MerchandiserOS

ERP guide/Glossary

ERP implementation guide · textile & apparel

Apparel and ERP Glossary: 89 Garment, Sourcing and ERP Terms

One-sentence definitions of the terms used across this guide, from the cutting room and the sampling room to the brand's buying office, the letter of credit and the ERP's own vocabulary. Each term links to the page where it matters most.

As of 2026 Last checked 26 Sep 2026 Published by MerchandiserOS
Who wrote this. This glossary is published by MerchandiserOS, an operations platform for garment factories, fashion brands and buying agents that connects to ERPs through a public API and integrates with Garment.io. We are not affiliated with any ERP vendor named here. Where a term is one vendor's own name for something, the definition says which vendor. Sources · Report a correction

1How should this apparel glossary be used?

Use this glossary to get one plain meaning for each term before a workshop, a demo or a contract, because apparel people, brand teams and ERP consultants often use the same word for different things. A "PO" is the factory's buyer order to a merchandiser and the brand's order to a factory to a sourcing team; a "lot" is a dye lot to a cutting master and a stock-tracking record to an ERP consultant.

Terms that are one vendor's name for a general idea (Odoo's product template, NetSuite's matrix item, SAP's generic article, Business Central's item variant) are listed under the vendor's name and explained in the general term they map to. The comparison page shows the same polo style in each ERP's own terms.

2Apparel, sourcing and ERP terms, A to Z

Eighty-nine terms, alphabetical. The arrow after each definition leads to the section of the guide where the term is used in practice.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M O P R S T U V W

A

AFS (SAP Apparel and Footwear)
SAP's apparel add-on for R/3 and ECC; its customers are moving to SAP S/4HANA for fashion and vertical business, and should confirm AFS maintenance dates with SAP. SAP S/4HANA Fashion chapter →
AQL (acceptance quality limit)
An inspection method that checks a random sample from a lot and accepts or rejects the whole lot on the number of defects found, using the tables in ISO 2859-1. Quality and AQL →
ASN (advance shipping notice)
A message sent to the buyer before goods arrive, listing the content of each carton; in EDI it is the 856 transaction, and retailers charge back for a late or wrong one. Shipping documents →
AVCO (average cost)
A costing method that values stock at the running average cost of its receipts. Costing model →

B

Back-to-back letter of credit
A second credit that a factory opens in favour of its fabric supplier on the strength of the buyer's credit. Finance →
Batch attributes
In Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, values recorded per batch, which can hold shade, width and GSM for each dye lot. Finance and Supply Chain chapter →
BOM (bill of materials)
The list of every fabric, trim and packing material in one piece of a style, with its quantity per piece; for garments, fabric quantity changes with size. BOMs and routings →
Bundle
A numbered stack of cut pieces from one dye lot and one size that moves through the sewing line together, with its own ticket. Production control →
Buying house
A company that places and follows orders with factories on behalf of brands and retailers, usually for a commission on the order value; also called a buying agent. Brands and agents →

C

Carry-over style
A style sold again in a later season, often with a new cost, price or bill of materials. Variant model →
Chargeback
An amount a buyer or retailer deducts from a payment for a claimed failure, such as a late shipment, a wrong label or a missing ASN. Finance →
CM (cut and make)
The labour charge for making one garment, usually its standard minutes times a cost per minute. Costing model →
CMT (cut, make, trim)
A model in which the buyer supplies the fabric, and often the trims, and the factory charges only for making the garment. Business types →
Code letter
The letter from ISO 2859-1 that links a lot size and an inspection level to a sample size; a lot of 3,000 at general level II is code letter K. Quality and AQL →
Colourway
One colour version of a style, with its own fabric shade and often its own trims. Variant model →
Commission (agent)
The fee a buying agent earns on the orders it places, usually a percentage of the FOB value, invoiced when an agreed event such as shipment happens. Finance →
Consigned stock
Material held by a factory but owned by someone else, such as a buyer's fabric in a CMT order; it must stay out of the factory's stock value. Inventory →
Critical path
The chain of dependent milestones in a T&A calendar whose delay delays the ship date. Production control and T&A →
Cut-off rule
The exact moment after which every transaction is entered in the new system and not in the old one. Data migration →
Cut-over
The planned switch from the old system to the new one around a fixed cut-off moment, rehearsed once in full. Go-live →

D

DDP (delivered duty paid)
An Incoterm under which the seller delivers the goods to the buyer's named place with import duty paid. Finance →
Distribution curve
In SAP S/4HANA for fashion and vertical business, a set of quantity ratios that splits an order quantity across the variants of a generic article. Comparison →
Down payment
An invoice for part of a confirmed order, paid in advance and deducted from the final invoice. Finance →
DUPRO (during-production inspection)
An inspection done once part of the order is packed, as an early warning before the final inspection. Quality and AQL →
Dye lot
A batch of fabric dyed together; panels from two dye lots can differ in shade, so one garment must be cut from one lot. Lots and rolls →

