Why it's time to digitalize the fashion supply chain

We’re all familiar with the fashion industry’s supply chain: it’s where new ideas go on their journey from textile mills, to designers and manufacturers, then finally to retail stores. While this may look like an exciting process, it actually involves a lot of time-consuming manual work that costs companies millions of dollars each year.

The fashion supply chain is complex and fragmented. The current fashion system is made up of disconnected systems, processes and spreadsheets that slow down information flow, and there are too many people involved who don't have access to the right information at the right time.

This means that there's a high risk of errors or delays in the process, which costs time and money for everyone involved. The industry currently runs on outdated software, fragmented processes and manual methods that slow down the flow of information, create inefficiencies and trigger errors.

To be successful in the digital age, fashion businesses must minimize costs, increase efficiency and improve sustainability in the fashion supply chain.

Saving money is critical for businesses that want to grow profitably. Digitization can help by enabling you to use less material in making products and providing more efficient ways of manufacturing them. This could mean cutting out unnecessary labor or reducing shipping costs from one factory to another. When looking at digitization from a cost-saving standpoint, it's important to remember that automation also increases efficiency.

Also read: How garment ERP software can help your business

NOW or never: Moving to end-to-end digitally integrated supply chain platforms can solve these problems.

The industry is made up of hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, each with its own legacy systems and processes. That's why many fashion brands still rely on paper-based spreadsheets to manage all their data.

However, maintaining a single source of truth is critical when your business has so many partners and locations. Although, it can be challenging if you don't have a centralized system in place.

Fortunately, technology can help the fashion industry…

1. minimize human errors through automation and machine learning
2. eliminate manual processes by automating tasks like order processing or managing inventory levels (or even automatically reallocating resources based on changing market conditions)
3. increase efficiency with real-time data collection, storage and analysis
4. replace outdated applications with modern cloud solutions that are more secure and reliable than old software programs hosted on company servers
5. allow employees to access relevant information anytime, from anywhere
6. eliminating the need for having multiple accounts across various separate systems owned by different entities or suppliers
7. improve sustainability by reducing carbon emissions through better use of resources

Technology is now ready to meet our demanding requirements for speed and accuracy in fashion supply chains. It can help you increase efficiency and accuracy across your organization, which will not only boost your bottom line but also provide better service to customers.

Also read: The green route with PLM: Use technology to enable sustainable production

This is the future of fashion: a digital supply chain that gets products from idea to consumer more quickly, efficiently and seamlessly than ever before.

Conclusion

At WFX, we’re excited to be a part of this revolution. We know that digitalization is the future of the fashion industry, and we’re here to help you get there.

If you want to learn more about our end-to-end supply chain integration software solutions, click here to contact us and we’ll be in touch!