Judging a maker after the first order
Record what was agreed, what arrived, why anything changed and whether repairs worked before deciding what the maker must change for a second order.
Quick answers from this guide
What should I record after the first clothing delivery?
Keep the agreed order details beside the delivery record, including approved changes. Record the dates, how many pieces were checked and what faults were found. Keep the maker's responses and evidence that agreed corrections worked. The review should show both the result and what caused it, so the next order addresses a specific problem.
Which date should I use to judge whether the maker was late?
Use the last delivery date agreed by both the brand and the maker before that date passed. Keep the original date and the reason for any approved change. Specify whether the date means clothes ready at the maker, handed over for transport or received at the agreed destination. Those events involve different responsibilities and should be judged separately.
How should I record faults in the clothes?
Record how many pieces were checked and how many had a fault, counting each affected piece once even when it has several faults. Describe every fault separately. Keep problems found during production apart from those found before dispatch or after arrival, and record repairs separately. Judge the faults against the rules agreed for the clothes before the check.
How should late approvals and changes from the brand affect the review?
Record the decision that was due, when the brand made it and what change to the dates was agreed. A late approval and a request to change the clothes are different events, so preserve that distinction. The maker remains responsible for submitting the correct work, flagging decision deadlines and completing its own agreed actions.
What needs to be settled before placing a second order?
Before a second order, agree what must change, who will do the work and when it is due. Identify the evidence needed to show that the correction works. Review delivery and faults separately, even if communication was good. Update the instructions and approvals for the next order so the same unresolved issue does not carry forward.
On this page 7 sections
Judge a maker after the first order by comparing what was agreed with what arrived, recording the causes of any problems and checking whether the agreed corrections worked. Keep delivery and the condition of the clothes visible as separate results. A useful reply cannot cancel a missed date or a fault that makes clothes difficult to sell.
The record should lead to a decision about the next order. It needs enough detail to explain what must change, with the evidence beside it. A single overall mark cannot do that work on its own.
01Keep the agreed order beside the delivery record
Start with the document that tells the maker what to make. Keep the approved version, the comments on samples and the material approvals together with the packing instructions. Record the agreed cost and the assumptions behind it. If any of these changed, retain what changed and when the change was accepted.
These are the references for judging the delivery. A measurement needs to be checked against the approved measurements. A sample needs to be judged against the request that accompanied it. Where the instructions changed during the order, identify which version the maker was meant to follow at the time.
Keep the supporting evidence close to each result. For delivery, that means the agreed dates and the record of when the clothes were ready or handed over. For faults, it means the report of what was checked. For a change, keep the request and approval together. The review should be readable without reconstructing the whole order from messages.
Give someone responsibility for maintaining the record. Update it while the order is moving, then bring it together after delivery. Problems that need a decision during production should be dealt with then; the later review records the outcome and checks what still needs attention.
02A delivery date must name the event it describes
Write down what the delivery date means. Clothes being ready at the maker, being handed over for transport and arriving at an agreed destination are different events. Judge the maker against the event it agreed to meet. If the clothes were ready on time and a later transport delay sat outside the maker's control, preserve that distinction.
Keep the original date agreed when the order was confirmed. Alongside it, record every accepted revision, the reason for it and who approved it. Include the date of that approval. Use a revised date to judge whether the order was on time only if both sides accepted the change before the delivery date passed.
A request to move the date after it has been missed does not erase the delay. Record the missed date and the later plan to complete the order. The plan shows how the work will recover; the missed date remains part of the result.
If the order was split into separate deliveries with their own quantities and dates, review each part separately. Keep cancelled clothes and work that is not yet due out of the completed-delivery result. For anything late, record how many days it missed the agreed date by. As further orders arrive, those records allow a comparison over time.
03Count affected pieces and describe every fault
A useful check records both how many pieces were examined and how many had a fault. Counting affected pieces without recording the number checked leaves the result incomplete. If only part of a delivery was examined, say so. A check of selected pieces does not mean that every piece was examined.
Count each affected piece once when recording how many clothes had faults. If one piece has several faults, describe each fault in the report while still counting that piece once. Keep the number of affected pieces separate from the total number of faults. They describe different things.
