Apparel 3PL RFP Template

Keep this to one page. The goal is context, not a pitch deck.

• Brand name, website and what you sell (streetwear, surf, activewear, swim, fashion).
• Where you sell today: your site, Amazon, TikTok Shop, wholesale accounts, pop-ups.
• Your current setup: in-house, another 3PL, or a mix.
• Why you are looking: growth, errors, slow returns, support, cost, or a channel you are adding.
• Your target go-live window, and the drops or peak dates the move must avoid.
• The people involved on your side and who makes the decision.

Be honest about why you are looking. If the problem is that nobody answers, say so. A provider that cannot speak to that clearly is telling you something.

Pull this from your store and your current warehouse. Use the last three to twelve months so seasonality shows. Send the same file to every provider.

If some numbers are rough, say they are rough. A provider can work with an honest estimate. It cannot work with a guess presented as a fact.

1. How do you slot apparel? By size and color in separate locations, or mixed?
2. Is every unit scanned at the pick? Is the order verified again at packing?
3. How fast is inbound freight received and available to sell?
4. What happens when inbound does not match the ASN? Do we get photos?
5. What is your same-day cutoff, and how is it measured?
6. How do you prepare for a drop? What do you need from us, and how far ahead?
7. Can you build bundles and gift sets ahead of a launch? How long does a build take?
8. Will you pack to our written instructions for folding, bagging, inserts and stickers?
9. How fast are returns processed? What are the restock, discard and donate options?
10. Which returns apps do you integrate with?
11. Can you ship wholesale purchase orders with GS1 labels, ASNs, EDI and palletized freight?
12. Can DTC and wholesale ship from one inventory?

Ask for answers in writing, with a number wherever a number exists. “Fast” is not an answer. “Within one business day” is.

• Who is our day-to-day contact? Is it a named person or a ticket queue?
• Where does that person work? In the building where our inventory is, or somewhere else?
• How do we reach them when something is urgent: phone, email, chat?
• How quickly are requests acknowledged? Is that published?
• Is support outsourced to a call center or offshore team?
• Who covers when our account manager is out?
• What does escalation look like on a launch day?

For the record, OC3PL’s answers: Your account manager works on site at our Anaheim fulfillment center, in the same building as your inventory. When something is urgent you call and talk to a person who can walk to the shelf and fix it. Call anytime. We are here. We got you. All client requests are acknowledged within two hours, and support is never outsourced.

Read on-site vs remote account management for why the location of that person matters so much during a drop.

• Which store platforms, marketplaces and returns apps do you connect to today?
• If our platform is not on the list, will you build the connection, and who pays?
• How do inventory counts sync back to our store, and how often?
• Can we see inventory by SKU, size and color in a portal?
• Can we set low-stock alerts per SKU?
• What reporting do we get, and how often?

OC3PL connects to platforms most brands already use, including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Amazon. Webhooks and REST API integrations are available, and if a connection does not exist, the in-house team builds it. How to integrate Shopify with a 3PL covers the Shopify side.

Give each provider your data from Part 2 and ask them to quote a typical month. Then ask the questions that move a quote after you sign:

• Are standard packing materials included, or billed separately? Send a price list for boxes, mailers and dunnage.
• What does an order edit or cancellation cost?
• How are kitting and bundles priced: per kit, hourly, or both?
• Does the rate change with SKU count or product velocity?
• How are returns billed?
• Is there an account management fee?
• What are peak season surcharges, and when will we hear about them?
• What is the monthly minimum, and what happens in a slow month?
• How often are we invoiced?
• Can we see a sample invoice?

OC3PL’s answers: no rate card, quotes built around your SKUs and workflows, weekly invoicing, storage pro-rated daily, no setup fees, no minimums, no long-term contract, and account management included. Apparel fulfillment pricing and pick and pack fees explained go into the line items.

Then visit. See how apparel is slotted, how returns are handled, and meet the person who would manage your account. Our Anaheim warehouse is open to brands that are considering us. Bring the apparel 3PL checklist with you.

Sending averages only

An average day tells a warehouse nothing about your drop day. Include your biggest days and what caused them. That is where most apparel problems happen.

Leaving out returns

Apparel brands handle more returns than most categories. If the RFP skips returns volume and reasons, the quotes skip returns too, and the first invoice surprises you.

Counting styles instead of SKUs

Forty styles in six sizes and three colors is not forty SKUs. It is several hundred. Storage, slotting and receiving are all driven by the real number.

Comparing headline rates

A low pick fee next to a long list of surcharges is not a low price. Compare complete quotes priced on the same data, with a sample invoice from each provider.

Skipping the support questions

Brands rarely leave a warehouse over a few cents per order. They leave because nobody answered during a launch. Ask about people as carefully as you ask about price.

Never visiting

A proposal can say anything. A walk through the building shows how apparel is actually slotted, how returns are actually handled, and who you will actually be talking to.

Work back from your calendar. If a drop or Black Friday sits inside the next two months, the move needs to be finished before it, or planned for after. When to switch apparel 3PLs helps with the timing, and what to put in the service agreement covers the contract stage.

Everything a provider wrote in its response is something you can ask to see in the contract. If they said returns are processed within 48 hours, that belongs in the returns clause. If they said a named account manager works in the building, that belongs in the contact section.

Go through the winning response line by line. Mark every commitment with a number or a named person. Then check that each one appears in the draft agreement, with a definition and a way of measuring it. Anything missing, ask for. What to put in an apparel 3PL service agreement lists the clauses to look for.

Keep the data file you sent, too. It is the baseline the quote was built on. If your order profile changes a lot, that file is how you and the warehouse agree on what changed.