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The Tailoq blog, page 4

Practical notes on running a workshop and a shop.

A woman at a stone counter shows a man a stack of fabric swatches, with tailors at sewing machines behind a glass wall.

SoftwareTailor shop management software: what it should actually doFeature lists all look alike. A better test is to follow one garment through your shop and see where the software helps, and where it leaves you with a notebook.

Stacks of loose paper and sticky note pads on a wooden table, beside folded cloth in four colours, a tape measure and shears.

SoftwareTailoring ERP vs spreadsheets: when to switchA spreadsheet can run a small tailoring business for years. Here is when to keep it, and the signs that it has started costing you money.

Six garments on hangers along a wooden rail: a charcoal jacket, a lace bridal gown, a black embellished abaya, a navy school blazer, an embroidered lilac tunic and a white kandura.

Shop floorTailoring business ideas: 12 niches comparedEach tailoring niche has its own rhythm of cash, skill and workload. Here is what twelve of them ask of you in practice, and how to choose one that suits your situation.

A shop front with a blank wooden sign and a deep purple awning and door, with two mannequins in a cream suit and a lilac dress in the window.

Shop floorTailoring business name ideas and how to choose oneA good name is easy to say, easy to find and legally yours to use. Here are naming styles and a word bank to start from, then the checks to run before you pay for a sign.

A flat lay on a dark wooden table with a blank cream notebook, a stack of fabric swatches, a coiled tape, tailor's chalk and brown paper pattern pieces.

Shop floorTailoring business plan: what to includeA useful business plan answers a few hard questions about your workroom. Here is what goes in each section, with worked sums you can replace with your own.

A woman works on a laptop at a table while a man sews beside a tablet on a stand, and a woman on the phone stands by a clothes rail.

SoftwareTailoring software for PC, phone or tablet: which should you choose?A tailor shop has more than one kind of work station. The owner, the cutter and the counter want different screens. Here is how the three kinds of software fit, and how installing a web app works.

A grey-haired man in glasses and a pale collarless shirt lays a tape measure across a grey garment on a wooden counter, with shelves of folded cloth behind him.

SoftwareTailoring software in Pakistan: what tailors needThe test of any system comes in your busiest weeks. Start there, then check stages, materials, deposits and tax with the right authority.

A dark grey jacket on a dress form, held together with white basting stitches, in front of shelves of rolled cloth.

ProductionThe bespoke tailoring process, step by stepA bespoke garment goes through the same stages in most serious workshops. This guide follows them in order, with what the shop should write down at each one.

Five women in headscarves at work in a garment workshop: one cuts purple fabric at a long table, three sew at machines and one irons at the back.

ProductionThe garment production process, explainedFrom first sketch to packed garment, the steps are much the same in a large factory and a small workshop. The difference is who does them and how much gets written down.

Two woven baskets of folded fabric bundles tied with cloth strips on a wooden table, with a person sewing at a machine in the background.

ProductionTypes of garment production systems, and which one fits a workshopA production system is the way work moves from one pair of hands to the next. The choice decides how fast pieces come out and how long a mistake stays hidden.

A rail of white kanduras on wooden hangers in a shop, with a plum folder, a lined pad and a pen on the counter in front.

UAE e-invoicingUAE e-invoicing for tailors and boutiques: do you need it?It depends on who your customers are. You can settle it in an afternoon with last year's order book.

A blank printed checklist and a pen on a desk, between a closed laptop and a folded white cloth with plum lace trim.

UAE e-invoicingUAE e-invoicing requirements: a checklist for shopsEverything a tailoring shop or boutique has to sort out, in working order, from the first check to the records you keep afterwards.