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GarmentFlow has three records you’ll use constantly: the style, the order, and the manufacturing order (MO). They sound similar but do different jobs. This page defines each one, shows how the three connect, and gives you a rule of thumb for when to create each. This builds directly on the style-centric model — read that first if you haven’t.

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Style — the reusable product

A is the product itself: a specific garment, described once and reused. It owns the BOM, cost sheet, packing and quality specs, manufacturing orders, and its history. A style is not tied to a single order — it’s meant to be reused across many. Think of the style as the recipe.

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Order — a customer’s commitment to buy

An is what a customer has committed to buy: which styles, in which colorways, in what quantities, at what price, to ship by when. An order links to the styles it runs and adds the order-specific details — quantities, colorways, sizes, dates, and commercial terms. One style can appear on many orders; one order can include several styles. Think of the order as the customer’s request.

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MO — the production-spec document

A is the production-spec workbook that tells the factory exactly how to make the style for a specific order. It is a multi-tab factory Excel — the order’s quantities, the style’s approved BOM as a per-colorway color-spec matrix, the finalised grading grid, the sample-stage measurement comparison, and the customer’s brand-tab library attachments (packing, production notes, sample review, style detail) — rendered from one of the workspace’s PMS templates. The MO has two phases:
  • While the MO is in draft, you can adjust the order it is bound to, swap the brand-tab attachments, or leave a target empty.
  • When you issue the MO, its content freezes. From that point on the workbook the factory opens reads from the issue-time snapshot, even if a later revision of the BOM, grading, sample measurements, or a brand-tab library item is made afterwards. That stability is the point of issuing: the factory and the order team look at the same picture for the run.
Think of the MO as the work specification, frozen at issue.
The MO (製造單) is the production specification — what to make and to which versions. It is a separate record from the (委外單), which is the outsourcing contract covering the work sent to a factory and the money owed for it. One spec; one contract. For factory orders, see the Production module guide.

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How they relate

The three records form a clear hierarchy:
  • A style is validated by fittings before it goes into bulk production.
  • A style has many orders — each order runs the style for one customer commitment, and each order keeps its own version pin onto the BOM and cost sheet it is working from.
  • An order has one or more MOs — each MO is issued against that order’s approved BOM, its finalised grading, its sample measurements, and the brand-tab library items attached to the version, and its content freezes when the MO is issued.
The style is shared; each order keeps its own pin onto the style’s documents; and each MO is issued against the versions that order is currently working from.

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Rule of thumb: when to create each

Create a style

When you have a new product to define and reuse — a garment you haven’t set up before. Reuse an existing style when the same product comes back.

Create an order

When a customer commits to buy — you have styles, colorways, quantities, a price, and a ship date to record against that customer.

Create an MO

When an order is ready to produce and you need to hand the factory a settled specification — the BOM, cost sheet, and other specs frozen at the versions the order is running.
A quick test:
  • New product to define? → style
  • Customer buying it? → order
  • Time to spec the run for the factory? → MO

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Best practice: approve upstream before you issue

Issuing an MO freezes its picture of the style. The most useful picture to freeze is the one your team has signed off on — so as a rule, approve the BOM, finalise the grading, and attach the customer’s brand-tab library items before you issue the MO. GarmentFlow won’t stop you from issuing earlier; the discipline is what keeps the factory working from a workbook the order team stands behind. The mechanics of the multi-tab workbook — which tab renders from which source and what a blank tab means — live on Build a manufacturing order (MO).