Being a fashion and apparel manufacturer in this time and era of fast fashion is a challenge in itself.
Today, fashion businesses face a lot of pressure. There are supply chain delays, staff shortages, rising costs, and strong competition.
At the same time, customers want more sustainable and ethical fashion. Claims of greenwashing only add to the stress.
In this tough environment, staying competitive and growing the business is a real challenge.
That’s why having the right technology in place is no longer optional.
A specialized ERP system built for the fashion industry helps you manage change, stay efficient, and respond quickly to market shifts.
It gives owners and ERP teams the tools to drive smarter decisions and long-term success.
Key Takeaways
- An apparel business’s seasonal, complex inventory, and multi-channel demands require specialized ERP solutions.
- Poor inventory management and forecasting lead to missed sales and higher operational costs in an apparel business.
- Momentis is an end-to-end platform with strong fashion industry experience serving 250+ brands.
- NStitch provides detailed production tracking and cost analysis from cutting to finishing.
- You can choose between Momentis for simplicity or the NetSuite + NStitch duo for manufacturing complexity.
List of commonly used ERPs by fashion and apparel businesses
Here is a list of niche-specific ERPs catering to the AFA industry:
- Folio3’s NStitch Apparel Software
- Momentis by Aptean
- Aims 360
- Apparel Magic
- S2K Enterprise
- Cantel Apparel ERP
- MRPeasy
- Katana
- Infor CloudSuite Fashion
- Silent Infotech Apparel ERP
Let’s dissect why fashion businesses need specialized ERP solutions and compare the two leading options: Momentis by Aptean and the NetSuite + NStitch duo by Folio3.
Why do fashion and apparel businesses need specialized ERP solutions?
Image: An apparel business owner
Most Common Industry Challenges
The fashion and apparel industry faces unique challenges that general-purpose ERP systems often struggle to address. These challenges include:
1. Seasonality
Fashion businesses operate on seasonal cycles with constantly changing product lines. Unlike manufacturing industries with consistent product catalogs, apparel companies completely refresh their offerings multiple times per year, creating unique planning and forecasting challenges.
2. Complex Inventory Management
A single style can come in numerous combinations of sizes, colors, and variations. This creates an explosion of SKUs that requires specialized matrix inventory management capabilities. For example, a simple t-shirt design in 5 colors and 6 sizes instantly becomes 30 distinct inventory items to track.
3. SKU Proliferation
Related to inventory complexity, fashion businesses must manage thousands of unique items each season. Without proper systems, this leads to inefficiencies, stockouts of popular items, and overstock of underperforming ones.
4. Multi-Channel Coordination
Today’s fashion brands must seamlessly sell across retail stores, e-commerce platforms, wholesale channels, and marketplaces. Each channel has different requirements, pricing structures, and fulfillment needs.
5. Supply Chain Visibility
With manufacturing often occurring globally, fashion businesses need comprehensive visibility from raw materials to finished goods, often spanning multiple countries and vendors.
The Cost of Insufficient ERP Systems
Fashion businesses using general-purpose or smaller ERP systems often face costly problems:
- Manual reconciliation between systems leads to errors and wasted labor.
- Poor inventory allocation results in missed sales opportunities.
- Inability to accurately forecast seasonal demand.
- Limited visibility into true product costs and profitability.
- Slow reaction time to market changes and trends.
- Difficulty scaling operations during growth periods.
A specialized fashion ERP eliminates these issues by providing industry-specific functionality out of the box.
Let’s evaluate two leading ERP solutions in this space.
- Oracle NetSuite for Apparel and Fashion
- Momentis by Aptean: Fashion-focused ERP solution
Momentis by Aptean: Fashion-focused ERP solution
Momentis by Aptean positions itself as an end-to-end ERP solution specifically designed for fashion apparel wholesalers, importers, manufacturers, and brands.
With over 30 years of experience in the fashion business, Momentis aims to centralize data, streamline operations, and lower operating costs.
Key Features
1. Momentis works with comprehensive fashion-specific modules
- Product Lifecycle Management
- Sales Order Management
- Sourcing and Logistics
- Warehouse Management
- Financial Management
- Business Intelligence
2. Momentis integrates with major platforms to automatically update product content, images, inventory, and promotional pricing in real-time. It connects with:
- E-commerce platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce)
- EDI systems for wholesale operations
- Direct-to-Consumer channels
- 3PL Warehouse Systems
- Amazon and B2B marketplace apps
3. The system provides real-time data accessible anywhere, transforming complex information into user-friendly dashboards. This allows fashion businesses to analyze trends and stay informed on inventory, finance, and other critical metrics.
