.png)
Updated November 4, 2026. First published May 24, 2025. Checked against the AIMS360 multi-warehouse, intelligent allocation and WMS pages.
What is a fashion WMS, and how is it different from a generic one?
A warehouse management system (WMS) directs the physical work: receiving, putaway, picking, packing, shipping and counting. A fashion WMS does the same work on apparel's shape of inventory. A tee is not one product; it is a style in six colors and eight sizes, sold as size runs and prepacks, each size carrying its own UPC.
A generic WMS treats every size and color as an unrelated SKU. That works until a retailer orders a 1-2-2-1 prepack, a buyer asks what is open to sell in mediums, or a cycle count has to reconcile a size grid. AIMS360 keeps style, color and size as the native structure, with prepacks, multiple size scales and a UPC per size.
| Warehouse task | What a fashion WMS has to handle | How AIMS360 does it |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Cartons of mixed sizes against a PO or cut ticket | Scan goods in against the vendor PO, cut ticket or garment dye job |
| Putaway | Sizes spread across shelves | Bin locations down to the shelf, with handheld putaway |
| Picking | Size runs, not single units | Pick tickets by order, batch or wave, with matrix quantities |
| Packing | Retailer carton labels and ship notices | GS1-128 labels print with the SSCC written to the shipment, then the ASN |
| Counting | Grids drift one size at a time | Rolling cycle counts on a handheld, without closing the building |
| Availability | What can be promised, not just on hand | Open to sell from stock plus work in process minus orders |
People search for this as fashion WMS, apparel WMS or WMS 360. In AIMS360 it is not a separate product: the inventory and WMS module is included in every plan and runs on the same record as orders and production.
What counts as a warehouse in multi-warehouse fulfillment?
Turning on multi-warehouse lets style inventory live in more than one named location while the item master, the order book and the financials stay single. Five kinds of location all behave as warehouses:
| Location | Why it is a warehouse | What it is used for |
|---|---|---|
| Your own building | Goods you receive, hold, pick and ship | Bulk wholesale, EDI orders, ecommerce |
| A 3PL | Stock somebody else holds and reports back | Ecommerce or regional fulfillment |
| A retail store | Store stock that must not be sold twice | Shopify POS register sales |
| A showroom | Samples and stock for appointments | Kept out of the web store's number |
| A virtual warehouse | A named location with no building | Quarantine, QC holds, consignment, in transit, reserves for one program |
The virtual warehouse is the one brands underuse. It replaces the spreadsheet that says which units are not really available, a spreadsheet that is always slightly wrong and always in the direction of overselling. Goods on hold stay counted and auditable but stop leaking into what reps, the web store and retailers can sell.
How does an order know which warehouse to ship from?
This is where most multi-warehouse questions start, so here is exactly how AIMS360 decides.
- The customer sets the default
Each customer record carries a preferred warehouse. Add a style to an order and the shipping warehouse comes from the customer, so an account that always ships from your East Coast building does, without anyone choosing.
- Confirm or change it on the order
The warehouse shows on the order and can be changed there, where permissions allow. That is the checkpoint before anything is picked.
- Split by line when it has to
The warehouse can be set per line item, so part of an order ships from your building and part from a 3PL.
- Pick per warehouse
Each warehouse gets its own pick ticket. Goods in two buildings are never on one ticket, because that would double count what was picked.
- Invoice once if the customer wants one
Each pick ticket invoices normally, and a consolidated invoice can then go to the customer if they prefer one document.
Preferred warehouses can be batch updated across customers, which matters the week you open a second building. Channel rules sit alongside this: inventory templates decide which locations a channel draws on, such as a store register that sells only its own back room, or a web store that sells the distribution center plus incoming production up to a chosen date.
Which apparel ERPs support multi-warehouse allocation for orders?
