Is this a PLM system or an ERP?

Both, in the parts that matter to a small manufacturer. You get tech packs, graded specs and colorways from the PLM world, and inventory, invoicing and receivables from the ERP world — connected, so a cost sheet uses real fabric costs and a cut order consumes real rolls.

Can we use it if we only manufacture and do not distribute fabric?

Yes. Fabric is then treated as raw material rather than sellable stock. You still get bills of material, cut orders, fabric consumption and finished goods.

Does it replace our patternmaking software?

No. Pattern files are stored and linked to each style, but drafting and grading of the patterns themselves stays in your CAD tool.

For apparel manufacturers

Software for apparel manufacturers

Most apparel businesses run design in one place, costing in a spreadsheet, and production somewhere else entirely — so nobody can answer what a garment actually costs until it is too late to change it.

Design and costing in the same place as your fabric

A style carries its bill of material: which fabrics, how many yards per unit, and the waste allowance a real marker needs. Because those fabrics are your actual inventory records, the cost sheet uses your actual purchase costs.

The result is a landed cost per garment — fabric, trims, labour and overhead — with the margin at your target wholesale price, and the wholesale price you would need to hit a given margin.

Tech packs without the blank page

Describe a garment the way you would brief a patternmaker and the system drafts the tech pack: construction notes, points of measure with grade rules across your size run, suggested trims with placements, and colorway options. A technical designer edits from a draft instead of starting from nothing.

Measurement charts are graded automatically — set the base size value and the increment, and every size in the run is calculated with tolerances.

Production that actually moves stock

Cut orders are planned by colour and size. Issuing fabric to a run deducts it from real rolls, smallest first, with an audit trail of which roll and how many yards.

Finished garments are received into finished-goods inventory by style, colour and size, and the order closes itself when the planned quantity is met.

Questions

Is this a PLM system or an ERP?: Both, in the parts that matter to a small manufacturer. You get tech packs, graded specs and colorways from the PLM world, and inventory, invoicing and receivables from the ERP world — connected, so a cost sheet uses real fabric costs and a cut order consumes real rolls.
Can we use it if we only manufacture and do not distribute fabric?: Yes. Fabric is then treated as raw material rather than sellable stock. You still get bills of material, cut orders, fabric consumption and finished goods.
Does it replace our patternmaking software?: No. Pattern files are stored and linked to each style, but drafting and grading of the patterns themselves stays in your CAD tool.