In this guide 6 sections
Make to stock suits steady lines you can forecast, such as plain bed linen or white towels, while make to order suits buyer-specific sizes, colours and labels. Most makers run both. Each route needs its own fabric buying rules, packing station and records, so keep the two apart from the greige store through to the dispatch bay.
Which products belong to which route
Plain white towels, standard sheet sets and common curtain sizes move at a steady rate, so they can be made ahead and held in finished cartons or folded packs. Other lines are different. Printed duvet covers for a named retailer, towels with a woven logo and curtains cut to a hotel’s window schedule have size, shade and label fixed by the buyer.
Nobody else can buy them. Make them after the order. Seasonal lines need a decision.
Quilted bedspreads and kitchen linen sell in bursts around promotions and holidays, so decide each by how often the same size and colour repeat in a year.
- Plain sheet sets, make to stock
- White and basic towels, make to stock
- Buyer-labelled bedding, make to order
- Curtains cut to window schedules, make to order
What it does to fabric buying
Stock lines need grey cloth or yarn bought against a forecast, so you carry risk if the season turns, while order lines buy cloth only after the purchase order. Lead time grows, waste shrinks.
A middle route works well: hold greige or white base cloth that can be dyed or printed later and commit to colour only when an order lands. The store stays tidy.
Yarn bought for towels can wait in the store for months, but dyed cloth in a buyer’s shade cannot be reused, which is why dyeing waits for the order.
What it does to packing
Stock lines pack into your own cartons with your own barcode, whereas order lines pack to the buyer’s manual, with carton marks, inner bag, hang tag and size ratio. Mixing the two causes errors.
A buyer’s hang tag ends up on the wrong lot, so give order lines their own packing station and a checklist copied from the order sheet. A second person should check each carton against the buyer’s packing list before sealing, because a wrong size ratio is found only at the buyer’s warehouse.
The records each route needs
Stock lines need reorder points, forecast sheets and ageing of finished goods, whereas order lines need a spec sheet, approved sample and lab dip record for every order. Each carton links to its order.
Without those records nobody can say whether a buyer’s special label and shorter run paid for the extra handling, cartons and checks involved. Keep one item master with a flag for each route, because otherwise stock sits unseen in the wrong list, reorders happen twice and cartons of sheet sets pile up.
Choosing the split for your range
List every product and mark it by how repeatable its demand is and how fixed the buyer’s spec is, so anything repeatable with a loose spec goes to stock. Tight specs go to order.
Review the split each season. Seasons change the answer.
A towel line that repeated every month last year may sell to one buyer only this year, and then it belongs to the order route with base cloth held. Next step: pick your five slowest moving stock lines and ask whether any buyer has ever requested them in a different size, colour or label.
- Count repeat orders per product
- Check how often specs change
- Mark route in the item master
Make route worksheet
A grid on one sheet with products listed down the left edge and four columns for repeat demand, fixed buyer spec, holdable base cloth and chosen route. Below it sit the packing checklist items and the records kept for each route, grouped by stock and order, with room for a signature.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can one product be both stock and order?
Yes. A plain towel may stay white and take a buyer’s label only when an order arrives, which keeps stock flexible and puts label risk on the buyer.
How do I forecast stock lines?
Use last season’s dispatches by size and colour, adjusted for known promotions, and keep the sheet simple enough that the planner reviews it every month without help.
What if a buyer cancels an order line?
Record the cloth and finished pieces already made, then agree who bears them, because buyer-labelled goods are hard to resell, and settle this in the order terms. Do it before cutting.
Do small makers need both routes?
Not always. Many start with orders only and add a stock line once one product repeats, such as a plain white towel that sells in the same size every month.