Sample management, feedback and approvals made easy

Fashion Sample management, feedback and approvals made easy

We shine a spotlight on our new Sampling & Approvals feature release to help streamline the sample management process.

For brands who design and produce products season after season, the process of requesting samples, tracking orders, making edits, giving feedback and making approvals, is complex, to say the least. It’s often a huge drain on team time and is not without financial and environmental cost. If the sampling and approval process is not managed effectively and efficiently, the impact can be significant on a business. It can result in extra unnecessary rounds of samples, excessive email ping-pong clarifying details, in turn adding precious months onto lead times, and mounting samples and courier charges.

Current ways of sample management in fashion make it harder than it needs to be.

Because there doesn’t really exist an industry-wide standard process for sample management in fashion, most businesses end up establishing their own unique way. Although this may work well internally for that business, for their factories, who may be working with 20-30 different brands each with their own unique process, it can be a nightmare to successfully navigate.

For most design and production teams, the process is usually managed through a series of email chains or a combination of pdfs, excel docs, photos, and videos, attached and sent via email or WhatsApp. It’s generally a repetitive and manual process, with too many opportunities for information to get missed or miscommunicated. 

Does any of the below resonate with you? If yes, read on..

• I spend most of my time during sampling, sending [and reading] 1000s of emails between my agent, factory, or team. 
• I spend too much time requesting samples, or chasing my manufacturer for status updates or tracking information on sample orders just to get visibility.
• I can spend hours scrolling through hundreds of different email chains to see who said what, when. Often a key person is been missed off the email chain.
• I find it hard and time-consuming to make, collate and send effective sample feedback from the team to my manufacturer.
• More than once, my feedback has been missed or forgotten, or the wrong version sent.
• I’ve received samples with errors that could have been corrected before they left the factory.  

There’s a new Fashion Sample Management tool in town that is designed to make your life easier!

Through the SupplyCompass platform, fashion teams can easily request every type of sample, view the status of a sample order, get real-time updates on deliveries, provide feedback collaboratively across the team, modify and compare measurements, and approve or reject samples. The cherry on the cake? This can all be done in one, intuitive,  easy to use platform.

So what’s all the fuss about, why is our tool so great?

1. Ordering & tracking: We’ve made ordering samples as easy a buying groceries on a checkout and tracking samples as simple as tracking a parcel on amazon.
2. Get Notifications: We’ve replaced hassling your manufacturer for updates, with simple notifications. That means, you no longer need to be glued to your email. 
3. Instant file sharing: yes no more expired links! Automatically view the latest version only
4. Easy Feedback: Make and collate team feedback easily, share with your factory in one clicks

Request any sample, in a click

For most, requesting samples is done by email, hard to track and repetitive. Request all samples from the platform including swatches, strike offs, lab dips, zips, fit samples, SMS — yes everything! Stay on top of costs and know what you’re paying before-hand. Simply click to add to basket and check out to order; a unique code is attached to each sample.

Make ordering samples, as easy as ordering online groceries ????

Easy tracking of sample orders

Once you’ve ordered samples it’s hard to keep on top of what you’ve ordered, the cost and when it will arrive. No longer chase your factory for updates, simply track the status of sample orders with timelines, and approve photos before the factory sends. View and manage all sample data across collections, season after season and have peace of mind over when your samples will arrive.

No need to be left in the dark. Get easy visibility over what samples you’ve ordered, and when they’ll arrive ???? 

Feedback faster, clearer and together

Making and collating team feedback is time-consuming and can sometimes feel difficult to effectively get your point across in a way your factory will understand. With SupplyCompass, add and categorise sample feedback in one place. Upload images, annotate, collaborate and submit to achieve easy collaboration with your team and crystal-clear clarity with your factory.

An easy, structured and frictionless way to give feedback, together ????

Get the perfect fit, faster

It’s hard to get the right fit. It takes time and often several revisions made across many Excel spreadsheets. Our platform makes this back and forth easier. Add, modify and track measurement changes in one place. Compare what was requested against your factory’s measurements, and then approve or propose a change, all in one place.

One shared fit log in the ☁️ . The single source of truth for you and your factory.

A visual snapshot of everything you need to approve.

Approvals often happen over email or Excel and it’s hard to know what’s been approved and what’s left to approve. Keep on top of samples, with the status and approvals tracker. Approve samples by photo, before they arrive and approve or reject in a single click.

Make approvals in a jiffy ????