Use the rules agreed before the clothes were checked to decide how serious each fault is. Those rules should reflect how the clothes will be worn and whether the fault affects their use or sale. A loose thread may be a small fault in one context; a failed seam can affect whether the piece can be worn or sold. Do not change the rules after seeing the result.
Record when each problem was found. Keep findings during production separate from the final check before dispatch and from problems discovered after arrival. An issue caught and corrected while the clothes are being made still needs a record, but it carries a different delivery risk from a fault discovered after dispatch. Record how many pieces needed repair separately as well.
04Attribute delays to the decisions that caused them
For every changed date, record the event that caused the change. Include who needed to act next, what they needed to do and when. The evidence should explain how the event affected the plan, including any contribution from the brand.
Suppose the maker sends the requested colour sample on time and the brand approves it after the agreed deadline. Keep the request, the deadline and the approval date, along with the accepted effect on the schedule. If the maker sends the wrong colour or sends it late, record that cause instead. These are different failures to meet the agreed plan.
An approval that arrives late also differs from a request for a different colour. One delays a decision on the work requested; the other changes the work. The same distinction applies when comments on a sample change the measurements or other instructions. Keep the revised instructions and track the further sample separately.
Record shared causes where they exist. An earlier delay from the brand does not excuse every later missed action by the maker. Equally, the maker should not carry responsibility for a late brand approval. Identify the event that first put the plan at risk, then record the other events that contributed. Give each cause a short, plain description, such as late colour approval or missed fabric booking.
05Judge replies by whether they move the work forward
Keep a record of enquiries and production problems that needed an answer. Note when each was raised, who was responsible and when it was resolved. The useful result is a response that allows the work to proceed, followed by completion of the agreed action.
Give credit when the maker raises a problem early enough for a decision. If it identifies a problem with how the clothes will be made, presents options and agrees a revised plan in time, record that sequence. An early warning that protects the agreed date belongs in the review alongside the final delivery result.
Review the samples too. Record whether they arrived when agreed and whether they followed the request. Keep the request and the comments with the dispatch record, so a further sample can be traced to a missed instruction or an approved change. That distinction helps decide what needs to be clearer on the next order.
Check whether changes to the agreed cost were explained and approved, with their assumptions recorded. A change in the clothes may change the work involved. Keep the accepted change with the revised order details. Good communication and accurate documents help explain the result, but serious delivery or clothing faults must remain visible in their own right.
06A repair needs evidence that the problem will not repeat
Record the original fault even when the maker offers to repair the clothes. The repair is a response to the problem. If it also delays handover, record that effect on delivery. Keep the quality result and the recovery work visible together.
For each agreed correction, write down what caused the problem and what action will address it. Name the person responsible and set a due date. Then specify how the correction will be checked. Completing an action and showing that it prevented the same problem are separate parts of the record.
The next-order decision should follow from that cause. A late approval may call for a clearer decision deadline. A missed fabric booking may call for earlier confirmation. Repeated faults may require an additional check while the clothes are being made. Choose the change that addresses the recorded problem and retain evidence of its effect.
Keep unresolved actions open in the review. A promise to correct something is not yet evidence that the correction worked. Where the next order provides the opportunity to check the result, state what will be checked and who will record it.
07Make the second order conditional on specific changes
Share the order record with the maker before completing the review. Allow time for factual errors to be identified. Keep the original evidence and document any agreed correction to the record, so both sides can see why the final account changed.
Read delivery and faults separately before considering an overall result. If using a combined mark, keep its parts visible and agree which serious failures require action regardless of the total. Responsive communication must not obscure repeated faults or an unaddressed missed date.
Finish the review with the changes required for the second order, each with a responsible person, a deadline and evidence of completion. Carry approved changes into the current instructions for the clothes. As more deliveries arrive, compare recurring problems using the same definitions, while keeping differences between types of clothes visible.
The decision to order again should refer to that record: what the maker delivered, what remains unresolved and what will be checked next. Keep it specific. The next delivery then tests whether the agreed changes worked.