If you ever managed apparel programs for your company, you know the prospect of branded apparel is exciting for employees. But it can also start to feel like a second full-time job trying to manage the logistics, collect orders, and distribute everything. However, if you pick a partner who offers total apparel management services for your corporate clothing, you can skip these hassles altogether.
With a dedicated external team helping you set up your corporate apparel program, you’ll find your internal team can save time, marketing dollars, and much more. Below we’ll explore what total apparel management is and exactly how it can help. With management, starting a custom corporate apparel program doesn’t have to happen at the expense of the other initiatives on your plate.
What Is Total Apparel Management?
Generally speaking, total apparel management is outsourcing the logistics of your company’s clothing program to a dedicated and experienced team. Depending on which apparel partner you choose, their team can:
Source apparel options
Manage apparel customization
Build a custom e-store for orders
Handle payment and order logistics
Deliver directly to employees
It’s important to know which of those services matter most to you and do your research on your partner’s custom apparel services. That way, you can set up a custom clothing program that best fits your company’s needs.
5 Ways a Total Apparel Management System Can Help
If you have an employee uniform program or are choosing to offer a custom clothing design for a company event, there are a lot of logistics to oversee. You need to make sure you choose the right type of apparel for your stakeholders, ensure the customization is in line with the quality of your brand standards, and then figure out your corporate apparel fulfillment process to distribute clothing.
Having a total apparel management system (TAMS) is a great way to ensure each of those program touchpoints isn’t just covered — but that each is executed efficiently as well. Below are the top 5 ways that turning to a managed apparel program partner benefits your organization.
1. You’re Not Responsible for Sourcing or Fulfilling Apparel
This means you don’t have to spend time tracking down bulk shirts or jackets to custom embroider. Instead, your TAM partner can offer you a range of apparel types and price points from popular or private-label brands they’ve built a relationship with.
This also means you don’t run the risk of getting stuck with bulk apparel that’s lacking in quality and not a good representation of your brand. If your employees or program stakeholders were to end up with a custom shirt that’s unraveling to start, it wouldn’t send the right message about your brand.
However, with an experienced apparel management partner, you can have peace of mind that the quality will meet your expectations. You’ll have no unpleasant surprises or unnecessary hassles.
2. You’re Not Handling All the Logistics of Your Corporate Apparel Program
Corporate apparel fulfillment is no easy task. If you’ve previously handled it all on your own, you know it can take a lot of time to collect orders, take payments, and then distribute the custom orders. And if you’re handling an employee uniform program, you’re setting yourself up to have to repeat the process frequently.
But if you work with a custom apparel service that handles all the logistics and also provides custom online company stores, that box of shirts is about to become a relic of the past.
With a custom online company store designed to fit your branding your partner can:
Allow stakeholders to shop online
Collect orders and delivery information directly
Accept e-vouchers, online gift cards, or direct payments
Ship orders directly to your stakeholders
3. You’re Not Wasting Money On Custom Clothing
For many marketing teams, the biggest deterrent of offering corporate apparel is the risk of ending up with extras. It’s typically hard to get rid of the unused apparel and on the flip side, it’s frustrating to have to use company space to store it.
However, partnering with an apparel provider that offers made-to-order clothing as a part of their TAMS eliminates this risk altogether. That combined with an online shopping site means that program stakeholders can choose clothing pieces they’re actually interested in so you’re not overstocking items.
In fact, since it’s made-to-order you won’t even need to guess how much of each style and size you’ll need. You can let your stakeholders drive the orders. And in return, you don’t have to worry about any wasted marketing budget spent on extras.
4. You’re Not Limited on Options
As touched on above, your partner has access to credible apparel supplier options and the ability to show your custom clothing portfolio on an online store. Plus, since it’s made-to-order you’re not already stuck with a full order of apparel.
This means that you ultimately have more flexibility and can easily switch out apparel options to match seasonality or new fashion trends. Plus, you can also offer more apparel options than what would be possible if you chose to order bulk apparel ahead of time.
This means that your stakeholders have more clothing styles to choose from, so they can find a piece they actually want and would enjoy wearing. It may seem like a small benefit, but at the end of the day putting the choice in the hands of your employee can say a lot about your company culture.
5. You’re Not Stuck with a Box of Clothes
Whether you’ve had to do it yourself or someone else on your team has handled it, sorting through an order of custom apparel to figure out sizes and distribute is frustrating. Plus, if you have remote employees or stakeholders, you have to pay extra fees to ship it to them.
Working with a total apparel management partner means you don’t have to play the role of the middleman anymore. Instead, they can ship out orders directly to your stakeholders, so everyone gets their apparel in a timely and organized manner.
Even if your workforce isn’t remote, having orders shipped directly to each stakeholder’s doorstep means you won’t have to spend extra paying someone to hand out orders. This can make a huge difference in freeing up your staffing needs as well if you’re using apparel for a corporate event.
What to Look for in a Total Apparel Management Partner
Before working with a custom apparel service, it’s crucial to first identify exactly what kind of support your team needs. For a smooth-running program, it’s best to find a partner that:
Offers made-to-order apparel (to prevent waste).
Provides both private label and name brand options (to boost stakeholder buy-in).
Carries both men and women’s styles (to suit everyone’s taste).
Handles customization (to ensure its quality matches your branding guidelines).
Facilitates online shopping and ordering (to increase user satisfaction).
Fulfills orders and delivery (to take you out of the middle).
As an added bonus, consider finding a service provider who also doesn’t require any contracts or minimum purchase agreements. This makes it a lot easier to prevent your business from ending up with outdated apparel and gives you greater flexibility to update the styles you’re offering.