First, what is a line sheet?

line sheet is many things, but above all it is a document -actually several documents- that communicates
necessary information to your prospective buyers. You will actually need 3 kinds of documents.

One is a line sheet, second is a swatch card and third is an order form. I'll start with the line sheets; these must contain:
-Styles: pictorial descriptions of styles (usually sketches, sometimes photos)
-Style numbers: If you must use names, you must also have style numbers.
-Prices
-Color and fabric information
-Season
-Delivery dates and order cut off dates
-Order minimums
-Company and/or sales rep contact information

Each category in detail.

Styles: pictorial descriptions:
Most companies use sketches. Even the large companies use sketches, so don't feel bad if you don't have photos. It's better to have a clear sketch than a crappy photo because a really bad photo will often make your line look bad. If you can't sketch, have someone sketch for you. Or have someone make line art (computer
generated sketches that are extremely crisp and clear). One important thing to do if your items have important back detail, show the back. Please, show the back.
Create your line sheets as if your buyers will never see your line in person.

A lot of companies rely on markets to show their line but there will always be buyers who didn't see your line at market or saw it but didn't write an order at market and need to remember what was great about your line. Your line sheets should remind them. If you have important fabric information, put that in your line sheets. Don't rely on your reps to remember to tell each prospective buyer about it.

Style numbers:
Names are cute, but style numbers are easier to remember. Try to have consistency with your style numbers as well. Some people mix style letters and numbers– WPE122, and some people use all numbers 8233 (which is easier to remember) and some people use all letters FPJSAX (which, is easy to remember
only when it makes sense, this example is a real style number and FPJ stands for Flannel Pajama and SAX is
for the saxophone print). Some companies use style codes like DNAYTOPDA and that just makes people feel dyslexic and they can't remember how to write them down. Literate people instinctively try to make words out of collections of letters and when they don't resemble anything meaningful, it becomes frustrating.

Prices:
That's pretty self explanatory. And you can include suggested retail prices as well.

Color and fabric information:
The number one thing is color and fabric information. Your color card does not have to be fancy, you don't even need to have the kind with swatches of fabric cut out and glued to card stock, you could just make one swatch-based color card and xerox it for all I care. Even though color reproduction won't be perfect, at least your buyers will know that honeysuckle is just a fancy word for gold and they won't have to guess what it is. If you work in prints, please have color information. Not every buyer will write an order at market and it is so frustrating trying to write an order after market and not being able to figure out what color corresponds
to what name.

Season/Delivery dates and order cut-off dates:
This one is so important, it needs to be at the top of the line sheet. Order cut-off date, start ship and complete
ship dates are extremely important and line sheets are usually presented in order by delivery date. Earliest
delivery on top, last delivery on the bottom.

Order minimums:
If you have order minimums, you should put that information on your line sheets. Most companies have two
minimums- minimum per style and overall order minimums. Here are examples of different kinds of
minimums:
minimum: 4 pcs per style; $250 per order
minimum: 4 pcs per style per color; $250 per order
minimum: 4 pcs per style; $250 per delivery
minimum: 4 pcs per style; $1,000 per market (some companies want you to have a minimum order per
market, regardless of the minimum per delivery)

Company or sales rep contact info:
it's nice when companies have their sales rep info pre-printed on their line sheets. It saves reps the time of having to make out labels and put them on every line sheet.

Order form:
Most sales reps have their own triplicate order forms and some companies provide their own to the reps. pRE-PRINTED FORMS are best. Why? It's so much cleaner with reduced potential errors. If you have a huge line, it's not feasible to offer that type of form. But if you don't, it makes it really easy for the buyer to just fill in the quantities under sizes and the price and style information is already there. It even had a space to write in the color.

You can easily go into any CopyMax, Kinkos or whatever huge copy center is in your town and have forms printed in triplicate (or duplicate). Another option is to buy your own at a printer supply store.

line sheets part 1

line sheets part 2