Fashion brands juggle relationships with many wholesale buyers who each have different customer preferences, budgets and ordering patterns. With so much going on, critical buyer details can get lost in notebooks and scattered business cards.
A fashion CRM organizes all this info into one system where you track every buyer interaction, preference and order history. You know exactly what each boutique ordered last season and what to show them next.
In this article, you’ll learn how fashion CRMs streamline operations for your SMB sales process and get a list of solutions that fit your business model.
Key takeaways from fashion CRM
A fashion CRM helps small brands manage customer interactions across the sales process, from trade show meetings through seasonal order cycles.
There are many CRM options, each catering to different business needs like visual pipeline tracking for business growth or social selling to find potential customers.
Fashion’s long sales cycles require visual pipeline tracking and detailed buyer notes to keep deals moving forward.
Pipedrive’s fashion CRM will help you organize leads, automate outreach and close deals more efficiently. Try it free for 14 days.
What is a fashion CRM and why does it matter?
Fashion CRM (customer relationship management) software helps your brand manage customer interactions with wholesale buyers and fashion retailers to track and forecast orders and build buyer relationships that drive reorders
In the apparel industry, sales cycles are seasonal. A buyer who sees your spring line in a September trade show won’t place an order until October and won’t stock it until February (right before spring).
The customer journey can stretch for months with many multi-channel touchpoints between initial contact and final order. A fashion CRM keeps all these moving parts organized throughout each season.
Here’s what a fashion CRM can do for you:
Fashion business challenge | How a CRM solves it |
“I don’t know if we’ll hit our quarterly revenue target.” | Track deal values in your CRM system to forecast cash flow accurately. |
“Buyers get frustrated repeating their preferences every season.” | Store all preferences and purchase history to improve the customer experience and user experience. |
“My sales team doesn’t know who’s handling sample requests.” | Assign clear ownership for each task so nothing falls through the cracks. |
“Design doesn’t know which styles actually sell through at retail.” | Share buyer feedback and sell-through data across departments for better collections. |
For example, say you’re at a trade show like MAGIC in Las Vegas. You’ll meet many buyers in just three days. Each one may leave a business card and mention which piece caught their eye.
Without a CRM tool, those cards pile up on your desk. You can’t remember who wanted what. Weeks pass before you realize you forgot to follow up with half of them.
With a CRM, you log each buyer and their preferences right after the conversation. For example, you may note that the Portland buyer prefers earth tones and orders around $3,000 per season.
When you’re back at your desk, your CRM reminds you to send the buyer a curated line sheet featuring exactly what she liked. You can then use your CRM to schedule a follow-up email in five days.
5 Best CRM solutions for fashion brands
The right CRM for your SMB depends on how you sell. Some brands need visual boards for collections. Others need marketing and communication tools.
Here’s our list of CRMs tailored to various needs and workflows.
1. Best overall: Pipedrive CRM
Pipedrive is a visual sales CRM platform that helps you close more deals by showing exactly where each buyer sits in your sales process.
Growing fashion brands can use it to handle everything from first contact at a trade show to final delivery and reorder.
The visual pipeline shows all your buyers on one screen. You can click and drag deals to different stages as they progress through the pipeline.
Besides being a powerful visual solution, Pipedrive includes AI tools, automation and analytics that make it an all-in-one solution.
Pipedrive’s comprehensive platform offers a range of additional functions, including contact management, deal tracking and follow-up email automation. You can also use the Campaigns add-on for email outreach and marketing strategies.
Email sync captures all buyer conversations automatically and smart reminders pop up right when you need them.
How fashion businesses use Pipedrive CRM:
Create unlimited custom fields for fashion details like size runs, colorways, delivery windows and payment terms
Use the Data Enrichment feature to fill in customer data automatically, so you spend less time on data entry
Write personalized emails with AI that knows each buyer’s order history and preferences
Set up automations that send follow-ups, move deals and create tasks while you focus on selling
Run reports showing which buyers spend the most, what’s stuck in your pipeline and next season’s forecast
Pipedrive gives your team professional tools without the complexity. You can access real-time collaboration, custom dashboards, sales forecasting and the LeadBooster add-on to find new accounts.
Who should use Pipedrive: Small to medium fashion brands with multiple wholesale accounts who want simple, visual organization.
Why use Pipedrive: Get enterprise features at small business prices. You can customize everything related to CRM fashion industry specifics without getting locked into rigid workflows.
Unlike fashion-specific tools that focus on inventory and orders, Pipedrive keeps customer engagement at the center. You focus on driving customer satisfaction instead of managing products.
Moreover, Pipedrive has a large ecosystem of tools with thousands of integrations. You can connect to accounting software, project management tools, customer support platforms and more.
This flexibility means you can use Pipedrive at scale. You can grow with it without needing to switch to another system.
2. Best for integrated collection planning: Uphance
Uphance is a CRM for fashion brands that combines product management with sales tracking.
In this platform, you can handle design and delivery in one place. Just upload your collection to Uphance’s product database.
