The back room
Every factory has one. Rails of garments from orders that shipped months ago: overcuts, seconds with small faults, cancelled colours. Boxes of fabric ends. Bags of trims with another brand's logo. Nobody knows exactly what is there or which order it came from. Some of it belongs to brands who supplied the fabric. Some of it was paid for by you.
When a brand asks whether you have spare garments from the last order to cover a customer return, nobody can say without an afternoon of searching.
Surplus is created without a record
Overcuts are deliberate, as a buffer against defects. Seconds are inevitable. Leftover fabric is normal. The trouble is that none of it is recorded when the order closes, so it becomes a pile rather than stock.
- Order close is a shipment, not a stocktake of what is left.
- Surplus garments are not counted by style, colour and size.
- What each brand allows you to do with surplus, especially branded goods, is not written against the stock.
- Remnants are not measured, so they are never used for samples or small cuts.
- Branded trims left over are neither returned nor destroyed.
Why a pile is expensive
Unrecorded surplus is money you have already spent sitting in the dark. Fabric that could have made samples is bought again. Garments that a brand would have taken as a top-up order are not offered. The bigger risk is branded goods leaving the building in a way the brand has not agreed to, which can end a relationship. What your agreements allow is between you and each brand; what we can do is make sure the answer is recorded next to the stock.
And storage space in a busy factory is never free.
A surplus stock record we build
- At order close, the system compares cut, packed and shipped quantities and lists the surplus by style, colour and size.
- The finishing team confirms what is physically there, grades seconds, and labels each bag or box with a code.
- Each brand's terms for surplus are recorded once (return to brand, hold for a period, destroy with evidence, or sell with labels removed) and attached to their stock.
- Leftover fabric and trims are measured or counted, labelled, and added to the same record, with the owner (you or the brand) noted.
- The record is searchable, so the sample room can find a remnant, and merchandisers can offer surplus to the brand for top-ups.
- When stock is returned, destroyed or sold, the action is recorded with the date and any evidence, such as a photo or a collection note.
| Item | Now | With a surplus record |
|---|---|---|
| Overcut garments | On a rail, unknown | Counted by style, colour and size |
| Seconds | Mixed with overcuts | Graded and labelled |
| Brand's terms | In someone's memory | Recorded against the stock |
| Fabric ends | In boxes | Measured, searchable remnants |
| Disposal | Unrecorded | Action, date and evidence |
A back room with a list
When a brand asks for spares, the merchandiser searches rather than walks. The sample room uses remnants instead of cutting into new rolls. Branded goods are dealt with the way the brand agreed, with a record to show it. And the back room gets smaller.
Do you have a back room like this?
- Rails and boxes of surplus from past orders.
- No record of which order or brand surplus belongs to.
- New fabric bought for samples while remnants sit unused.
- Uncertainty about what you are allowed to do with branded surplus.
- Leftover branded trims that have never been dealt with.