Sqetch guidebook

TCBL HANDBOOKS

SQETCH BRAND-PRODUCER MATCHMAKING SERVICE

Co-funded by Horizon 2020

TCBL 646133 –ANNEX II TO D5.3 28th February 2018

INTRODUCTION Sqetch makes finding the right manufacturer easy, by connecting 10000+ fashion brands and 1000+ clothing manufacturers. The platform guides brands through the matchmaking process and provides a database of manufacturers that can be filtered according to their preferences. At the same time, Sqetch improves the online visibility and competitiveness of manufacturers to help them grow their business.

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PURPOSE AND SCOPE

Sqetch aims to create a more transparent production market, with easy access for both fashion brands and clothing manufacturers to support collaboration and business. Internet access is growing fast with more than 3,2 billion users online in 2015 [Internet Live Stats, 2015].

Therefore, going online is the natural way.

Sharing knowledge in an accessible and easy way is of great importance to accelerate the transformation of the way the fashion industry is doing business. Sqetch supports businesses to organize and structure all available data regarding production, with the goal to support new online business connections.

Sqetch offers all the relevant information in one place: public information about suppliers and brands, portfolios of products or services, certifications and accreditations. This allows a comparison analysis so one knows where to go for the right match.

By sharing such an enormous amount of data in a structured and simple format, Sqetch is able to create a transparent market and support companies looking for suitable business partners.

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2. USING SQETCH Regardless of your company’s business (manufacturer or fashion brand), the first step to start using Sqetch is to register with your email address. (Sqetch is still in the process of installing the Login with TCBL Single Sign On feature.)

To do this, visit sqetch.co and click on the “Sign Up/ Login” button, at the top right of your screen. A one-time code will then be sent to this email address that will allow you to create your profile with Sqetch. There are no passwords included in our processes – every time you wish to log in, just fill in your email address, and you will get a code from us that will allow you to access your profile.

After filling in the code you received in the form, you will follow the next step in the registration process.

Here, all users need to fill in their company name and then select whether they want to sign up as a fashion brand or a manufacturer. After this point, the information we will need and the procedure in general, is a bit different depending on your business. Please see section “Sqetch for manufacturers” for manufacturing businesses and “Sqetch for fashion brands” for fashion brands.

SQETCH FOR MANUFACTURERS On the top right of the screen (where the sign up/ login button once was), you will see the following buttons:

The magnifying glass allows you to search all manufacturers listed on Sqetch.

The drawer button gets you to a page with all the messages fashion brands send to you for collaboration.

The avatar button is the most important for you at this point, as it will help you to set up your profile.

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Sqetch: Brand-Producer Matchmaking Service TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

Once clicking this last button, a drop down menu unfolds with the following options.

VIEW /EDIT PROFILE Once logged in for the first time, manufacturers will have to create a profile that works as a presentation of their company to fashion bands. So, it is crucial to make a profile that is as compelling and informative as possible. Fill in all the information that is required – as an indication: Company Tagline and Description, services you offer, fabrics you are working with – and don’t forget to upload pictures of your work and factory! All of this information will be added to our search algorithm to ensure your visibility and connections to business partners that match your criteria.

MESSAGES Once more takes you to the page where you may find all messages that fashion brands send you for collaboration.

EDIT CONTACT INFO Here you need to fill in the company’s details (name, tax code, VAT number) and the details of the person who will mostly handle the Sqetch account (name, address, zip code, country, email address, telephone).

BILLING Through this page you may check which plan you are currently enrolled in (free by default, but you can upgrade at any time) and the invoice history between your company and Sqetch.

On the top left of the screen, at the “For Manufacturers” button, you can view all pricing options for manufacturers. By clicking on the “Blog” button, you are transferred to our collection of informative articles for both manufacturers and fashion brands.

SQETCH FOR FASHION BRANDS On the top right of the screen again (where the sign up/ login button once was!), now you can see the following buttons:

The magnifying glass will allow you to search all manufacturers listed on Sqetch.

