Where is the second fit sample?
A brand's technologist emails to ask when they will get the second fit on style 4471. The merchandiser checks the whiteboard in the sample room. It says 4471 is "with brand". The courier account shows a parcel went out on the 3rd, but it might have been the PP sample for 4470. The sample machinist remembers making something in green. Twenty minutes later, you are still not sure.
Multiply that by eight brands, each with their own names for the rounds (proto, first fit, second fit, SMS, PP, TOP, shipment sample), and it is easy to see why the sample room feels busy and slow at the same time.
The tracker is a whiteboard
Samples move between the pattern room, the sample machinists, pressing, the merchandiser's desk and the courier, and nothing follows them. The information exists, but it is spread across a whiteboard, a courier account, emails and memory.
- Every brand uses different names and a different number of rounds.
- Dispatch is recorded in the courier account, not against the style.
- Comments from the brand arrive by email and are not tied to the round they refer to.
- The sample room works in the order samples were asked for, not by what is urgent.
- Nobody can see which styles are waiting on the brand and which are waiting on you.
What slow samples cost
The sample stage sets the pace for the whole order. A PP sample that sits on a shelf for a week pushes approval, and approval sets when fabric can be cut. Brands notice which factories answer sample questions quickly, and they route new styles accordingly. Your merchandisers spend a large part of their day finding out where things are, which is time not spent on the next order.
The sample tracker we build
- Each brand's round sequence is set up once, with their own names, so a style for one brand shows proto then fit then PP, and another brand's shows its own steps.
- A sample request creates a card for the style and round, with the requested date, size, fabric and the tech pack version it should be made to.
- The sample room works from a queue sorted by due date, and marks each stage as it happens: pattern ready, cut, sewn, pressed, checked.
- Dispatch is recorded by scanning the card and entering the tracking number, or by pulling the shipment from your courier account where it offers an API.
- When the brand replies with comments, the email is attached to that round, and a new round is opened with the comments as instructions.
- A board shows every style by brand and stage, with those waiting on the brand clearly separated from those waiting on you.
| Question | How it is answered now | With the tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Where is the fit sample? | Ask around | Card shows stage and tracking number |
| What did they say last time? | Search email | Comments on the previous round |
| What should the sample room do next? | Whoever shouts | Queue by due date |
| Who is holding things up? | Opinion | Waiting on brand vs waiting on us |
Sample room life afterwards
A merchandiser answers the technologist's question from the card. The sample room lead can see the week's load and push back early when too much is due at once. And when a brand has had a PP sample for ten days without replying, you can see it and chase it, rather than finding out when they ask why the order is late.
Recognise this?
- Brands ask where samples are and you have to go and look.
- The sample room whiteboard is the only tracker.
- Comments from one round are lost by the next.
- Samples have been sent to the wrong brand or the wrong person.
- You do not know how long brands take to approve.