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About the system
- What is Textile Wizard?
- Textile Wizard is cloud software for fabric distributors and apparel manufacturers. It tracks inventory at roll and dye lot level, turns packing lists into invoices without re-typing, manages accounts receivable, and covers design tech packs and production. It costs $500 per month with unlimited users and a 30-day free trial.
- How much does Textile Wizard cost?
- $500 per month, flat, for everyone in your company. There is no per-seat charge and no module pricing. The first 30 days are free and no credit card is required to start.
- Who is it for?
- Fabric and textile distributors, converters, importers, and apparel manufacturers who buy or hold fabric. It suits businesses too large for accounting software alone and not large enough to justify a six-figure enterprise implementation.
- How long does it take to set up?
- An afternoon for most businesses. You can upload your existing styles, customers and stock from CSV, Excel or even a PDF, review a preview, and import in bulk rather than typing records one at a time.
- Does it work on a phone?
- Yes. The whole system is responsive, so the warehouse and the sales desk can use it on a phone or tablet as well as a desktop.
- Can it handle metric and imperial units?
- Yes. Receive goods in metres or yards, hold stock in one consistent unit underneath, and invoice each customer in their preferred unit. Conversions use exact international factors and the amount owed is identical either way.
- Is our data separate from other companies?
- Yes. Each company is a separate tenant. Every record carries an organisation identifier and every query is scoped to the signed-in user’s company, so one customer cannot see another’s data.
- What does the AI actually do?
- Three things with practical value: it reads PDF purchase orders from buyers into structured orders, it reads cheques and remittance advices and matches them against open invoices, and it drafts apparel tech packs with graded measurements from a plain description. You review everything before it is saved.
For wholesalers and jobbers
- What software do fabric wholesalers use?
- Most run on spreadsheets plus an accounting package, and a minority on legacy desktop systems or general ERP. The difficulty is that general systems have no concept of a roll, a dye lot or a remnant, so the operational detail ends up outside them either way.
- Can it handle selling from more than one warehouse?
- Yes. Stock is tracked per warehouse as well as per rack, availability is answerable per building, and transfers between buildings have an in-transit state so goods on a truck are not counted at both ends.
- Does it work for jobbers buying closeout lots?
- Yes, and the short-end reporting matters more in that trade than most. Odd lots and remnants are tracked with their value, and the cut optimiser avoids creating pieces too small to sell on.
For fabric distributors
- Can it handle dye lots properly?
- Yes. Dye lot is a first-class part of the inventory record, not a note field. Stock, available-to-sell and allocation are all calculated per lot, and an order that would span two lots is flagged for shade approval before anything is cut.
- What happens to short ends and remnants?
- The allocation engine will not leave a dead-end remnant. It either consumes a roll entirely or leaves an end long enough to sell. Short ends already on the rack are reported with the capital tied up in them.
- We buy in metres and sell in yards. Does that work?
- Yes. Receiving accepts metres or yards, stock is stored in one consistent unit underneath, and each customer can be invoiced in their own unit. The line amount is identical either way.
For apparel manufacturers
- Is this a PLM system or an ERP?
- Both, in the parts that matter to a small manufacturer. You get tech packs, graded specs and colorways from the PLM world, and inventory, invoicing and receivables from the ERP world — connected, so a cost sheet uses real fabric costs and a cut order consumes real rolls.
- Can we use it if we only manufacture and do not distribute fabric?
- Yes. Fabric is then treated as raw material rather than sellable stock. You still get bills of material, cut orders, fabric consumption and finished goods.
- Does it replace our patternmaking software?
- No. Pattern files are stored and linked to each style, but drafting and grading of the patterns themselves stays in your CAD tool.
For importers
- Can we receive in metres and invoice in yards?
- Yes, and the reverse. Receiving accepts either unit, and each customer can be billed in their own. The amount owed is identical regardless of which unit the document prints in.
- Does it handle factored receivables?