Many systems can hold stock in two places. Fewer can allocate it well. When you evaluate an apparel ERP, ask it to show these five things on your own data:
| Ask the vendor to show | Why it matters | AIMS360 |
|---|---|---|
| A warehouse on every order line | One order often ships from two places | Yes, defaulted from the customer, changeable per line |
| Allocation by rules, at size level | Shortages happen in one size, not a whole style | Allocation profiles by completion date, factored orders, customer priority and your own fields |
| Allocation to incoming production | Preorders and at-once orders need dated WIP | Profiles draw from stock, WIP or both, without over-allocating |
| Production received into a location | Goods for the East Coast should land there | Cut tickets and POs are planned and received into a warehouse |
| Counts per location | You should not freeze every building for one count | Physical inventory runs per warehouse, or in several at once |
Intelligent allocation is the part that decides who gets shorted when stock is tight. You write the rules once, for example completion date first, then factored orders, then customer priority, then order date as a tie breaker, and the run applies them the same way every time. Profiles can allocate from stock only for goods shipping now, from stock and WIP for upcoming ship windows, or from WIP only for planning.
Production can also be created from the orders themselves. Allocated WIP builds a cut ticket, purchase order or garment dye job from open orders for a chosen in-warehouse date, receives it into the selected warehouse, and keeps a record of which customer orders the production covers.
Built-in WMS or a separate WMS connected to the ERP?
Both are normal, and many brands run both at once: bulk wholesale from their own building on the built-in WMS, and ecommerce from a 3PL running its own system. What matters is that one record owns the inventory.
What does multi-warehouse not cover?
- Raw materials. Multi-warehouse is for finished goods by style, color and size. Fabric and trim across locations, down to lots and rolls, is the bins and locations feature. Many brands run both.
- One pick ticket across buildings. Each warehouse picks its own ticket. A consolidated invoice can still go to the customer.
- Several people keying one count. With multi-warehouse on, manual count entry is one login at a time. The Excel import lets several counters work on separate sheets and totals them on upload.
- A switch in settings. Multi-warehouse is a licensed feature activated on your database. Because it changes styles, orders, production and picking screens, talk it through before you turn it on.
For the full set of 2026 changes, including choosing which locations each style and color may be stocked in, see the multi-warehouse page and What's New.
Fashion WMS and multi-warehouse: FAQ
Shipping orders from more than one stock location, such as your own warehouse, a 3PL, a store or a showroom, while one system keeps the inventory, orders and financials. In AIMS360 each order line carries a warehouse, so one order can ship from two places.
Look for a warehouse on every order line, rule-based allocation at size level, allocation to incoming production, production received into a chosen location and counts per warehouse. AIMS360 does all five: warehouses default from the customer, intelligent allocation commits stock and WIP by rules you set, and allocated WIP is received into the selected warehouse.
A warehouse management system built for apparel's inventory shape: style, color and size, size runs, prepacks and a UPC per size. It directs receiving, putaway, picking, packing and counting with handheld scanners, and produces the carton labels and ship notices retailers require. AIMS360 includes one in every plan.
No. The WMS runs on the same record as orders, production and accounting, and it is included in every AIMS360 plan. Each WMS subscription comes with a handheld scanner. RFID is a paid add-on.
Yes. The warehouse is set per line item, so part of an order can ship from your building and part from a 3PL. Each warehouse gets its own pick ticket, and a consolidated invoice can go to the customer if they want one document.
Yes. Allocation profiles can draw from stock, from work in process or from both, and allocated WIP builds production from open orders and receives it into a chosen warehouse. By default, the order completion date has to fall after the WIP completion date.
Use a virtual warehouse: a named location with no building behind it. Goods in quarantine, QC holds, consignment, in transit or reserved for one program stay counted and auditable but are not offered to reps, the web store or retailers.
Yes. A 3PL is set up as a warehouse. AIMS360 sends pick tickets to it and imports shipment confirmations, receipts and transfers back, by EDI or the 3PL's API. Pick tickets should flow from AIMS360 so every shipment exists in the ERP first.
No. Multi-warehouse covers finished goods by style, color and size. Raw materials across locations, down to lots and rolls, are handled by the bins and locations feature.
There is no practical limit on the number of warehouses. What matters more is what each represents, because buildings, 3PLs, stores, showrooms and virtual locations all draw on the same item master.
Multi-warehouse is a licensed feature, and which capabilities you get depends on plan and modules, so confirm scope during your evaluation.