E

EDI (electronic data interchange)
The exchange of business documents in a standard format between trading partners, used by retailers for orders, ship notices and invoices. Integrations →
EDI 810
The EDI invoice transaction. Integrations →
EDI 850
The EDI purchase order transaction, used by a retailer to place an order. Integrations →
EDI 856
The EDI ship notice transaction, also called the ASN, listing what is in each carton. Integrations →
Ex-factory date
The date goods leave the factory for shipment, from which the T&A calendar is worked back. T&A →

F

FIFO (first in, first out)
A costing method that values stock at the cost of the oldest receipts first. Costing model →
Fit sample
A sample made to check measurements and fit on the buyer's model before the pattern is corrected. Sampling in the Odoo chapter →
Fit-gap analysis
A line-by-line record of whether an ERP meets each requirement as standard, with configuration, with an add-on or custom code, or better in another system. The 52-line fit-gap →
FOB (free on board)
An Incoterm under which the seller's price covers the goods loaded at the port of shipment; in garment trade it is the usual price per piece. Finance →
Formula BOM
A bill of materials for process manufacturing, such as a dye recipe, that can produce co-products and by-products. Business Central vs Finance and Supply Chain →
Four-point inspection
A fabric inspection method that scores each defect from one to four points by its length and accepts a roll on its points per 100 square yards. Inventory →
Full package (FOB manufacturing)
A model in which the factory buys every material, makes the garment and sells it at a price per piece. Business types →

G

Garment costing sheet
A sheet that lists the cost of one garment by element (fabric, trims, making, washing, testing, freight, finance, overhead, margin) and adds up to the quoted price. Costing model →
Generic article
In SAP S/4HANA for fashion and vertical business, the style-level article whose variants are generated from characteristics such as colour and size. Comparison →
Grid order entry
Entering order quantities in a colour-by-size grid rather than line by line. Comparison →
GRN (goods received note)
The record of a receipt against a purchase order, with the quantity and condition received. Inventory →
GSM (grams per square metre)
The weight of one square metre of fabric, used with width to convert kilograms to metres. Units of measure →

H

Hypercare
The period after go-live when the project team stays close to fix issues daily, at least until the first month-end close. Go-live and hypercare →

I

Idempotency key
A unique value sent with an API call so that a retried call has no second effect, such as a second purchase order. Integrations →
Incoterms
The ICC's standard trade terms, such as FOB and DDP, that say where the seller's cost and risk end. Finance →
Item variant
In Dynamics 365 Business Central, one variant of an item identified by a Variant Code, such as BLUE-L. Business Central chapter →

J

Job work
The South Asian term for work done on material owned by someone else, recorded as job work in and job work out in systems such as TallyPrime. Tally chapter →

K

Knit-to-shape
Knitting a garment or sock directly from yarn to its final shape, without cutting fabric. Business types →

L

Lab dip
A small dyed fabric sample sent to the buyer to approve a shade before bulk dyeing. T&A →
Landed cost
Every cost of bringing goods to the warehouse beyond the supplier's price: freight, insurance, duty, clearing and bank charges. Finance →
Letter of credit (LC)
A bank's promise to pay the exporter when documents that match the credit's terms are presented, usually under UCP 600. Finance →
Lot
A quantity of material received and tracked together; in apparel a fabric lot is usually one dye lot. Lots and rolls →

M

Marker efficiency
The share of fabric in a cutting marker that ends up in garment pieces. BOMs →
Matrix item
In Oracle NetSuite, a parent item for a style with child items for each option combination, up to 2,000 combinations. Comparison →
MES (manufacturing execution system)
A shop-floor system that records output, bundles and operators as work happens. Production control →
MRP net-to-buy
The material quantity still to buy after subtracting stock and open orders from the needs of the whole order book. Operations layer →

O

Open costing
A costing arrangement in which a factory shows the brand its full cost build (fabric, trims, CM, overhead, margin) rather than one FOB price. Brands and agents →
Open-to-buy
A retail planning figure for how much a buyer can still purchase in a period; it belongs to retail systems. Brands and agents →
Outsourced Manufacturing
An Oracle NetSuite feature for subcontract orders, with components sent to the subcontractor and finished goods received back. Comparison, Example 3 →