When you send line sheets to clients, you pull the catalog from this same database. If a buyer places an order, Uphance’s inventory management features automatically update your stock level.
How fashion businesses use Uphance:
Upload your whole collection with all variants (colors, sizes, materials) in one product catalog
Create line sheets and lookbooks from your product database (PDF catalogs)
Track orders and see real-time stock levels from one place
Check fashion-specific fields like delivery windows, size breakdowns and minimum quantities
With the customer portal, buyers can log in to see custom prices. They can browse your collection and submit orders directly.
Who should use Uphance: SMB fashion brands that want all their product data and sales in one system and operations managers handling many SKUs.
Why use Uphance: Your product catalog becomes the source for line sheets, order forms, invoices and inventory reports. Upload once and it flows through every sales document.
3. Best for social selling: Nimble
Nimble is a CRM that enriches your contacts with social media data to help you understand buyers better.
The system works like a regular CRM. You track deals and manage pipelines. Still, with Nimble, you can pull in social profiles and company info automatically. So, for example, you can view the buyer’s recent LinkedIn posts alongside their order history.
Seeing social activity helps you spot sales opportunities. If a boutique owner tweets about expanding, you can reach out with your wholesale program to explore potential opportunities.
How fashion businesses use Nimble:
Set up Smart Contacts that alert you when buyers change jobs or companies
Get contact info that auto-enriches with business details (company size, location, social profiles)
Tag and segment contacts by type (boutiques, department stores, online retailers)
See all interactions in one timeline (emails, calls, meetings and social media profiles)
The unified inbox from Nimble acts as an omnichannel, saving you time. You respond to emails and LinkedIn messages from one screen.
Who should use Nimble: Small fashion brands and sales reps who use social media to research buyers before reaching out.
Why use Nimble: Contact enrichment gives you context before sales calls. You know the buyer’s business without hours of research.
4. Best for visual project management: Trello
Trello is a SaaS visual project board that helps you organize buyer relationships with a simple, user-friendly drag-and-drop system.
Create boards with columns for each stage of your sales process. Every buyer gets their own card with all their information in it (contact details, order history, notes from your last call). You can drag the cards from left to right as relationships develop.
The visual layout shows everything in one place. You can see which buyers are ready to order and identify who hasn’t been contacted in weeks. Your team can add comments to cards so everyone stays updated.
How fashion businesses use Trello:
Create cards for each buyer with all their details, preferences and order history
Attach line sheets, order forms and email correspondence directly to buyer cards
Add due dates for follow-ups and get notifications when it’s time to reach out
Use colored labels to categorize accounts (boutiques, online stores, department stores)
Trello’s flexibility means you can adapt it as you grow. Start with one simple board and add more complex workflows when you need them.
Who should use Trello: Small fashion brands, startups or solo designers managing buyer relationships who want visual simplicity.
Why use Trello: Free for small teams. The visual board system makes it easy to see your entire sales pipeline at a glance.
5. Best for customizable databases: Notion
Notion is an all-in-one workspace that lets you build a custom CRM alongside your design docs, mood boards and production schedules.
Create a buyer database with the fields that matter to your brand. Track payment terms, reorder cycles, store locations or any detail that helps you sell better. Since you’re building from scratch, you only include what you actually use.
The real value comes from connecting your databases. Link buyer records directly to your product catalog and automatically attach meeting notes to the right buyer.
How fashion businesses use Notion:
Build buyer databases with custom fields for your specific needs
Switch between different views – table for data entry, calendar for follow-ups, board for pipeline tracking
Link databases together so buyer records connect to orders, products and meeting notes
Create templates for consistent note-taking that automatically organize by date and buyer
The AI assistant helps you write follow-up emails and summarize meeting notes right inside your CRM.
Who should use Notion: Small fashion brands with one to three team members who want their platform integrated with all their other business docs.
Why use Notion: You can embed design files and tech packs directly in buyer records. Create shareable lookbooks and order forms that automatically feed your database.
Bonus: Google Sheets for simple organization
Google Sheets is a free spreadsheet tool that becomes a basic CRM when you add the right template and structure to track buyer relationships.
You may already use Google Sheets for other parts of your business. Now you can use it for sales too.
Start with a template like Pipedrive’s free CRM template for Google Sheets. It includes a module for contacts, sales pipeline, interaction history and a dashboard. Everything updates automatically with built-in formulas.
The familiar spreadsheet format means zero learning curve.
How fashion businesses use Google Sheets:
Track buyer contacts with columns for store name, contact info, order history and preferences
Create a pipeline tab with stages that match your sales process
Log every buyer interaction in a separate tab with date, type of contact and notes from the conversation
Share the spreadsheet with your team so everyone sees the same buyer information
Just copy the template and add your first buyer. As you grow, you’ll learn what features matter most for your next system.
When manual tracking becomes inefficient, you can import your data into Pipedrive. The template follows Pipedrive’s organization structure, ensuring a smooth transition.
Who should use Google Sheets: Solo designers or brands with a few accounts who need basic organization right now.
