes I do. Especially that imitation Swarovski they are producing, but don't believe the hype that most stones "even Korean" are manufactured in China these days as that is simply not true. Korean stones are still being manufactured in Korea in abundance.


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## mamag (Feb 17, 2012)

So, where does one go to get the best quality stones? How does a newbie differentiate between junk and quality? I have looked at website after website...and I'd like to eliminate mistakes if anyone has knowledge about certain suppliers' or certain stones' quality.


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## Knehmer (May 6, 2007)

You can go be recommendation and I gave you one


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

Sorry, I should have clarified... I'm not buying either Chinese or Korean stones at this time. I only bring in machine cut stones. And everyone's look slightly different. 

And I do buy the imitation Swarovski but haven't started selling them yet. 

I would love to see those Dubai stones!


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## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

You can request samples when you call and speak to the salesperson about their stones.


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## Blingpro (Feb 26, 2012)

VeeDub is absolutely right, there are many Korean manufactured stones that are being sold out of China. So Korea is the actual manufacturer, but China is the supplier. As far as being produced in the US, I am not aware of any US manufacturers, however there are several wholesale distributors (i.e. Digital Art, RhinestoneBlvd, Rhinestone Unlimited, Coleman & Co. etc...) as far as the quality, request that they send you samples so you can look at them first hand, websites don't always give a good depiction of the quality of their stones, and if they're a reputable company who stand behind their rhinestones then they will gladly send you samples. For me, I actually requested samples from a couple of companies and compared not only their quality, but their prices and color selections too.


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

Ryan is absolutely right. You may get some recommendations for places other people liked, but only you can determine if the stones from a supplier are what you want and/or are willing to pay for. 

I love the imitation Swavorski stones, but have not yet decided to carry them on my site, as I don't get a lot of requests for them. I may begin stocking the crystal only, though pretty soon.


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## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

I purchase my stones from a Chinese supplier but they are Korean stones. I use to buy from suppliers in the US but I buy so many at one time, it's a lot less expensive to buy from China even with the inflated shipping costs. Before I placed and actual order, I requested some samples and asked for a list of US Companies that purchase form them. They only gave me Company names so I had to search them on the internet. Most places were happy to answer any questions I had about the quality of the stones and the service from the Supplier. So for about 6 months now I've been using the supplier from China and I'm very happy with their service and the stones. 

So basically ask for samples and maybe even ask for references.....Although they might have to have their customers contact you instead of giving out their information.


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## gabenick2 (Nov 23, 2010)

diana13t said:


> Before I placed and actual order, I requested some samples and asked for a list of US Companies that purchase form them.


I had not thought of that, thanks. I am currently looking and have requested sample from different companies, I have found some companies are not really worth importing because I can get almost the same price here after factoring shipping costs.


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## flamemzo (Oct 26, 2014)

may i ask who your supplier is please? Am new to this and am looking for a supplier for my business in auckland.


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## flamemzo (Oct 26, 2014)

diana13t said:


> I purchase my stones from a Chinese supplier but they are Korean stones..


May i ask who your supplier is please? Am new and looking for a supplier for my business in New Zealand.


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## kingwoo (Mar 22, 2013)

Hi Flamenzo, just looking around and saw this post.
I think people are talking about hotfix rhinestones here. Not sew on ones.

Most of us do heat press rhinestone transfers which to be applied to tee shirts and garments by heat press machine. Sew on rhinestones take more time and labor, I guess? 
Instead rhinestone motifs are more like those heat transfers, but more bling and shiny. So welcomed by girls.

Or maybe there are people out there who sell sew on ones, too. Just need to dig more.


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## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

In LA so many Korean stone sellers. Most of them are manufacturing own.
Cannot remember the names. But I am sure anyone can Google it.
On going price is 2-3mm is $0.10/gross.
Cheers! Beers are on me always.


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## chunkymonkey (Jul 7, 2010)

SGS Stones are very good. I have purchased a bunch from them. They also send the ounces in plastic containers which is a plus. However since my rhinestone business grew I now need to purchase much higher quantities of stones and have switched to Shineartusa, they seem to have the best prices and the stones seem to be the exact same. Shineart also ships faster. I also now purchase all my transfer tape from shineart as well. I do keep SGS orange vinyl on hand as backup in case I am slipping and run out of sticky flock. It's a bit of a pain to work with but it will work.


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## roram92y (May 4, 2015)

If you don't mind me asking who is your China supplier?


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