THE SOFTWARE MESS BEHIND YOUR CLOTHES

How broken systems are choking fashion production and how we’re finally fixing it.

The fashion industry talks a lot about innovation, but inside most factories and you’ll find a different story. Production is a mess!

In the commercial departments, projects are mostly coordinated through a confusing mix of email threads and WhatsApp groups, with no clear structure or visibility, or various PLM system and shared folders from different clients. Once the first version of a tech pack is printed on paper, adjustments get done using a pen. I guess you call it the old way of version control or activity log. When it comes to production planning, production managers rely on odd Excel spreadsheet or clunky ERP systems.

In places like Portugal, a major hub for European garment production, this setup is the norm, not the exception. Some of the bigger factories (500+ employees) have invested in digitization. The ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) they use are often clunky, outdated, and weren’t designed with garment manufacturing in mind. Most have ended up building their own software systems if they had the capital to invest. A clear sign that what’s available on the market simply isn’t cutting it!

Most facilities in Europe are small businesses with on average around 20 people. They don’t have the capital to invest in software, leaving theem to piece together their own workflows. There is no standard. No shared language. No connective tissue between the stakeholders who need each other most.

There is no Standard

Everyone works in their own way, the procurement manager, designer, logistics, fabric supplier, CMT factory, dyehouse. Everyone communicates differently. And when that information crosses factory walls, things get lost in translation. Miscommunication between different stakeholders is one of the biggest causes of errors, especially when tech packs aren’t properly built or basic terms aren’t standardized. It leaves too much room for interpretation in a system where there should be none!

This fragmented, messy workflows are one of the core reasons why small-batch production is still so hard to scale. They slow down everything and create silos (isolated departments, teams, or functions that operate independently with limited communication and collaboration).

At Labwear, we're solving this.

Through LabwearOS we’re building powerful tools for brands and just as importantly, we’re building a flexible backend ecosystem designed for factories. A digital foundation that makes it easy to coordinate production, manage timelines, and keep pace with the speed of today’s industry.

Our dream?

Everyone using the same cloud-based system. One platform where every stakeholder, brand, supplier, factory, and designer has access to their dedicated part of the workflow and live data: tech packs, manufacturing SOPs, PO status, ...

We’re already seeing it work:

Since introducing LabwearOS, the average lead time has gone from 10 weeks to just 6 weeks. And on top of that, people using LabwearOS have felt less stressed, getting more shit done!

Of course, LabwearOS is never final. We’re constantly evolving based on real feedback from brands, from suppliers, from factory floor operators. The people who live and breathe production every day. And the ones who understand that just because the industry has always done something one way, doesn’t mean it should stay that way.