Garments, textiles and footwear
AI automation for garment, textile and footwear makers
Buyers confirm later and change more, and every change has to reach cutting, purchasing and the T&A calendar at once. The sewing lines are skilled. The merchandising office still re-types, chases and updates the same spreadsheet. That office is where I start.
- 45%of Vietnam's textile and garment exports go to the US.VITAS via VNA, July 2026 (first five months of 2026)
- 1 in 5suppliers say more than one in ten bulk orders arrive inaccurate.Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index 2025, November 2025
- 15 to 20milestones on a factory's T&A calendar for one order.Apparel Resources, 2009
- Sample approvalsLab dips, strike-offs and PP samples approved by email, one round at a time.
Who this is for
Built for garment, textile and footwear makers
Garment, textile and footwear factories in Vietnam and beyond, from cut-make-trim (gia công) shops to full-package makers, plus the trims and footwear component suppliers behind them. The moment a factory moves from CMT to full package, it takes on trims purchasing, the whole T&A, sampling and the export paperwork, and that is when the back office breaks.
The work you do
Tech packs, size-colour breakdowns, fabric and trims, lab dips, strike-offs, fit and PP samples, AQL inspections, and an ex-factory date that does not move.
The people you serve
Brands and importers in the US, Europe and Asia who confirm orders later, revise them more often and expect the ex-factory date to hold.
The mess
What lands on the desk
- A buyer revises the size-colour breakdown by PDF. Cutting hears today; purchasing hears after the trims are ordered.
- The T&A calendar lives in a spreadsheet that one merchandiser updates and everyone else asks about.
- Trims and fabric suppliers chased one email at a time, with confirmations that never reach the calendar.
- Lab dips, strike-offs and PP samples approved by email, one round at a time, while the ex-factory date stays put.
- Packing lists and export paperwork re-typed from the same order, again.
As of October 2026: most Vietnamese goods pay an extra 12.5% US tariff, against 10% for some competing countries; the EU ban on destroying unsold clothing and footwear has applied to large companies since 19 July 2026; and the EU textiles product passport act is planned for late 2027. I do not give trade or customs advice; I take the re-typing out of the paperwork your team already does.Source: USTR action as reported by EY and Global Trade Alert, July 2026; European Commission textiles timeline, 2026.
The pattern
The same work, without the re-typing
Today
- The revision landsA PDF, a spreadsheet or a portal update, with one merchandiser.
- Someone works out what changesThe size-colour breakdown, the cutting docs, the trims requirements.
- Teams told one by oneCutting, purchasing, the floor, shipping. Easy to miss one.
- The T&A is updated lastIf it is updated at all.
With the automation
- The revision is read as it arrivesQuantities, sizes, colours and dates pulled out.
- Compared with the live orderWhat changes for cutting, trims and the T&A is listed.
- A short note drafted for each teamWith the suggested action.
- A merchandiser approvesRecords and the T&A update the same day; open items stay flagged.
An example process, not a client story. The workshop decides which process comes first.
The build
What I would build first
Buyer changes that reach every team
A revision is compared with the live order, and cutting, purchasing, the floor and shipping hear about it the same day.
A T&A calendar that keeps itself current
Milestones updated from the emails and confirmations that already arrive, with late ones flagged before the ex-factory date slips.
Trims and fabric POs, confirmed
POs built from the BOM and the size-colour breakdown, supplier confirmations matched back, and chasers sent for what is missing.
Sample approvals tracked
Every lab dip, strike-off and PP sample logged with its round, its comments and its date, so nobody has to ask where it stands.
Packing lists and export documents
Packing lists, carton details and invoice data pre-filled from the order, checked by your team, ready for your forwarder.
You do not need all of these. One process comes first, chosen with your team, and a person approves everything that changes a record or reaches a buyer.
Do the math
What would one process give back?
Updating the size-colour breakdown, cutting docs and trims requirements, then telling every team. Example figures; count your own revisions.
Type your own figure. Only hours are shown until you do.
Adjust my assumptions
48 hours is the legal maximum week; about 2,312 hours worked a year after leave and public holidays. On-costs: 21.5% insurance + 2% union fee, on salary up to 50.6m VND a month.
Cycle time
Stock (optional)
Quotes won (freight follow-up)
45 hours back a month
11 people-weeks a year (0,23 of a full-time person)
Request to done:
Add a monthly salary to see this in money.
60 x 45 minutes saved / 60 = 45 hours a month.
