Samples and fitting

The Fitting module is where a is proven before it goes into bulk: you develop physical samples, validate the fit across a series of stages, and record the comments, measurements, and photos that confirm the style is right. It’s the quality gate between designing a product and committing an order to the factory floor. This guide assumes you know the style-centric model.

Two ideas work together here:

A is a physical prototype of a style — a real garment made so you can check how it looks, measures, and fits.
is the validation process that prototype goes through. It’s organized per style as a series of stages, each a round of samples reviewed and signed off before the next begins.

So one fitting record follows a single style from its first prototype to a sample that’s approved for production, and the samples are the physical garments you assess at each stage along the way.

The fitting list

Open the Fitting module to see every style in development. Each row is one style, keyed on its style number, with the customer and season alongside. The seven stages run across the row as columns, each showing that stage’s ETD, ETA, and latest comments, so you can read a style’s whole fitting progress at a glance. Filter the list by season, customer, stage, or status to focus on what’s in front of you. To start tracking a new style, choose “New” and link it to the style you’re developing — the customer style number, name, and other details fill in from the style record.

The seven-stage fitting lifecycle

Every style is validated through the same seven stages, in order:

Stage	What it means
Proto	The first prototype — a proof of concept of the design.
Fit1	First fitting round — initial fit and measurement check.
Fit2	Second fitting round, after the first corrections.
Fit3	Third fitting round, refining the fit further.
PP	Pre-production sample — the approved standard for bulk.
SMS	Salesman sample — samples for the customer’s selling effort.
Bulk	Top-of-production sample — confirms bulk matches the approved standard.

Each stage carries its own target dates (ETD and ETA) and its own status, and advances independently.

Working a stage

Open a fitting record and select a stage to work it. Each stage has its own set of sub-tabs:

SPEC — the measurement specification for the stage, kept as uploaded files (spreadsheet, PDF, or image).
Comments — the comment thread for the stage. Add comments by hand, or import them in bulk from a text or spreadsheet file.
Fitting Photo — photos of the sample on the form or model.
Grading — the size-grading documents for the stage.
Shipment — the physical sample shipments for the stage. Each one records an ex-factory date, tracking number, and contents, so you know which sample went where and when.

Files on the SPEC, Grading, and Shipment tabs are versioned — re-uploading a document of the same name keeps the earlier copy and marks the new one current, so a stage’s revision history is preserved.

Completing and advancing a stage

Two actions sit at the bottom of the stage:

Complete marks the current stage approved without moving on — you’ve signed this stage off.
To next steps advances the style to the next stage, marking the current one done.

Keeping these separate lets you approve a stage and pause, or push straight on, as the work demands. Completing the pre-production (PP) stage is the milestone that signals the style is approved for bulk and advances the order toward bulk production.

Managing multiple rounds

Fitting is iterative by design. The first fit rarely passes — that’s what the Fit1, Fit2, and Fit3 stages are for. When a sample doesn’t pass, you keep working the same stage: log the problems as comments, upload the revised spec, attach the new fitting photos, and bring in the next physical sample as another shipment. Because the files at each stage are versioned, you can see how the spec and the samples evolved across the rounds, not just the final result. Only when a stage is right do you advance to the next.

How fitting connects to orders and manufacturing orders

A style’s fitting results don’t stay in the Fitting module — they feed production. When a (MO) is composed for an ’s version of the style, it pulls in the fitting comments and specifications for the style, so the factory builds from validated fit information rather than an untested design. In practice you validate a style through fitting before committing it to bulk — fitting is what tells you the product is production-ready. See the Styles module guide for how the MO is issued.