As someone who’s been in and around the textile industry for a few years, I’ve seen my fair share of problems.
The industry has had a tumultuous year lately, with tariffs hitting all major textile sectors. It really did it’s part to expose how volatile the supply chain is for a lot of companies. Certainly, the big claims they all made about how they all have it all put together were exposed.
What was most interesting to me, however, was the absolute lack of digitization in production tracking in 2025! I mean, come on, guys, we figured this stuff out in the late 90s. You need to digitize to survive.
The textile industry is a slow moving turtle – I know this, so I took it upon myself to help introduce some of the best production tracking software for the textile industry. Software that’s designed to help brands, downstream vendors, and mills collaborate.
In my searches, I came across TrackIT, by Triple Tree. It’s hailed as a production tracking software built exclusively for the textile and apparel industry.
But, before I move onto the software – I want to talk about the issues we face.
Common Issues in Textile Production
Before diving into TrackIT itself, let me quickly run through some of the typical problems in our industry:
- Rising costs: Prices of raw materials are always changing because of tariffs and global issues.
- Supply chain disruptions: Stuff like political tensions and natural disasters keeps happening, messing up the logistics and causing delays.
- Operational headaches: Old machinery and bad communication often lead to mistakes.
- Fabric defects: Things like bad dye jobs and weaving errors always end up costing extra money and time.
- Planning mistakes: If forecasting goes wrong, the whole production schedule gets messed up.
- Regulatory hurdles: There are more rules now, like labor laws and ESG standards, and ignoring them is costly.
- Poor visibility: Without proper tracking, delays are just a guessing game.
Why I Checked Out TrackIT
TrackIT is advertised as a digital tool that helps brands track their textile production from start to finish.
The idea is pretty simple: better communication, fewer mistakes, and hopefully fewer headaches. I liked the idea of having one place where I could see everything clearly, so I decided to dive deeper.
Things I Liked About TrackIT
I liked the software immediatelty. Using it, its pretty evident that it was built by people who have served years in the textile industry. I was able to chat with the TrackIT team too – who explained how the configurable the product was.
Here’s what I liked about TrackIT:
- Visibility: You get a clear picture of what’s happening in real-time, and I think this is probably its strongest feature.
- Order tracking: Real-time updates on where each order stands.
- Better communication: It keeps everyone in the loop, which in theory should prevent delays.
- Configurable: It’s not some locked-down, off the shelf product – Triple Tree makes this thing work for you.
- Integration: In my limited testing, I couldn’t find a single PLM it couldn’t integrate with.
I know it sounds complicated, but the software is surprisingly easy to use – for everyone from the brands end to say a floor supervisor on a factory.
The communication between all parties really makes everything tick. When you put in an ETD and a milestone hasn’t been met and you can talk to the person in charge directly in the app and all other milestone’s dates update accordingly – everything seems to click. It just works.
Traditional Ways vs. TrackIT
Here’s a quick comparison based on what I’ve experienced:
| Old Way | TrackIT Solution |
| Constant delays | More reliable timelines |
| Costs always going up | Potential to lower costs |
| Unplanned rescheduling | Better planning and decisions |
| Messy data and documents | Data neatly organized |
| Too many redundant communications | Streamlined communication |
| Inaccurate statuses | Real-time accuracy |
Key Features of TrackIT
After testing it out, these stood out to me:
- Placement summaries: One place to see all orders.
- Detailed reports: Comprehensive and timely.
- Performance ratings: Keeps suppliers accountable.
- Year-to-year comparisons: Helpful for tracking supplier performance over time.
- Flexible inputs: I liked that you could use manual entry, Excel sheets, or APIs.
- Vendor scorecards: Helps with assessing suppliers objectively.
How TrackIT Actually Works
When I tried it out, the platform had these core sections:
- Risk alerts: Shows you potential problems before they happen.
- Pending approvals: Makes sure approvals aren’t missed.
- Production tracking: Easy to understand color-coded system (green, yellow, red) to show production progress.
- Inspections: Easy to download inspection reports.
- AWB management: Handy for managing shipping documents.
- Bulk actions: Saves time by applying changes to multiple orders simultaneously.
- Global search and notifications: Easy to find what you’re looking for.
Things That Could Be Better
Despite the positives, I noticed a couple of drawbacks:
- Training requirement: It’s not something you can pick up immediately. Teams will definitely need some training to use it effectively.
- Dependence on vendor input: If your vendors aren’t quick to update their statuses, the “real-time” advantage becomes less valuable.
Realistically, you need 6 months to a year using this product to evaluate its efficacy. It’s something that embeds within your existing textile tech ecosystem and brings you results throughout the year.
However, in the limited capacity that I have used the product – I can safely say that it’s one of, if not the best tracking softwares for the textile industry I’ve used.
My Final Thoughts
Overall, I do think TrackIT can significantly simplify textile production management, especially if you’re struggling with visibility and communication across multiple factories and vendors.
But you should be ready for some initial growing pains, especially in terms of training and ensuring your vendors use it properly. It won’t magically fix everything overnight, but it’s a solid step forward.
If you’re curious about it, I would suggest giving their demo a try before fully committing. It might not solve all your problems immediately, but it’s worth exploring to see if it fits your needs.
