Follow each order from yarn to finished garment, with every lot, bundle and shade on one record.

Seven kinds of plant turn fibre into cloth and garments, and each loses track of the order at a different point. A yarn manufacturer spins combed cotton or polyester into counts and lots, and a fabric mill weaves on looms or knits on circular machines into rolls. A processor bleaches, dyes, prints and finishes the cloth. Apparel and uniform makers cut and stitch it, while home and technical textile producers make bed sheets, terry towels, filter cloth and coated fabrics.

Each stage hands over a measured quantity that must be accounted for before the next one starts, and the unit changes at every handover. Yarn is issued by count and lot, fabric by roll and metre, and garments by size ratio and bundle, so no single unit follows the order throughout. Shade and fabric weight in grams per square metre travel with the lot. Shrinkage and four point defect scores go with it too. Waste appears at every step. It is rarely counted until the order closes. A short roll or a mismatched shade is far easier to correct on the cutting table than after the cartons have reached the buyer’s warehouse.

The buyer sits at the end of it. A brand or an institution sets the terms by sending a style, a purchase order, a sample approval and a delivery date that every earlier stage must meet. Uniform makers add measurements and name lists, and processors add a customer cloth that must come back in the same quantity. Trades differ in where they lose track. A roll is not a bundle.