Getting Started
Create your GarmentFlow site, sign in, and run the setup wizard. Allow about 15 minutes.
What you need before you start
- The email address and password you want to use for the administrator account.
- A subdomain for your factory — this becomes your site address.
- A phone with a camera, if operators will use the GarmentFlow apps on the floor.
Create your site
Sign up at garmentflow.io. You choose a subdomain during
signup, and your site is created at that address: a factory that chooses northgate gets
northgate.garmentflow.io.
Creating the site takes a few minutes. Follow its progress in your customer dashboard at garmentflow.io/dashboard — the site appears there as soon as it is ready to sign in to.
Sign in for the first time
Open your site address and sign in with the administrator email and password you chose at signup. You arrive in Desk, the browser back-office where all of GarmentFlow's records, reports and settings live.
A new site has no brands, seasons, work centers or employees in it yet. Everything else in GarmentFlow depends on that data, so set it up before you try to create your first style.
Run the setup wizard
Most factories adopt GarmentFlow part-way through a season, with styles already in production and a workforce already on the floor. The setup wizard exists for exactly that situation: it asks for the eight things nothing else works without, in the order that lets you start entering real work fastest.
Open the GarmentFlow Setup workspace in Desk and choose Guided Setup, then work through the eight steps:
| Step | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Brands | Who you make for |
| Seasons | When you sell it |
| Product Categories | What you make |
| Costing & Warehouses | How work is priced, and where material sits |
| Machines | The asset categories your equipment depreciates under |
| Units & Work Centers | Where the work happens |
| Operator Skills | What people can do |
| Employees | Who does the work |
Until the wizard is finished, a Finish setting up GarmentFlow card sits at the top of the Production, Design, Logistics and Quality Control workspaces, showing how many steps are done and linking straight back into the wizard. You can stop and return at any time, and any step you would rather do by hand counts as done as soon as the data exists.
Settings the wizard does not cover are indexed on the GarmentFlow Setup workspace.
Desk and the apps
GarmentFlow has two interfaces, and most factories use both.
| Interface | Who uses it | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Desk | Office staff — designers, planners, purchasing, accounts | Any browser |
| Apps | Floor staff — operators, cutters, packers, inspectors | The phone's browser |
The GarmentFlow apps are not installed from an app store. Open the GarmentFlow Setup workspace in Desk and scan the QR code in the GarmentFlow Apps section with the device's camera. The QR code opens the launcher for your site, and each person sees only the apps their role gives them.
Where to go next
- Guided Setup — the eight setup steps in detail
- GarmentFlow Setup — where every setting lives
- Implementation Checklist — from an empty site to your first order
- ERP Setup — company, accounts, taxes and stock
- HR & Payroll Setup — employees, attendance and payroll