Since communication on Sqetch is one-way, from fashion brands to manufacturers, it is up to the fashion brands to communicate with factories they consider to be suitable to help them with their products. When clicking on the magnifying glass, you can simply go through all manufacturers listed on Sqetch, applying “country” as a filter if required.

The drawer button will take you to the page where you may find all correspondence with the manufacturers you have contacted.

The avatar button is where you set up / edit your profile.

On clicking this last button, a drop-down menu appears with the options listed below.

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Sqetch: Brand-Producer Matchmaking Service TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

MESSAGES Once more takes you to the page with all correspondence between you and manufacturers you have contacted.

EDIT CONTACT INFO Here you fill in personal information of the person in charge of the Sqetch account (name, email address) and some info on your company (telephone, address, zip code, city, country).

On the top left of the screen, through the “Get a Quote” button, fashion brands may create a project card where they provide all the important information on the garments they want to create. This card mainly works as a preparation for fashion brands, for them to gather all the data a manufacturer will need to know to be able to give them a quote. When filling in this card, our specialists at Sqetch can see your product(s) and may offer to assist you in finding the most suitable manufacturer, upon request.

Information to be filled are: • • • • •

stages of production the brand seeks help for, type of garment to be produced, materials to be used, number of items required and total budget planned.

At the bottom of the page is an Upload button that we recommend you use to provide sketches or images of the design, or even similar products to the one you wish to create.

All this information will be added to our search algorithm to ensure visibility and connections to business partners that match your criteria.

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3. BENEFITS AND ISSUES Currently clothing manufacturers and fashion brands are facing significant challenges: • • • •

A major inconvenience is the time loss when searching for new business partners to work with.

There is an enormous amount of heterogeneous data and unstructured information spread online Poor searching functionality of the existing platforms does not suffice in finding a suitable business partner Not knowing who to trust.

Sqetch aims to overcome such challenges by using an easy to use tool for both clothing manufacturers and fashion brands to develop sales and find new production partners. The result is a faster match, easier usability, lower costs for fashion brands and manufacturers and greater accessibility and transparency within the European fashion industry.

What does Sqetch offer?

Sqetch is a tool to help clothing manufacturers: (1) go online and increase visibility in your target market; (2) find new customers and possible business partners; (3) demonstrate quality, reliability and trust of manufacturing services. 4) receive trusted and genuine orders from fashion brands (5) save time – all orders in one place.

Sqetch is a tool to help fashion brands: (1) quickly identify the most suitable clothing manufacturers; (2) easily compare the manufacturers by quality, skills-set and value; (3) increase transparency; (4) trust the chosen manufacturer; (5) save time – search, compare and connect with the most suitable manufacturer.

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4. CONTACT AND REFERENCES For all questions please refer to:

Contact person: Wouter de Roy van Zuidewijn | Director Skype: sqetchfashion Email: wouter@sqetch.co Office: Van Eeghenstraat 96, 1071GK, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY This document is Annex Ii to TCBL Deliverable 5.3, “Business Process Users and Models: Version 2”.

Authors: Dieter Stellmach and Marcus Winkler (DITF) This Annex in particular is written by Wouter De Roy Van Zuidewijn (Sqetch).

REVISION

DATE

AUTHOR

Version 1

26.01.2018

Version 2

02.03.2018

Wouter De Roy Van Zuidewijn Jesse Marsh

ORGANISATION

DESCRIPTION

Sqetch

First draft for review

Prato

Layout for publication

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise.

Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.

COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015-2016. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnológico (SANJO) Portugal; Clear Communication Associates Ltd (CCA) UK, Reginnova NE (Reginnova) Romania, Centexbel (CTB) Belgium, Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) France, IAAC (FabTextiles) Spain, Cleviria (Cleviria) Italy, and Sqetch (Sqetch) Netherlands.

DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n.646133.

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