The first implementation of ERP5 has been realized in the clothing industry.

In this sector, companies are facing the fierce power of globalization. They are working with partners in low cost, labor-intensive countries and need to manage a complex supply chain. They also need to take into consideration numerous dimensions and variations of their products such as color, size, etc. Often there is a need to create several collections of new products every year. This process involves designers, members of research department, as well as sales managers, and needs to be well communicated and organized. When it comes to manufacturing, clothing companies are often choose to manage in-house the dye bath for the fabrics they and want to have complete traceability of the manufactured goods.

With an original workflow engine that allows to organise the collaboration of large teams around product data management, with its generic integration of multiple dimensions of variations for any resource, which in its turn reduces the cost for the design of materials and operations, with its manufacturing traceabilty features, which link the flows of consumed and produced items, and with its international web based interface that allows to use the software over a VPN connection and to give full access to the information system to commercial partners, ERP5 meets the specific needs of the clothing industry and manages to offers a reduced total cost of ownership.