Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for apparel manufacturers.
A checklist built from how apparel manufacturers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Orders by style, colour and size
- Fabric and trims stock
- Cutting register
- Subcontract delivery notes
- Tailor and fabricator piece rates
- Finished stock and dispatch
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For merchandisers
- For cutting masters
- For line supervisors and checkers
- For store and packing teams
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Orders by style with cut, sewn, finished and packed quantities by size
- Fabric issued against marker plan, with end bits and balance by dye lot
- Bundles held at each sewing line and outside unit
- Rejection and rework counts by operation, line and subcontract unit
- Piece-rate earnings by operator, with advances and net payable
- Samples awaiting approval and the orders they hold back
- Packed cartons against the buyer’s ratio pack and ship date
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Barcode scanners and label printers
- SMS
- Accounting export
- Pattern and marker software export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Does it replace our pattern and marker software?
- Can it follow a bundle through every operation?
- How are pieces at subcontract units kept in step?
- Can fabric be tracked by dye lot and shade?
- Does it work out piece-rate pay?
- Can a buyer’s ratio pack be packed from it?
- What about export documents?
- Can the floor use it without typing?
- Who owns the data?
- How do we see it before deciding?
- How long before a sewing line can scan bundles?
- What does the merchandiser need to bring along?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Pieces at fabricators are not tracked
- Fabric consumption exceeds the plan
- Shades are mixed across dye lots
- Size-wise stock is unclear
- Piece-rate wages lead to disputes
Prefer to talk it through? See the apparel manufacturers page.