Business Central for apparel, footwear and accessories brands

Style, color and size in Business Central for apparel

In the standard product, a style is an item. Each color and size combination is an item variant with its own stock, barcode and availability. That is accurate. It also works with every other feature, from planning to the Shopify connector, which maps variants to product options.

What it lacks is the grid. Entering a wholesale order for one style across eight sizes and five colors line by line is slow. So apparel add-ons provide a matrix for orders, purchases and stock views. They also add size scales and prepacks. For brands with heavy wholesale entry, we suggest one early.

Buying for a season you have not sold yet

Apparel is bought on forecast and pre-orders. Item categories and attributes tag each style with its season and collection. Then you can filter buying, reporting and markdown decisions that way. Blanket sales orders hold wholesale pre-bookings. Planning uses them as demand when it suggests factory orders.

Purchase orders carry expected receipt dates for each line. You can report open-to-buy by comparing the budget per category with stock on hand and on order. Carry-over styles use reorder policies like any replenished item. Fashion styles, however, are bought once and tracked through to sell-out.

Landed cost on imported garments

The factory price is only part of what a garment costs. Ocean or air freight, duty, brokerage, inspection and inland haulage come on separate invoices. Item charges assign each of them to the receipt lines. You spread them by quantity, value, weight or volume. So the margin report shows true landed margin per style.

Factories are usually paid in stages and sometimes in another currency. Vendor prepayments cover deposits. Updated currency exchange rates make sure gains and losses post correctly. You can hold goods on the water at an in-transit location. That shows buyers what is coming and when.

Department stores, boutiques and compliance rules

Large retailers send purchase orders electronically. They expect advance ship notices, carton labels and invoices back in their format. Chargebacks follow when something is wrong. Business Central provides the order, shipment and invoice data. An EDI add-on or service then translates it for each trading partner.

Boutiques and independents get customer price lists, order minimums and payment terms for each account. You can allocate sales orders against incoming stock. Partial shipments then release as goods arrive. For returns and credit notes, return orders put sellable stock back on the shelf.

Online channels in Business Central for apparel

The Shopify connector is part of Business Central. It publishes items and variants with prices and stock levels. It also brings orders and customers in and sends fulfillment and tracking back. Other carts and marketplaces connect through AppSource connectors, or through an integration built on the standard APIs.

Many brands ship from a third-party warehouse. The warehouse is a location in Business Central. Orders go to the partner's system, and confirmations post the shipment. Stock stays accurate across wholesale and online because both draw on one inventory. Safety stock rules then decide what each channel may sell.

Business Central for apparel: frequent questions

Does Business Central for apparel have a size and color matrix?

Not in the standard product. Variants store each combination correctly, but entry is line by line. Apparel add-ons supply the matrix, along with size scales and prepacks. A small direct-to-consumer brand can manage without one. A wholesale business usually cannot. We help you judge which side of that line you sit on. Then we test the add-on with your own styles.

Can it handle markdowns and promotions?

For apparel, sales price lists with start and end dates cover seasonal markdowns. Line discounts handle promotions by customer group. You normally run online promotions in the web shop itself. The discounted order amounts then flow back into Business Central. So revenue and margin stay correct in Business Central for apparel, and your finance team sees the real price paid for each style.

We design but do not sew. Do we need manufacturing?

Usually not. If factories buy the materials and ship finished goods, purchasing in Essentials is enough. But you may buy fabric and trims yourself and send them to a cut-and-sew partner. In that case, subcontracting in Premium tracks those materials and the finished garments properly. We look at your supply chain first, then we name the license you need.

How are samples and showroom pieces tracked?

Samples sit in their own location, so they do not show as sellable stock. Transfers move them to showrooms or agents. When you give a sample away, a negative adjustment with a sample reason code writes it off. The cost goes to a marketing expense account. So you can see what samples cost you each season without any manual work.

Can it report sell-through by style?

Yes. Item ledger entries hold every receipt and sale by variant. So units received against units sold, by style, color and season, is a simple Power BI report. You can add retailer point of sale data when your accounts share it. We build that report with you, so buyers can read it at a glance when a season ends.

Related pages for Business Central for apparel

Selling through stores, web shops and retailers at once pulls in several integrations. These pages cover the online connector, trading partner messages and import costing in more detail. Read the one closest to your biggest channel first. Then talk to us about how Business Central for apparel can fit your brand, your factories and your retail accounts. For the product detail, see Microsoft's guide to managing inventory.