Trims and accessories are every material on a garment apart from the main fabric: thread, buttons, zippers, labels, interlinings, elastic, hangtags, polybags, cartons and stickers. They are low in value but high in risk, because a single missing or wrong trim can stop packing. Good trims management needs an approved trim card, size- and colour-wise quantity calculation with wastage, tracked approvals, and goods-received checks against the approved standard.
A ₹2 label and a ₹40 lakh shipment
This is a composite scenario drawn from situations we see often in Indian factories.
Neha is a senior merchandiser at a Gurugram export house. Her order: 18,000 cotton shirts for a US department store. Fabric arrived on time. Production went well. Then, three days before ex-factory, the buyer’s QA flagged a problem during final inspection: the care labels showed the wrong fibre composition. The label vendor had used an older artwork from a previous season’s poly-cotton style.
Every shirt had to be opened, re-labelled and re-pressed. Overtime, a missed vessel, and a strained relationship with the buyer, all because of a label that cost about two rupees.
A week later, a second order ran short of buttons. The calculation had used 8 buttons per shirt; the approved sample had 9, including a spare. Nobody had updated the BOM.
Neha’s realisation: fabric gets all the attention, but trims cause half the delays.
What counts as trims and accessories?
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Sewing trims | Thread, interlining/fusing, elastic, tapes, piping, shoulder pads |
| Closures | Buttons, zippers, hooks and eyes, snaps, Velcro, drawcords |
| Labels | Main/brand label, size label, care label, country of origin label, fibre content label |
| Decorative trims | Lace, patches, appliqué, beads, rivets, badges |
| Packing trims | Hangtags, price tickets, barcode stickers, RFID tags, polybags, tissue, hangers, cartons |
Some trims are buyer-nominated, meaning the buyer specifies the supplier. Labels, hangtags and RFID tags often fall in this group.
Why trims cause so many delays
- Too many items. A single style can need 15–30 different trims, each in multiple sizes or colours.
- Size- and colour-wise variation. Size labels by size, zips by colour and length, buttons by colourway.
- Approvals. Many trims need buyer approval before bulk ordering.
- Long lead times from nominated suppliers.
- Small minimum order quantities and pack sizes, so calculations get rounded in odd ways.
- Last-minute changes to artwork, barcodes or price tickets.
The trim card: your single source of truth
A trim card is a physical or digital sheet showing every approved trim for a style and colourway: actual samples (or images), supplier, code, colour, size and placement. Every department works from it: purchase uses it to order, stores uses it to check incoming goods, production uses it to attach trims correctly, and QA uses it at inspection.
If your trim card lives in one merchandiser’s drawer, it isn’t doing its job.
How to calculate trims quantity
Required quantity = Order quantity × Consumption per garment × (1 + Wastage %)
Worked example: buttons for 18,000 shirts
- Buttons per shirt (from approved sample): 9 (7 front, 1 collar, 1 spare)
- Base requirement: 18,000 × 9 = 1,62,000
- Wastage allowance: 3%
- Required: 1,62,000 × 1.03 = 1,66,860 buttons
- Rounded to supplier pack size (e.g., gross of 144): 1,159 gross = 1,66,896 buttons
Size labels must follow the size ratio. If the order is S:M:L:XL:XXL in 2:3:3:2:1 for 18,000 pieces, that’s 3,273 / 4,909 / 4,909 / 3,273 / 1,636 (rounded), each plus wastage. This is where errors creep in when calculations are done manually.
Wastage allowances vary by trim and by factory history. Track actual consumption per order and use your own numbers for the next calculation.
A trims management process that works
- Build the BOM with every trim, including packing trims, by size and colour.
- Create the trim card and get buyer approvals logged with dates.
- Explode requirements automatically from the order (size × colour × quantity).
- Raise purchase orders with approved artwork, version and specification attached.
- Check at GRN against the approved trim card, not just the PO quantity: right colour, size, artwork version and composition.
- Issue trims against the cut or production order, so you know where every box went.
- Close the order with leftover trims recorded, so they can be used for repeats or written off.
Care label compliance: a special mention
Care, fibre content and country-of-origin labels carry legal requirements in the buyer’s market. A wrong composition or missing language can mean a shipment is held or rejected. Always:
- Lock label artwork to the approved fabric composition from the fabric test report.
- Use version control on artwork, so an old file can’t be sent to the vendor.
- Check the first lot of labels against the trim card before bulk printing finishes.
Where TPCS fits
TPCS covers trims within the same flow as fabric:
- Style BOM with trims by size and colour, linked to the techpack
- Trim approvals and sampling tracking with dates and comments
- MRP that explodes trim requirements from order quantities and size ratios, including wastage
- Procurement with POs linked to approved specifications
- GRN quality checks against the approved standard
- Vendor TNA to track nominated supplier lead times
- Inventory for leftover trims by style and buyer
How Neha’s story ended
Neha’s team moved all trim cards into their system, with artwork versions attached to each PO. Size labels and buttons are now calculated from the order and size ratio, not typed in. In the next two seasons, the export house didn’t miss a single ex-factory date because of trims.
Frequently asked questions
What are trims and accessories in garments?
Trims and accessories are all materials other than the main fabric used to make and pack a garment, such as thread, buttons, zippers, labels, interlinings, hangtags, polybags and cartons.
What is a trim card in the garment industry?
A sheet (physical or digital) showing every approved trim for a style and colourway, with samples, supplier, code and placement, used by purchase, stores, production and QA.
How do you calculate trims requirement?
Required quantity = Order quantity × Consumption per garment × (1 + Wastage %). For size- and colour-specific trims, calculate per size and colour using the order’s size ratio.
What is the normal wastage allowance for trims?
It varies by trim type and factory. Small, easily lost items like buttons often carry a few percent; labels and packing materials may differ. Base allowances on your own order history.
Can ERP software manage trims and accessories?
Yes. Apparel ERP systems like TPCS hold trims in the style BOM, calculate requirements by size and colour, track approvals and check incoming goods against the approved specification.
Never let a ₹2 trim hold up a shipment again
Book a TPCS demo and see trim cards, size-wise trim MRP and approval tracking on one of your own styles.