Apparel 3PL Onboarding, Step by Step

• A catalog export with every SKU, including each size and color, with barcodes.
• On-hand inventory by SKU, from your current warehouse or your own count.
• Store and marketplace logins or app installs for the integration.
• Your packing instructions: folding, bagging, inserts, stickers, mailers, with photos.
• Your return policy and your restock, discard and donate rules.
• Your shipping services and the delivery promises on your site.
• Your drop and promotion calendar for the next three months.
• For wholesale: retailer routing guides, label requirements and EDI details.

If you are moving from another 3PL, export your on-hand quantities by SKU before you give notice. That is the record we reconcile against when your inventory arrives. Switching apparel 3PLs covers the move in more detail.

Ecommerce brands are typically fully connected in under five business days. Retail and wholesale clients go live in under seven business days once integration and purchase order sync are complete. Bigger catalogs, custom integrations and multi-wave transfers take longer, and that is fine. Agree the real date on the planning call.

The integration connects your store to the warehouse management system. Orders flow in automatically. Tracking and inventory flow back. No one exports a spreadsheet.

OC3PL connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Amazon among others, with webhooks and REST API integrations for anything else. If a connection does not exist, the in-house team builds it. Raise unusual systems on the planning call.

Variant mapping is where apparel gets specific. Every size and color must have its own SKU and its own scannable barcode. If two sizes share a barcode, the scan cannot catch a mix-up. If SKU names follow no pattern, slotting and reporting get harder.

• One barcode per size and color, printed on every polybag, not just on the carton.
• A consistent naming pattern, such as style, then color, then size.
• Retired variants removed before mapping, not carried across.
• Bundles and gift sets defined as kits, with their component SKUs listed.

Size and color variants explained and apparel barcodes cover the setup in detail.

Inbound freight is scheduled against a dock appointment and your advance shipping notice. On arrival, pallets are unloaded and sorted in a receiving zone. Each shipment is inspected for damage and matched against the ASN. SKUs are scanned and labeled, photographed, and slotted by SKU, size and pick frequency.

Anything that does not match is logged in your portal and you are notified. The photos give you evidence to take back to a factory or into a freight claim.

1. Send an ASN listing every SKU and quantity in the shipment.
2. Label every carton with its contents.
3. Bag and label each unit with its size and color barcode.
4. Book the delivery so it arrives on a scheduled appointment.
5. Send packaging materials with or before the inventory.

Labeled, scheduled shipments are received within one business day. How to prep apparel inventory for a 3PL and what is an ASN explain each step.

Packing follows your own standard operating procedures for folding, bagging and packing. During onboarding those instructions are written up with photos and attached to your account. That covers which mailer or box for which order, how garments are folded, which inserts go in, and where the sticker goes.

Returns rules are set at the same time. Decide what is restocked, what is discarded or donated, what comes back to you, and whether refunds trigger on receipt or after inspection. If you use a returns app, it is connected here.

Then test orders run end to end: an order placed in your store, picked, packed to spec, labeled and tracked back. Run single-item orders, multi-item orders, a bundle and a return. Check what arrives against what you expected.

Switch daily orders over first. Your account manager watches the first days closely, on site. Small issues surface early, while volume is normal and easy to fix.

Plan the first drop or promotion for after daily orders have run cleanly for a while. Send the forecast at least a week ahead. Treat it as a joint rehearsal.

In the first month, read the weekly report closely. Check accuracy, shipping times, receiving times and returns. Raise anything that looks off right away. That is what the on-site account manager is for.

All client requests are acknowledged within two hours, and support is never outsourced. You will not need to chase anyone through a ticket queue.

None of these are unusual, and all of them are fixable. The earlier they come up, the less they cost. Client onboarding and communication describes the process on our side.

If you ship to retailers, wholesale setup runs alongside the DTC work. Send each retailer’s routing guide, label requirements and EDI details at the start. Retail and wholesale clients go live in under seven business days once integration and purchase order sync are complete. Apparel wholesale and retail fulfillment covers the process.

If you sell on Amazon, decide how: Fulfillment by Merchant from our warehouse, FBA prep into Amazon’s network, or both from a single inventory pool. Apparel going into FBA needs FNSKU labels and poly bags with suffocation warnings. Amazon FBA prep for apparel explains the requirements.

If you sell on TikTok Shop, connect it during onboarding rather than after a post takes off. TikTok Shop apparel fulfillment explains why.

If you are switching warehouses, a transfer plan is built first. It sets the order inventory moves in, the dates, and how much stock stays behind to cover orders in transit.

1. Export on-hand quantities by SKU, size and color from the current warehouse before giving notice.
2. Connect the store and map every variant before any inventory moves.
3. Move inventory in waves: core styles first, then seasonal and slow-moving stock.
4. Keep enough at the old warehouse to cover orders while freight is in transit.
5. Reconcile each inbound against your export and the ASN, with photos for anything that does not match.
6. Update the return address in your store and returns app as soon as we are live, and have the old warehouse forward stragglers.

Sequence the move around your calendar. Avoid the weeks right before a drop or peak season. Switching apparel 3PLs and when to switch go into more detail.

• Every size and color has its own barcode, location and count.
• Orders flow in automatically and tracking flows back.
• Inbound freight arrives labeled, with an ASN, and is received within one business day.
• Packing matches your written spec, with photos to check against.
• Returns are processed within 48 hours by rules you set.
• You get weekly reporting, and your account manager is on site when you call.

If any of these are not true a month after go-live, raise it. Onboarding is not finished until they are.

During onboarding you work with a dedicated onboarding manager and the account manager who stays with you long term. Both work at our Anaheim fulfillment center. Behind them are the client success, inventory and carrier teams, all in the same building. When onboarding is finished, nothing changes about who you call. Your account manager is already the person who knows your account best.