This is an illustration with your numbers. A sit-in measures the real ones.
Link copied. It carries your numbers, never your salary.
Opened from a shared link. Salaries are never shared, so add your own to see money.
How this works, and where the defaults come from
- Hours a month = volume x (minutes today minus minutes after) / 60. People-weeks = hours a year / the standard week.
- Money is a band: the ceiling counts every freed hour at the loaded cost of the person; expected counts half of it, because not every freed minute becomes useful work; cautious takes a further 20% off.
- Stock: the yearly carrying saving is counted; the one-time cash released is shown on its own and never added in.
- Payback is shown as a budget: the most a one-off fix could cost and still pay back within 12 or 24 months. No prices.
- Every volume and minute figure is an example. Replace it with yours.
Sources, last checked 12 October 2026:
- Forrester Total Economic Impact method: 50% productivity recapture, 10 to 20% risk adjustment (this study was commissioned by Microsoft)
- APQC open standards benchmark: cycle time from requisition to PO, goods, median 2.0 days
- Carrying cost rule of thumb, 15 to 25% of stock value a year, citing ASCM guidance (MRPeasy, a software vendor, January 2025)
- Freightos (a freight marketplace) survey of the top 20 forwarders, 2018: manual quoting averaged 57 hours from enquiry to quote
- Vietnam employer social, health and unemployment insurance (21.5%) and union fee (2%), statutory rates
- Rodl and Partner, Vietnam statutory base salary and insurance cap from 1 July 2026
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employer costs for employee compensation, June 2026
- GOV.UK, rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025
Your systems
Works with what you already run
The ERP stays. So do the spreadsheets people trust, the on-site server and the inbox. I connect what you already run instead of replacing it, and build on the data you already hold.
A new ERP is rarely step one. Clean data for bills of materials, routings and capacity usually is. When it is time to choose a system, I give you an independent view of buying versus building for that one process, before you sign anything. I do not sell or resell software.
Never automated
- Approving a purchase
- Pricing to buyers
- Choosing a supplier
- Compliance sign-off
How it starts
One process first, then the pattern repeats
- A short workshopYour department leads, AI in plain terms, everyone's repetitive work in one place, and one process chosen.
- A sit-inI sit with that department, time the steps and map what the process costs today.
- A fixed priceA recommendation, off the shelf or build, and a fixed price for the first build, or a recommendation not to build.
Then the pattern repeats. The first process proves the value and shows how the business really runs; the next ones reuse what was built, so the work spreads across departments instead of starting from zero each time.
Proof, honestly
What I have built so far
My published builds are in recruitment and travel, not manufacturing: a matching system that scores every application with its reasoning shown, and an intake system that turns messy enquiry email into clean records. The pattern is the one a factory office needs: messy inbound in, clean records out, a person checking.
Fair questions
Asked before, answered honestly
We already run an ERP, or WFX, MISA or Bravo. Do we need another system?
Usually not. The first win is most often in the hand-offs around what you run: buyer changes, the T&A, supplier chasing. When a new system is the right answer I will say so, and I do not sell or resell any.
Our buyers send POs and changes as PDFs, spreadsheets and portal updates. Can those reach cutting and purchasing automatically?
That is what I would build: the change is read when it arrives and compared with the live order, and a merchandiser approves before anything updates, so cutting, purchasing and the T&A can hear the same day.
Is this for CMT (gia công) factories, or only full-package makers?
Both fit. Full-package makers carry more of the paperwork, so the first win is often there; CMT shops still lose hours to order changes, line output and material norms.
We make footwear components or trims. Does this apply to us?
Yes. Many SKUs, approvals for several customers and confirmations by email is exactly the pattern. The processes are the same; only the vocabulary changes.
Can you help with traceability files or our customs finalization report?
I can assemble the data from your own records and flag what is missing. I do not give legal or customs advice; your compliance lead or broker signs off.
Will this replace our merchandisers?
No. It removes the chasing and the re-typing. Buyers, approvals and decisions stay with your team, and training is part of every build.
Have you built for a garment factory before?
Not yet, and I will not pretend otherwise. My published builds are in recruitment and travel. The pattern is the same: messy inbound turned into clean records, with a person checking, and the work starts by measuring your process before anything is priced.
Tell me which process eats the most hours. If AI will not help, I will say so.
Based in Ho Chi Minh City, so I can work on-site in Vietnam, and remotely with the US and everywhere else.