In a large apparel sourcing office, nothing moves without a time and action calendar — the T&A. Every order gets a sheet listing milestones from the first brief to goods in the warehouse, who owns each one, what it depends on, and a planned and actual date. When a date slips, the sheet shows which later milestones move with it.
Small private-label suit brands rarely keep one. They keep a launch date and a feeling. The T&A is how you turn the feeling into a list you can check every Monday.
What a T&A is, and what it is not
A T&A is not a promise from the factory. It is the brand's own plan, built from three kinds of input: the factory's published clocks, your partners' estimates (forwarder, broker, warehouse), and your own decision times — which are usually the slowest line on the sheet.
Our published clocks are two: a sample takes 7–14 days, and production takes 14–21 days after size specs or measurements, cloth and construction are locked. Production days are not delivery days. Everything else on the sheet is yours to estimate. For order size, the tracks are MTM from 1 and bulk from 50 per style; this sheet is written for a first bulk run.
The milestone sheet
1 · Brief sent (brand): style, cloth route, construction, labels.
2 · Written quote received (factory): depends on 1.
3 · Cloth confirmed for the sample (brand + factory): depends on 1.
4 · Sample starts (factory): depends on 2, 3 and measurements or a size spec.
5 · Sample ready, 7–14 days from start (factory): depends on 4.
6 · Sample reviewed and commented (brand): depends on 5.
7 · Sample sealed (brand + factory): depends on 6.
8 · Labels and trims files final (brand): depends on 7.
9 · Size split final (brand): depends on 7.
10 · Pre-production meeting summary confirmed (brand + factory): depends on 7, 8, 9.
11 · Lock message (brand + factory): size specs, cloth and construction confirmed; depends on 10 and bulk cloth being available.
12 · Production, 14–21 days from lock (factory): depends on 11.
13 · Freight booked (brand's forwarder): needs carton data from the factory.
14 · Customs cleared (brand's broker): depends on 13.
15 · Received and checked (brand's warehouse): depends on 14.
Two of fifteen rows carry a factory clock. Eight of fifteen have the brand as owner or co-owner. That ratio is the reason to keep the sheet.
Add two columns and use it weekly
Add Planned and Actual next to each row. Every Monday, fill in actuals and move later planned dates by the same slip. The critical path — the chain where any delay moves the arrival — usually runs 1 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 9 → 10 → 11 → 12. Labels (row 8) join it the moment they are late.
A worked slip, and what it moves
A brand plans its sample review (row 6) for a Friday. The founder is travelling and reviews it nine days later. Nothing at the factory changed, but rows 7 to 15 all move by nine days, and the launch moves with them. The T&A shows it on the Monday after — while there is still time to tell stockists — instead of the week the suits were due.
Where most first runs slip
Row 3: cloth chosen from a photo, then unavailable for bulk. Confirm bulk availability when you confirm sample cloth.
Row 8: label artwork treated as "nearly done".
Row 9: size split argued after sealing. Draft it while the sample is being made.
The meeting at row 10 is covered in pre-production meeting before a run of 50; what starts the clock at row 11 in what starts the production clock; and why rows 12 and 15 are different dates in production days vs delivery. For freight and customs estimates, the fill-in lead-time sheet is the companion to this one.
Our steps from enquiry to dispatch are on our process page, and sealing at row 7 is on our sample policy page. Send your draft T&A on WhatsApp +65 8013 8838 and we fill in the factory rows.
FAQ
What are Shi Yuan's order tracks and clocks? Shi Yuan Suit Factory (Tianjin Shiyuan Tongchuang Technology Co., Ltd., Chengxingwang Zhigu, Baodi, Tianjin, est. 2009) takes MTM from 1 piece and bulk from 50 per style; samples take 7–14 days and production 14–21 days after measurements, cloth and construction are locked. WhatsApp +65 8013 8838.
Should the T&A include the factory's two clocks as fixed dates? As windows. Write 7–14 and 14–21 as ranges and plan against the later end.
Who should own the sheet? One person on the brand side. A sheet with two owners is updated by neither.
Is a T&A needed for MTM orders? Rarely. An MTM from 1 order carries its decisions on the order form; a simple order log is enough.
Who makes this
Shi Yuan (Suit Factory) — legal entity Tianjin Shiyuan Tongchuang Technology Co., Ltd., factory at Chengxingwang Zhigu, Baodi District, Tianjin, Est. 2009. Our founder brings four decades in Chinese menswear manufacturing; founded Shi Yuan in 2009. acumenwear.com is the export domain for Shi Yuan Suit Factory. Order threads: WhatsApp +65 8013 8838 · houzhenying226@gmail.com. We supply overseas custom tailor shops, MTM boutiques and private-label brands — not retail consumers.
Shi Yuan Suit Factory is not affiliated with Tianjin Shiyuan Clothing Co., Ltd.
Next step: sample or inquiry
Send your launch target and the rows you have already filled in. Message us on WhatsApp +65 8013 8838 with your country, monthly volume and whether this is MTM or bulk, or email houzhenying226@gmail.com. We reply with the sample route and what we still need from you.
Last checked: 2026-10-28. Figures on this page were checked against Shi Yuan's own published terms (sample policy and process pages). Anything not listed here is confirmed in writing on the order thread.
