Fabric store inventory by the yard: a method that keeps up
By Loomton · Updated
A fabric store sells inventory in pieces of a bolt, a quarter yard or three yards at a time. If cuts are not recorded, the count on paper drifts away from the shelf within weeks. This method keeps them together.
Give every bolt one record
- A short code, printed on a label on the bolt end
- Name, color and width (44", 60", 108" wide backs)
- Yards on the bolt when it arrived, and the cost per yard
- The supplier, so a reorder is one call
Record every cut at the cutting counter
Each cut, even a fat quarter, comes off the bolt's count when it is sold. Scanning the bolt's label at the counter is faster than typing, and stops the wrong print from being charged.
Set a reorder point for your best sellers
Pick the prints and solids you never want to run out of, and set the yardage at which you reorder. Seasonal and one-time prints can sell out; the basics should not.
Count the shelf now and then
Once a quarter, measure the remaining yardage on a section of bolts and correct the records. Small differences are normal (cutting allowance, remnants); large ones point to cuts that were not recorded.
