Kits
Do not get burned on your first order.
A first production order fails in a small number of predictable ways. This is the document set that closes them, written from orders this desk has actually run rather than from a template library.
What this is
The First Order Kit is five working documents for a first production order: a sample approval form, a production timeline tracker, an inspection checklist, a fabric sourcing brief and a factory question sheet. PDF + XLSX, 79 dollars, one payment, no subscription. It is paperwork for making the order go right.
The five ways a first order goes wrong
None of these are exotic. They are the five that come up repeatedly, they are all cheap to prevent, and every one of them costs more than this kit.
| Document | What it is | The mistake it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Sample approval form | Records what you approved, in a form somebody can be held to: measurements with tolerances, colour references, fabric weight and structure, and a signature block for both sides. | Approving a sample by email, then discovering that "approved" meant something different to the factory. |
| Production timeline tracker | The nine points in an order where a delay becomes visible early, with columns for planned date, actual date and who was waiting. | Hearing about a four-week slip in the week the goods were due, when nothing can be done about it. |
| Inspection checklist | What to measure, how many pieces to measure, what counts as a fail, and how to record it so a claim is possible later. | Being told "we checked it" without a record of what was checked, on a dispute you then lose. |
| Fabric sourcing brief | The fields a mill needs before it can quote, so that two mills quote the same cloth instead of two different ones. | Comparing two fabric prices that were never for the same fabric, and choosing the cheaper one. |
| Factory question sheet | The questions worth asking before placing an order, with a column for what an evasive answer usually means. | Finding out at inspection what a five-minute conversation would have established at enquiry. |
See a page before you buy
One document from the set is published in full, free, with no email required. A buyer who cannot see the quality has to guess, and nobody should be guessing with money. Judge the sample page on whether it is the level of rigour you want on your own order.
It is the pre-shipment inspection checklist, published as a normal page rather than a gated download — the one document that earns its place fastest. If it is not useful on its own, the rest will not be either.
What this is not
- It is not a guarantee. No document makes an order go right. These are the instruments that make problems visible early and make a claim possible later — which is a narrower promise and the only honest one.
- It is not an ebook. There is no 200-page explanation of the garment industry. It is five documents you fill in, in the order you will need them.
- It is not filled with invented examples. A worked example from a fictional order would look impressive and teach you nothing you could check. The fields are blank, and the reason each field exists is written beside it.
- It is not a substitute for a contract. Terms, payment, jurisdiction and liability are a lawyer's work, not a template's.
How to buy
Checkout is being connected. The kit is finished and the sample page above is live; the payment link is not, so there is nothing to click yet — and a buy button that goes nowhere is worse than none.
Leave an address and you will get the sample, the launch notice and the launch price. That is the whole list, and there is no newsletter:
[email protected] — ask to be told when it opens.
What it is for
This kit is for a buyer running a first production order with a factory they have not used before, at a quantity where a mistake is expensive. It is not aimed at sourcing professionals, who mostly already have their own versions of these documents, and it will not teach you to negotiate. If you would rather hand the whole thing over instead of running it, that is managed production.
Free, and probably enough on its own
Two of the five documents answer questions people ask most often, and both are free here: the cost calculator models what your order should cost with the arithmetic shown, and the MOQ calculator shows which minimum is setting your floor. Use them first. If they are enough, this kit is not necessary — and it is better for both of us if you find that out for free.