Solution · Fabrics
Never Run Out of Fabric Mid-Gown Again
Two fabric problems quietly drain an atelier: running short of a cloth halfway through a gown, and shelves of stock you forgot you bought. Bomble tracks every meter so neither one happens by surprise.
Updated 19 June 2026
The short answer
Fabric is most ateliers’ biggest material cost and their least-tracked one. Run short mid-gown and you lose days to reorder lead time on a piece that was on schedule; over-buy and money sits dead on a shelf. Bomble gives every fabric a real record — cost per meter, stock meters, a reorder threshold and a stock status badge — then logs the meters each order consumes, alerts you before you run low, and rolls it all into a consumption report. You see what you have, what each gown ate, and what to reorder, before a shortage becomes a missed deadline.
The problem: fabric you cannot see costs you twice
Cloth is usually the single largest material cost in a couture atelier, and yet it is the thing most ateliers track the least. The result is two expensive surprises pulling in opposite directions. The first is running short: a gown that was comfortably on schedule stalls because the silk ran out two meters from the hem, and now a reorder’s lead time has eaten the deadline. The second is dead stock: bolts bought for an order that changed, sitting on a shelf as money you cannot spend, that nobody remembers is there.
Both come from the same blind spot — there is no living record of how much of each fabric you hold, what it cost, and how fast it is being used. A note in a book tells you what you bought once. It cannot tell you what is left today, or warn you that you are about to run out.
- Running short mid-gown turns an on-schedule order into a reorder-lead-time scramble.
- Dead stock ties up cash on shelves nobody is tracking.
- No living count of meters on hand means every shortage is a surprise.
- You cannot see what a gown actually consumed, so material cost is a guess.
The fix: a real record for every fabric
In Bomble, each fabric is a proper inventory item, not a line in a notebook. You record its name, colour, composition and supplier, its cost per meter and the stock meters you hold, plus a reorder threshold and notes — and a photo so the right cloth is unmistakable.
From those numbers Bomble keeps a live picture. A stock status badge marks each fabric In stock, Low or Out, so a glance down the list tells you what is healthy and what is about to bite. Stock value (stock meters × cost per meter) shows what is sitting on the shelf, and a total stock value tells you how much cash your fabric store represents. When a delivery arrives, you receive stock and the count goes back up.
- Per-fabric record: name, colour, composition, supplier, photo.
- Cost per meter and stock meters held — the numbers that actually matter.
- Reorder threshold per fabric, so "low" is defined by you, not guessed.
- Stock status badges: In stock / Low / Out at a glance.
- Stock value per fabric and total stock value, so you see cash on the shelf.
- Receive stock when deliveries arrive to keep counts honest.
The fix: log what each gown eats
Stock only stays accurate if it goes down as the work happens. Bomble records usage logs against each order — the meters used, by which employee, on what date — so consuming fabric for a gown draws it down from inventory instead of from memory.
Those logs do double duty. They keep the stock count true, and they feed per-order economics: material cost is meters used × cost per meter, which flows straight into each order’s margin. The Fabric Consumption report then aggregates usage across any date range, with PDF export, so you can see which fabrics move, which sit, and what your real consumption looks like over a season rather than a guess.
- Usage logs per order: meters used, employee, date.
- Using fabric draws stock down automatically — no separate stocktake.
- Material cost per order = meters used × cost per meter, feeding margin.
- Fabric Consumption report across any date range, with PDF export.
The fix: get warned before you run out
The point of a threshold is the warning it triggers. When a fabric drops to or below its reorder threshold, Bomble raises a low-stock reorder alert, so you reorder while there is still time for the cloth to arrive — not after a gown has already stalled waiting for it.
That single change flips fabric from a reactive scramble to a planned purchase. You buy what you are about to need, you stop over-buying what you already hold, and the money that used to sit dead on shelves stays available for the orders actually in the book.
- Low-stock reorder alerts when a fabric hits its threshold.
- Reorder with lead time to spare, before a gown stalls.
- Stop over-buying — you can see exactly what is already on the shelf.
- Free up cash that used to sit in dead stock.
With Bomble
Fabric tracking that pays for itself
- Per-fabric inventory: name, colour, composition, supplier, cost per meter, stock meters, reorder threshold, notes, photo.
- Stock status badges — In stock, Low, Out — for a glance-level read of your store.
- Stock value per fabric and total stock value, so you know the cash on your shelves.
- Receive stock on delivery to keep meter counts accurate.
- Usage logs per order (meters, employee, date) that draw inventory down as work happens.
- Material cost per order = meters used × cost per meter, feeding each order’s margin.
- Fabric Consumption report (date range + PDF export) and low-stock reorder alerts.
Frequently asked questions
- How does Bomble stop me running out of fabric mid-gown?
- You set a reorder threshold on each fabric, and when stock drops to or below it Bomble raises a low-stock reorder alert. You reorder while there is still lead time, instead of discovering the shortage when a gown stalls.
- How do I know how much fabric I have left?
- Each fabric stores its stock meters and shows a status badge — In stock, Low or Out. Stock goes down as you log usage against orders and back up when you receive a delivery, so the count stays current.
- Can I see how much fabric a single order used?
- Yes. Usage logs record the meters used, the employee and the date against each order, and that feeds the order’s material cost (meters used × cost per meter) and its margin.
- Does Bomble track the value of my fabric stock?
- It shows stock value per fabric (stock meters × cost per meter) and a total stock value across your store, so you can see exactly how much cash is tied up in cloth on the shelf.
- Can I report on fabric consumption over time?
- The Fabric Consumption report aggregates usage across any date range — today, 7d, 30d, 3 months, a year or custom — and exports to PDF, so you can see which fabrics move and which sit.
- What details can I store about a fabric?
- Name, colour, composition, supplier, cost per meter, stock meters, reorder threshold, free-text notes and a photo, so the right cloth is unmistakable and its costs are tracked.
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When you cannot say, off the top of your head, whether a gown is being cut, sewn, fitted or finished, the atelier is running on memory. Bomble turns that memory into a pipeline the whole floor can read.
Guide: How to track fabric inventory
Know what you have before you run out.
Track every meter, cost and reorder point in Bomble — with low-stock alerts and a consumption report. Free 3-day trial, no card required.