Leather & footwear
Inventory software for footwear manufacturers
Leather is bought by the square foot, soles by the pair and adhesive by the kilo. Keep each in its own unit and warehouse, and know what is on the racks before you take an order.
In short
SimpleERP is inventory software for footwear and leather goods makers. Finished leather, soles, insoles, adhesive and finished pairs are kept per warehouse at weighted average cost, with transfers, adjustments and reorder levels.
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
An inventory day at Nene Valley Footwear
Nene Valley Footwear buys finished leather from tanneries in Portugal and Lancashire, measured in square feet on each piece, and soles from a moulder in Leicester by the pair and size. The leather store, the clicking table and the finished goods racks are three rooms with three different registers.
When the Manchester distributor asks for 120 more pairs of the black formal, the owner needs to know three things: how many square feet of black crust are left, whether the size 9 and 10 soles are on hand, and how many finished pairs already sit in the racks.
SimpleERP keeps each leather, sole size, component and finished article size as a product with its own unit and warehouse. A transfer moves leather to the clicking table, a work order turns it into pairs, and the stock report answers all three questions on one screen.
How should leather, soles and finished pairs be set up?
Pick the unit each item is bought or sold in. Finished leather goes in sq ft, soles in pairs per size, adhesive and thread in kg, and shoe boxes in pieces. Finished shoes go in pairs, one product per article and size.
- Add sq ft and pair under Units & terms beside the seeded kg and pcs.
- A product per colour and finish of leather, so tan and black are counted apart.
- Opening stock per warehouse comes in with the product CSV import.
| Product family | Unit | Warehouse | Reorder pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finished leather, upper grades | sq ft | Leather store | Level of 600 sq ft for black and tan, others bought per order |
| Lining leather | sq ft | Leather store | Level of 400 sq ft |
| TPR and leather soles by size | pairs | Component store | Level of 50 pairs for each running size |
| Insole board | sheets | Component store | Level of 40 sheets |
| Adhesive and thread | kg | Component store | Level of 20 kg adhesive, 5 kg thread |
| Shoe boxes and cartons | pcs | Packing | Level of 500 shoe boxes |
| Finished pairs by article and size | pairs | Finished goods | No level: made against orders and for the season |
How do I see leather at the store and at the clicking table?
Make the leather store, the clicking section and finished goods into warehouses. Issue the morning's hides to clicking with a transfer, and the stock report shows how many square feet are in each room, valued at average cost.
- Transfers carry the date and a note naming the lot being cut.
- Uppers sent to a closing outworker can sit in a warehouse named for him.
- A single-room unit never sees warehouses until it needs a second.
Illustration of a profit and loss statement for Jan–Jun 2026 with net profit of 4,691, a tax summary and the lock date.
What about leather that the cutting table wastes?
Expected cutting waste sits in each article's BOM as a scrap percentage. Anything beyond it, like a hide with a grain fault, is a stock adjustment with a reason, so the loss is visible in the books instead of turning up as a short count at Christmas.
- Adjustments keep the reason and the person who made them in the audit history.
- Month-end counts are entered as adjustments to the counted square feet.
- Debit notes send faulty hides back to the tannery and take them out of stock.
One system
Where stock connects
Tannery and sole bills raise stock, work orders turn it into pairs, and invoices take the pairs out, all in one valued ledger.
Leather & footwear
A BOM per article, work orders per lot, leather stock in sq ft and invoices to retailers.
See howAccounting for leather businesses
Tannery bills, retailer receivables, returns and wages in one ledger, with month-end checks and a lock date.
See howPayroll for shoe factories
Monthly payroll for clickers, closers, lasters and finishers, with attendance, advances and deductions.
See howManufacturing for footwear makers
A bill of materials per article and size, and work orders per lot that cost every pair from real leather use.
See howInventory
Stock on hand by warehouse at weighted average cost, with a movement ledger and a low-stock list.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do yet
- No batch, lot, serial or expiry tracking, and no barcode scanning
- Weighted average cost only; there is no FIFO
- No automatic reorder suggestions: the reorder level shows what is low, you decide what to buy
- No size and colour matrix: each size of an article is its own product.
- No hide-by-hide measurement record: leather is counted in total sq ft per product and warehouse.
Getting started
Start with inventory
Sign up with your email
Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.
Tell us about the business
Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.
Add products and opening stock
Import leather in sq ft, soles by size in pairs, adhesive and thread in kg and each finished size from a CSV file with opening stock.
Post a bill and an invoice
Stock rises on the purchase bill and falls on the invoice, at weighted average cost, with nothing to count by hand.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can I buy leather in sq ft and sell shoes in pairs?
Yes. Each product has its own unit. Leather comes in and is issued in square feet, and the bill of materials says how many square feet go into a lot of pairs, so the work order converts one into the other at actual cost.
Can I trace a pair back to the hide it was cut from?
No. There is no lot or batch tracking for hides. Leather is counted by product and warehouse at average cost. If a buyer needs hide-level tracing, keep that record alongside SimpleERP for now.
Do I need a product for every size of every article?
Yes, if you track sizes. There is no size grid, so Loafer tan 7 and Loafer tan 8 are separate products with their own stock. Some units keep a size-less article counted in pairs for slow designs.
Will it show me which soles are about to run out?
It lists them. Give each running sole size a reorder level, and anything below it appears on the low-stock list grouped by the moulder, ready for a purchase order. Nothing is ordered automatically.
Related
Keep reading
Leather & footwear
A BOM per article, work orders per lot, leather stock in sq ft and invoices to retailers.
Read moreManufacturing for footwear makers
A bill of materials per article and size, and work orders per lot that cost every pair from real leather use.
Read morePayroll for shoe factories
Monthly payroll for clickers, closers, lasters and finishers, with attendance, advances and deductions.
Read more
See how inventory works in SimpleERP for leather and footwear
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.