4. Momentis processes over $7 billion in orders annually and is trusted by more than 250 brands, from startups to established businesses.
Image: Key features of Momentis by Aptean
| Pros of Momentis | Cons of Momentis |
| It is built specifically for apparel and fashion companies with targeted features.It provides comprehensive coverage across business functions without requiring additional modules.It has over three decades of fashion business expertise.It successfully handles billions in transaction volume.It connects seamlessly with e-commerce platforms, EDI systems, and 3PL warehouses.It offers accessible insights across devices for data-driven decision-making. | While it covers sourcing and logistics, the documentation doesn’t detail manufacturing process tracking with the same granularity as NStitch.Less information is available about the extent and ease of customizations compared to NetSuite and other ERPs. Limited details about how it handles international tax and regulatory requirements compared to NetSuite’s well-documented global capabilities. |
The NetSuite + NStitch duo: A specialized approach by Folio3
Image: NetSuite + NStitch logo
NetSuite for Apparel, Footwear & Accessories (AFA)
NetSuite for AFA is a SuiteSuccess edition of the widely used NetSuite ERP system, tailored to simplify apparel and footwear businesses of various sizes.
Key Features of NetSuite for AFA
1. Seasonal planning tools
- Seasonal forecasting capabilities.
- Automatic markdowns based on season progression.
- Dynamic reorder points using sales data and market trends.
2. Matrix inventory management
- Size-color-style matrix for granular inventory control.
- Real-time visibility across all locations.
- Identification of best-selling combinations.
- Optimal distribution suggestions.
3. Multi-brand management
- Operate multiple brands from a single system.
- Separate financials, inventory, and customer data by brand.
- Consolidated performance metrics across brands.
4. Global operations management
- Supplier and production tracking.
- Order and timeline management.
- Total landed cost calculations (including duties and shipping).
5. Unified commerce capabilities
- Synchronizes inventory, orders, and customer data across channels.
- Consistent experience across retail, eCommerce, wholesale, and marketplaces.
- B2B portals for retailers with wholesale-specific features.
6. Core business functions
- Financials & reporting.
- Inventory management.
- Supply chain management.
- Order management.
- CRM with complex pricing capabilities.
- POS and eCommerce.
Image: Key features of NetSuite for AFA
NStitch: Specialized Apparel Manufacturing Solution
NStitch is a custom-tailored solution built on NetSuite, focused specifically on simplifying and unifying apparel manufacturing processes.
Key Features of NStitch
1. Production process management
- Tracks every manufacturing step (cutting, stitching, embroidery, finishing).
- Real-time updates on production status.
- Visibility into both in-house and outsourced production.
2. Detailed cost management
- Tracks labor, overhead, and material costs.
- Provides a complete view of production expenses.
- Helps optimize material usage and reduce waste.
3. Outsourced production capabilities
- Manages external vendors and tracking.
- Handles full-package outsourced production processes.
- Purchase order management for outsourced services.
4. Manufacturing data insights
- Generates detailed reports (CUT tickets, cost analysis, task tracking).
- Provides real-time WIP (Work In Process) status.
- Identifies production bottlenecks before they cause delays.
5. Material and inventory control
- Manages orders by size, color, and batch.
- Tracks inventory and material consumption in real-time.
- Creates transfer orders for raw materials.
- Includes Lot Control for quality management.
Pros of NetSuite + NStitch by Folio3
- It is built on NetSuite, a recognized and robust ERP platform with broad functionality.
- NStitch provides detailed manufacturing process control specific to apparel production.
- The combination covers everything from design and production through sales and financials.
- It offers detailed real-time monitoring of each production step and associated costs.
- It has strong capabilities for managing both in-house and outsourced production.
- It offers seamless integration between manufacturing (NStitch) and business operations (NetSuite).
- It has robust reporting across both manufacturing and business operations.
Cons of NetSuite + NStitch
- As with any NetSuite deployment, implementation can involve data migration challenges, customization needs, and integration complexity.
- The combination of two systems may represent a larger investment than a single-platform solution.
- It may require specialized knowledge to fully utilize the combined capabilities.