- Yes. Invoices carry a factor assignment and a recourse date, there is a watchlist for invoices approaching recourse, and recording a chargeback places the customer on credit hold.
Getting fabric invoices into QuickBooks without typing them twice
- Does Textile Wizard replace QuickBooks?
- No, and it is not trying to. It handles inventory, shipping documents, invoicing and receivables, then hands your accounting system balanced journal entries. Your general ledger, payroll, bank reconciliation and tax filing stay where they are.
- How do I import fabric invoices into QuickBooks?
- Post the journals for the period, then download the IIF file and import it in QuickBooks Desktop under File, Utilities, Import. For QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage, download the CSV instead. Account codes are editable so entries land in the accounts you already use.
- What happens when a customer takes a discount or short-pays?
- The cash account is debited what actually arrived, the discount and any write-off are debited to their own accounts, and Accounts Receivable is credited the full amount cleared. That is what stops short-paid invoices leaving balances nobody can account for.
Running fabric inventory across more than one warehouse
- How do you track fabric inventory across multiple warehouses?
- Each roll is assigned to a warehouse as well as a rack location, and available-to-sell is calculated per warehouse rather than only company-wide. Moves between buildings are recorded as transfers with an in-transit state so goods on a truck are not double-counted.
- Can Textile Wizard handle a third-party logistics warehouse?
- Yes. A warehouse can be flagged as third-party with its own account reference. It works the same way as your own building, though the discipline matters more because you cannot walk out and count it yourself.
- What happens to stock while it is in transit between warehouses?
- It sits in an in-transit state, belonging to neither building’s available stock until it is received. That prevents the common error of counting the same yardage at both ends of the journey.
Barcode labels for fabric rolls
- What should be printed on a fabric roll label?
- Style number, fabric name, dye lot, width, fibre content, warehouse location, current yardage, and a unique scannable barcode. Yardage and dye lot are the two fields that save the most time on the floor.
- What barcode format is best for fabric rolls?
- Code 128 is the usual choice. It encodes the full printable character set, is compact, and every warehouse scanner reads it without configuration. The symbol needs a correct start code, check character, stop pattern and quiet zones or scanners will refuse it.
- Should each roll have its own barcode?
- Yes. Two rolls of the same style and lot are still separate physical objects with different yardage. A per-style barcode cannot tell them apart, which defeats the purpose of scanning.
Dye lot tracking, and why fabric inventory falls apart without it
- What is a dye lot in fabric?
- A dye lot is a batch of fabric dyed together in one run. Fabric from different lots of the same colour will differ slightly in shade, which is why an order should be filled from a single lot wherever possible.
- Can you mix dye lots in one order?
- Only with the buyer’s agreement. Mixing lots produces visible shading across a finished garment and is a common reason shipments are rejected. If lots must be mixed, get written approval before cutting and record it against the shipment.
- How do you track dye lots in inventory software?
- Each physical roll is recorded against a dye lot, and stock figures are calculated per lot rather than per style. Textile Wizard does this natively: available-to-sell is shown by lot, and any allocation spanning more than one lot is flagged for shade approval.
Why fabric inventory spreadsheets break
- Can you run a fabric business on spreadsheets?
- Many do, and it works until volume or staff count rises. The failure points are cut stock that no longer matches a total, unrecorded memo cuts, two people editing one file, and paperwork retyped between packing list and invoice.
- What should replace a fabric inventory spreadsheet?
- A system that holds stock at roll and dye lot level, deducts automatically when goods ship, records sample cuts, and generates invoices from packing lists without re-typing. Textile Wizard does this and imports your existing spreadsheets to get started.
From packing list to invoice, without typing it twice
- Can one invoice cover multiple packing lists?
- Yes. In Textile Wizard you select any number of packing lists for the same customer and generate a single invoice from all of them, with the line items carried across and freight, surcharge and tax calculated automatically.
- What happens when a shipment goes out short?
- The invoice bills the shipped quantity, and the shortfall automatically opens a backorder against that customer and style so the yardage still owed is tracked rather than forgotten.