About us
SupplyCompass is the Sustainable
Product Development and Delivery
Platform for the SME fashion industry.
Our story starts when Flora and Gus, our founders, moved from London to sunny
Mumbai for years in 2016, to dig in deeper into one of the biggest garment
manufacturing industries in the world.
2000 miles, 300+ garment factories and lots of street food.
By 2016, A LOT had been changing in the fashion industry. Retail was going through its biggest transformation and the word �digital� was on everyone�s lips. Sustainability had started to take the spotlight and brands were being asked questions about their processes, they had simply never been asked before. New SME brands were emerging from seemingly nowhere, reaching out to consumers and releasing collections in ways that didn�t follow the rules anymore.
With backgrounds in innovation, consumer research and project management, Gus and Flora�s aim was simple. They wanted to understand first-hand, the ins and outs of the traditional system of fashion production, and where the impact areas lay for change.
They set out to traverse the length and breadth of India�Tirupur, Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur, Delhi and Calcutta�meeting with people both running and working at factories, mills, spinners, dye houses, tanneries and farms and asking questions never been asked before.
- How had garment manufacturing evolved over the past decade?
- What were the biggest challenges and frustrations that factories and factory owners faced?
- What were the root causes of mistakes, delays and quality issues? How did they feel this could be improved?
- How supported did they feel, by brands, for the shift toward more sustainable ways of working?
- What technology were they using day-to-day? What made sense and what clearly didn�t?
Factory owners had a lot to say and the answers they gave, all seemed to echo each other.
Here�s what they found out:
Communication was the biggest stumbling block for both brands and factories
Communicating product details, feedback, changes, dates and file-sharing wasn�t just a MEGA challenge for brands, it was the most common issue mentioned by every single factory too! Small mistakes would lead to lead to rejections *after* production. Delays in approvals would lead to shorter lead times and seriously stressed out manufacturers working overtime. With current methods, it was just too hard to keep track of who said what and too easy for last-minute changes to be made.
WhatsApp and WeChat were running the show�and absolutely no one was happy.
If a brand had a PLM in place no factory was inputting data directly into the PLM.
Because here�s the kicker: Manufacturers just weren�t using PLMS. They�d had their go and just didn�t enjoy working with what was already out there.
The only thing being offered to this incredibly creative industry with a growing number of digital natives in its workforce, was clunky PLM offerings. PLMs first originated in the automobile industry in the 80s, way before the Cloud, and had obviously not been designed for what the fashion industry had turned into. And so tech packs, for instance, were being shared as spreadsheets, PDFs, emails or WeTransfer links.
Factories weren�t seeing the value in sustainability tech.
While it�s commonly accepted that data is the foundation of sustainability, software is necessary to manage it easily. Already feeling improperly supported and forced to take on more responsibility by brands, tech that would cost factories money and time without driving additional value for them, just wasn�t something that was going to be adopted.
On their return to the UK, Gus and Flora continued to speak to hundreds of brands in the SME space, brands that were favouring more responsible production, shorter production cycles, more flexible ways of working and the direct-to-consumer digital medium. But it just didn�t make sense that while e-com was embracing new-age tools, almost nothing had changed at the core of one of the most impactful, creative industries ever, since the arrival of the internet and email 15+ years ago.
People working to make our clothes clearly deserved better, didn’t they?
And so with a systems thinking approach, SupplyCompass set out to build a software product that could reimagine product development and production.
Collaboration, mutually beneficial change, shared goals, and long-term thinking had to be key. Plus to create something meant to be used every single day by people spread across the globe, meant that the product had to delight both visually and in usage.
Ultimately the goal was and is to use tech to free up teams to work on the more exciting stuff; creativity, making, innovation, plus most importantly, the sustainable transformation of the industry.
With teams in the UK and India, SupplyCompass has now worked with 50+ fast-growing DTC, SME fashion brands across the globe, from Australia to Europe and the USA, showing them there really is an easier, simpler and smarter way to work with their manufacturers. Join us if you think there is too.
Our Product Manifesto
change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete.�
BUCKMINSTER FULLER
Although we are more than our product, our product is at the core of our business. We have a clear vision for what we are building and why it is important to drive change.
As a Tech for Good company, we are also cognizant of how technology can drive positive behavioural change and influence responsible practices in the way it is designed in addition to helping users do their job better.
1. WE ARE ALWAYS CUSTOMER-DRIVEN.
Although we are more than our product, our product is at the core of our business. We have a clear vision for what we are building and why it is important to drive change.
As a Tech for Good company, we are also cognizant of how technology can drive positive behavioural change and influence responsible practices in the way it is designed in addition to helping users do their job better.
2. WE BUILD FOR MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES.
We always build for two customers � brands AND their manufacturers � and through a multi-cultural lens. We will not build a feature that benefits one side to the detriment of the other. This includes conducting user testing on both customer types.
3. WE ALWAYS CONSIDER OUR IMPACT.
We must consider the long-term impact of technology on people + planet. We believe that our piece in the big jigsaw is to gradually change the behaviour across the eco-system over time. Every product decision we make, we analyse to understand any possible ramifications or ripple effects on equal accountability, sharing of risk, or on information flows that affect responsible production.
4. WE SHIP FAST, LISTEN, LEARN, AND REPEAT.
We love building solutions in partnership with our customers. Based on the feedback we get, we prioritise needs, build quickly, release new features every 2-3 weeks and iterate based on feedback. It�s a quick, agile process we stand behind.
5. WE NEVER SACRIFICE GOOD DESIGN.
6. WE MAKE COMPLICATED, SIMPLE.
We don�t look to fashion ERP / PLM software for inspiration simply because we don�t want to be like them. We love drag-and-drop and hate laborious data entry. We believe in making it easy and intutitive for anyone to learn how to use SupplyCompass regardless of experience.
Our mission is to change the way production works. For people, planet and profit.
Now take a look at our Product Guide.
If you�re still having doubts, our Product Features Guide has got you sorted. We break down all our features and sub-features, explaining how you can use them and what makes them tick, so you can understand how SupplyCompass can help SMEs like you.