Apparel
Order fulfillment solutions for omnichannel retailers and wholesalers
Fashion moves quickly — for example, as summer collections reach the shelves, you must already be planning for fall and winter assortments. Tracking rapidly changing trends—and ensuring the right products are in the right place at the right time—adds significant complexity to your operations.
The right automation lets you manage these demands more effectively, prioritize orders intelligently, accelerate fulfillment, and respond quickly to shifting consumer expectations.
What are some current fulfillment challenges for apparel retailers and wholesalers?
Urbanization
By 2030, 60% of the world’s population will be living in urban environments. The dense population of cities requires close-to-consumer order fulfillment.
This trend is driving apparel companies to get products closer to urban centers, with smaller warehouses with higher labor costs.
E-commerce explosion
One half of growth for the global retail sector in the next five years will be online (equating to $1.4 trillion USD in absolute value growth). E-Commerce fulfillment services are more complex and demanding than in-store.
Gen Z “digital natives” is the largest generation of consumers, accounting for $29 billion to $143 billion in spending. These consumers shop online and in stores more than any other group of consumers.
Sustainability
As the world becomes more populous, urbanized, and prosperous, demand for energy, food, and water will increase. New generations of consumers make purchasing decisions based on the impact to the environment and their surrounding communities.
Gen Z & Millennials are driving growth in resale, rental, and luxury or resilient clothing and moving away from disposable fashion. Many countries are heavily regulating and monitoring sustainable practices.
Benefits of automation for your type of apparel companies
All apparel companies share certain challenges, but some are unique to each segment. Automation provides solutions:
Explore a few Dematic technologies for apparel fulfillment
Apparel operations depend on fast, accurate handling across storage, picking, and shipping to manage high SKU counts and seasonal demand. Core workflow technologies such as AS/RS, conveyors, sortation, palletizing, and goods‑to‑person workstations help keep inventory accessible and orders moving.
These modular solutions allow apparel operations to scale capacity as volumes fluctuate. Each technology works together to support high throughput, efficient space utilization, and consistent fulfillment performance without interrupting daily operations.
AS/RS solutions bring order and control to apparel operations with high SKU counts and frequent assortment changes. Automated storage and retrieval improve inventory access while reducing manual handling. High‑density designs make efficient use of space, and system‑directed movement supports consistent order flow. Apparel operations benefit from improved throughput and better organization as demand fluctuates.
Automated conveyor systems provide steady, reliable product flow across apparel distribution operations. Conveyors transport cartons, totes, and parcels between receiving, storage, picking, and shipping areas. Automated movement reduces manual handling and helps synchronize workflows. Modular designs adapt to layout changes and seasonal volume fluctuations.
Sortation systems bring accuracy and control to apparel distribution by routing items to the correct destination. Integrated controls manage scanning, diverting, and tracking in real time. These systems support high‑volume processing and adapt to seasonal peaks. Apparel operations benefit from consistent order flow and reliable performance.
Case and piece picking solutions support fast, accurate order assembly across apparel assortments. Goods‑to‑person and automated picking reduce travel and simplify workflows for a wide range of SKUs. Integrated software coordinates inventory, labor, and automation in real time. Apparel operations benefit from consistent picking performance as volumes and order profiles change.
Goods‑to‑person workstations support fast and accurate apparel order processing. Items are delivered directly to ergonomic workstations, reducing travel and improving pick accuracy across many SKUs. Intelligent software synchronizes tasks in real time. Modular workstation designs scale as volumes increase, helping apparel operations perform reliably during peak seasons.
How Dematic works in the real world
It is critical to select the right supplier - one that will be a trusted partner throughout the entire process.
As a company that’s led innovation in Supply Chain for more than 200 years, Dematic provides the widest range of solutions and the expertise to build the solution you need for complete control and visibility over your operation.
Our solutions are tailored to your business challenges. Using standardised sub-systems and industry-leading insight and expertise, Dematic provides world-class integrated hardware, software, and support to help you empower people, optimise space, drive growth and improve efficiency.
With Dematic, you can grow your business to compete locally, retain customer loyalty, and deliver with speed and accuracy on a global scale.