Sourcing Visa

Hello,

my husband and I own a creative agency and business consulting firm. We have a client in Australia whom we have been developing their business. They know want us to develop a line of clothing for them. Ideally, we'd like to stay there to oversee production and quality control. I know there is a one year visa for this purpose. 

Does anyone have experience with this situation/visa.

It's not a problem for us to get a letter from the client stating we will have more than enough money to cover ourselves in Thailand while there.

The problem is getting an invite from a Thai company. 

a) its difficult to find manufacturers who have websites up and the ones who do we have no idea who they are or if they are legit.

b ) Ideally we could find a manufacturer there when we land - but then does that make us ineligble to get visa to source? It's not worth it for us to come on a short visa back and forth as we are not located near to Thailand and it would drive up costs exponentially. 

If anyone has experience with sourcing for fashion and visas we'd love to hear more. 

Thank you