P

Permanent internal id
The identifier an ERP assigns to a record that users cannot edit; integrations should link on it rather than on document numbers. Source of truth →
PLM (product lifecycle management)
A system for styles, tech packs, specifications and their revisions during development. Who owns what →
PO (in the brand sense)
The purchase order a brand or retailer issues to a factory for finished garments, which the factory treats as its buyer PO. Brands and agents →
POM (points of measure)
The garment measurements in a tech pack, each with a tolerance per size. Variant model →
PP sample (pre-production sample)
A garment in bulk fabric and trims that the buyer approves as the reference bulk production must match. T&A →
Private label (own label)
Product designed or specified by a brand or retailer and made for it by a factory, sold under the brand's or retailer's name. Brands and agents →
Product dimensions
In Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, the five dimensions (colour, size, style, configuration, version) that define product variants. Comparison →
Product template
In Odoo, the style-level product whose variants are the combinations of its attribute values. Variants in the Odoo chapter →

R

Ratio pack (prepack)
A pack or carton holding sizes in a fixed ratio, such as 1 S, 2 M, 2 L, 1 XL. Why general ERPs struggle →
Resupply subcontracting
In Odoo, subcontracting where you send the components, such as cut panels, from your own stock. Subcontracting in the Odoo chapter →
Roll
One roll of fabric, with its own length, width, GSM, shade and defects. Lots and rolls →

S

Segmentation
In SAP S/4HANA for fashion and vertical business, splitting demand and stock by attributes such as quality or season without creating more materials. Comparison →
Shade band
A set of approved shade references for one fabric colour, used to judge each new lot. Lots and rolls →
Shrinkage
The length or width a fabric loses in washing or finishing, planned into the pattern. BOMs →
SKU (stock-keeping unit)
One sellable combination of a style, such as P-2041, navy, size L. Variant model →
SMV (standard minute value)
The time a trained operator needs for one operation at a normal pace, including allowances. BOMs and routings →
Source of truth
The one system allowed to create and change a given record; every other system reads or receives a copy. Source of truth →
Sourcing agent
A company or person that finds factories and places orders with them on a brand's behalf; often the same business as a buying house. Brands and agents →
SSCC (serial shipping container code)
A GS1 barcode number that identifies one carton or pallet. Shipping documents →
Strike-off
A sample of a print or embroidery on the actual fabric, approved before bulk. T&A →
Style colour size matrix
A grid with a style's colours on one axis and sizes on the other, used to enter, plan and report quantities for each combination. Variant model →
Subcontracting
Sending goods to an outside processor, such as a printer, embroiderer, washer or CMT unit, and receiving them back, with a loss allowance. Subcontracting →

T

T&A calendar (time and action)
The list of an order's milestones, each with a planned date worked back from the ex-factory date, an actual date and an owner. Production control and T&A →
Tech pack
The specification of a style: sketches, measurements with tolerances, construction, materials, artwork and labelling. Variant model →
Tolerance band
The quantity range a buyer accepts around an order quantity, such as ±3%. Test script T6 →
TOP sample (top of production)
The first bulk pieces, checked against the PP sample. T&A →

U

UCP 600
The ICC's rules for documentary credits, which most letters of credit follow. Finance →

V

Vendor compliance manual
A brand's or retailer's rulebook for suppliers, covering labels, packing, carton marks, ASN timing, testing and the chargebacks for breaking each rule. Discovery →

W

WIP (work in progress)
Goods between cutting and packing, not yet finished. Production control →
Work centre
A place where production operations run, with its own hours, efficiency and cost per hour. Work centres in the Odoo chapter →

·Sources

Definitions follow general apparel and trade practice; standards and vendor terms are from the sources below, checked on 26 September 2026. Vendor-specific sources are listed in full on the comparison page.

  1. ISO 2859-1, Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes: iso.org
  2. Inspection levels: qualityinspection.org
  3. UCP 600, documentary credits: uscib.org · tradefinanceglobal.com
  4. EDI transaction sets 850 and 856: 1edisource.com · celigo.com · truecommerce.com
  5. Oracle NetSuite, Matrix items: docs.oracle.com
  6. Odoo 18, Product variants: odoo.com
  7. Microsoft, Business Central item variants: learn.microsoft.com · product dimensions: learn.microsoft.com · batch attributes: learn.microsoft.com
  8. SAP, Generic articles: help.sap.com · distribution curves: help.sap.com · SAP maintenance commitments: news.sap.com
  9. TallyPrime, job work out: help.tallysolutions.com

Corrections. If a definition here is wrong or unclear for your part of the trade, report a correction and mention the term and the source you checked. We correct the glossary and date the change.

Odoo, NetSuite, SAP, SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Business Central, TallyPrime and all other product names are trademarks of their owners, used here only to name the products. This glossary is not endorsed by any of them.