DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
BUYING
What a quotation needs in order to be a quotation.
Most footwear-component enquiries stall because the buyer has a size and no foot. This is the list worth completing before the first message.
- The last
- Its revision and its five measurements, not only the length
- The tolerances
- Per pair rather than per nominal, because pairing is what is worn
- The activity
- Because a standing last and a running last are different products
- The material
- Grade and thickness, with the certificate that travels with it
- The size run
- Which sizes, and how many pairs of each are measured
- The bond
- What strength the stack is bonded to, and how it is verified
- The revision
- Which last revision the run was graded from
- The market
- Because size designation and labelling differ by country
Why the last revision comes first.
Because it is the only document that can change and take the rest with it. An enquiry that names a size but not a last revision is an enquiry about a shape neither side has agreed.
The most useful sentence in an enquiry.
"Pairing tolerance, not nominal, and graded from last revision A." It tells the supplier what is actually measured and which shape it is measured against, and it is the sentence most enquiries leave out.
Why written beats verbal.
The expensive conversations are the ones about what was agreed. A brief that exists only in a meeting leaves every disputed detail open.