Why use Google Sheets: Zero cost and instant setup. You can organize your buyers today without learning new software or waiting for approval.
Have an easier time managing your customer relationships with our CRM Google Sheets Template
How to use a CRM in your fashion business
With a CRM for fashion businesses, you can turn scattered information into a system that optimizes deals and closes more sales.
Here’s how to implement CRM workflows in your fashion business to capture more leads and build stronger buyer relationships.
Capturing buyer information to convert conversations into sales
The right setup in your CRM lets you capture buyer details quickly so you can send personalized follow-ups within 48 hours.
First, create custom fields in Pipedrive for fashion-specific details. Go to “Personal preferences > Data fields” and click on “+ Custom field”
You can add fields like:
“Preferred Pricing” as a dropdown (e.g., $X, $XX, $XXX)
“Store Type” options (boutique or chain).
“Delivery Window” choices (immediate, 30 days, 60 days)
“Preferences” as a text field
The fields take a few minutes to create and are helpful when you meet a handful of potential clients at the same event. You just need to enter your lead name, select the info from these fields and check back later.
At a trade show, you can use Pipedrive’s mobile app between booth visits. Open the app and tap the plus sign to add a new contact.
Use voice-to-text for quick notes like “loved the blue dress, needs 30”. Tag each contact with the trade show name using Labels. This way, you can filter all MAGIC contacts versus Coterie contacts later.
Pipedrive in action: Second Bind, a Canadian book reselling company, used Pipedrive’s LeadBooster and customizable web forms to automatically capture and qualify leads at the point of contact.
With streamlined information capture and automated lead routing, the company grew revenue by 80% while reducing ticket resolution time by 10–20%.
Managing collection launches to get line sheets opened and ordered
Sending personalized line sheets based on buyer history can generate more orders than automated marketing campaigns.
Before sending your new collection, open each buyer’s profile in Pipedrive. Check their preferred price point and store type in the custom fields you created earlier. Look at their deal history to see what they actually bought last season.
This info tells you exactly what to send them. A boutique that ordered $2,000 of casual wear doesn’t need to see your $500 evening gowns. A chain that buys full collections wants to see everything.
Use Pipedrive’s AI email writer to write an email and attach the PDF line sheet. In the prompt, mention what the buyer ordered before and tell it to highlight similar styles. The AI will write a personalized message for you.
Make sure you set up follow-ups with a simple automation. Just go to “Tools and apps > Automations” and click on “+ Automation”.
Set a rule to follow up if there are no responses within three days. This second touch often works when buyers were too busy to respond the first time.
Pipedrive in action: Spark Interact, a full-service digital agency, used Pipedrive’s AI-driven Sales Assistant to identify prospects most likely to buy and automate personalized follow-ups.
Without adding staff, the company achieved a 12% boost in yearly revenue through better-timed email outreach.
Tracking wholesale orders to move deals through long sales cycles
Fashion’s long sales cycles benefit from visual tracking to prevent deals from going cold.
With Pipedrive, you can set up your pipeline stages to match your actual sales process. You can start with something simple like:
First contact
Sample sent
Negotiation
Order confirmed
Pipedrive’s pipeline view lets you check for critical information at a glance.
Colored dots on each card represent activities. Green means you’re on schedule, yellow warns that a follow-up is coming soon and red means you’re late.
Pipedrive’s Rotting feature adds another layer of protection. Set it to flag deals that sit untouched for a set number of days.
For instance, if you set it to seven days, a red tile will appear in the deal card, signaling how many days it has been rotting.
This visual system enables you to quickly identify who needs attention.
Pipedrive in action: HoorayHR struggled with poor follow-ups until it implemented Pipedrive’s visual pipeline and deal tracking. With clear visibility into the status of each deal, the HR platform was able to close deals twice as fast.
Analyzing buying patterns to predict what each buyer wants next
Understanding buying patterns from past customer interactions helps you approach each buyer more effectively.
After each season, analyze your customer base using Pipedrive’s Insights. Create a report showing deals won by buyer type.
For example, you might discover boutiques buy dresses while department stores prefer separates.
You may want to add a custom field for “Style Categories” with options like evening wear, casual and accessories. Update this field when orders close.
Next season, filter buyers by these preferences. You could send dress-heavy line sheets to boutiques and casual line sheets to department stores.
This personalization based on actual purchase history makes buyers feel understood and increases retention rates.
Pipedrive in action: Digital analytics company Quru used Pipedrive’s reporting insights to identify patterns in buyer behavior and improve lead qualification. By analyzing which prospects converted best, they increased their win rate from 36% to 40% in just two quarters.
Final thoughts
Fashion brands that use CRMs close more deals because they build stronger buyer relationships. Every interaction builds customer loyalty when you know what buyers ordered before and what they need next.
The tools in this guide range from free spreadsheets to fashion-specific platforms. Pick a CRM solution that fits your current size and grow from there. The best CRM is the one you actually use every day.
Pipedrive helps fashion brands manage the entire wholesale process from first meeting to reorder. Try it free for 14 days.