Detailed comparison: Momentis vs. NetSuite + NStitch
| Comparison | Momentis | NetSuite + NStitch |
| Core ERP Functionality | Provides a comprehensive, all-in-one ERP solution specifically built for fashion.Offers integrated modules covering the entire business process.Processes over $7 billion in orders annually, demonstrating scalability. | Leverages NetSuite’s robust ERP platform with fashion-specific customizations.Compatible with NStitch’s specialized manufacturing capabilities.Benefits from NetSuite’s widespread use across industries and continuous platform development. |
| Manufacturing Process Management | Contains sourcing and logistics capabilities.Less detailed information is available about the manufacturing process tracking. | NStitch tracks every production step in detail (cutting, stitching, embroidery, finishing).Explicitly supports Cut Make Trim (CMT) capabilities.Manages both in-house and outsourced production. |
| Inventory Management | Fashion-focused inventory management.Integrates with warehouse systems. | Size-color-style matrix for detailed inventory control.Real-time visibility across locations.Identifies best-selling combinations.Material consumption tracking by NStitch.Lot control capabilities. |
| Integration Capabilities | Strong integration with e-commerce platforms, EDI, and 3PL systems.Automatic updates of product content, images, inventory, and pricing. | NetSuite’s extensive integration ecosystem.SuiteCommerce for integrated eCommerce.NStitch is built directly on NetSuite for seamless manufacturing integration. |
| Business Intelligence | Real-time data is accessible anywhere.User-friendly dashboards.Analysis of inventory, finance, and other metrics. | NetSuite’s SuiteAnalytics platform.NStitch’s manufacturing-specific reports (CUT tickets, cost analysis).Forecasting tools and trend analysis. |
| Multi-channel Operations | Integrates with multiple sales channels.Supports various business models. | Synchronizes inventory, orders, and customer data across channels.B2B portals with wholesale-specific features.Unified commerce approach. |
| Cost Management | Financial management module.Business intelligence for financial metrics. | NetSuite’s comprehensive financial management.NStitch’s detailed production cost tracking (labor, overhead, materials).Total landed cost calculations. |
Why NetSuite + NStitch often edges out Momentis
The detailed analysis above shows that the NetSuite + NStitch combination often presents advantages for fashion businesses with complex manufacturing needs.
While Momentis covers sourcing and logistics, NStitch was built specifically to address the intricate challenges of apparel manufacturing.
Its ability to track every production step in detail, manage CMT workflows, and provide granular cost tracking represents a significant advantage for businesses where manufacturing control is a priority.
The NetSuite + NStitch duo creates a seamless flow from initial design through production, inventory management, distribution, and sales.
This unified approach eliminates data silos and provides complete visibility across the entire value chain.
NetSuite for AFA explicitly addresses the unique challenges of apparel businesses, including seasonality, inventory complexity, SKU proliferation, and multi-channel coordination.
NStitch then adds specialized capabilities for managing the intricacies of apparel production. While the NetSuite + NStitch combination offers advantages in many scenarios, the right choice depends on your specific business needs:
Consider Momentis if:
- You prefer an all-in-one solution from a single vendor.
- Your manufacturing processes are relatively straightforward.
- You value deep fashion industry experience in your ERP provider.
- Integration with e-commerce and EDI systems is your priority.
Consider NetSuite + NStitch if:
- Your business has complex manufacturing requirements.
- You need granular production tracking and cost management.
- Managing multiple brands or sales channels is critical.
- You value the robust platform and ecosystem of NetSuite.
- Detailed manufacturing reports and analytics are essential.
Conclusion
After the detailed analysis we did above, we conclude that both Momentis by Aptean and the NetSuite + NStitch duo offer powerful capabilities tailored to the unique needs of fashion and apparel companies.
While Momentis provides a comprehensive, fashion-focused solution from a single vendor, the NetSuite + NStitch combination offers deeper manufacturing capabilities and a more extensive ecosystem.
The NetSuite + NStitch approach often provides advantages for businesses with complex production requirements through its granular production control, detailed cost management, and seamless integration between manufacturing and business operations.
The best choice ultimately depends on your specific business model, manufacturing complexity, and growth plans.
If you are interested in opting for the NetSuite + NStitch duo for your fashion and apparel business, you can reach out to us with the details of your business and what you expect from this ERP implementation.
Remember, we are just one email away 😉
