Setup guide

From sign-in to your first quote in about 15 minutes.

Do the steps in order — each one makes the next one better. Your dashboard has a Getting started checklist that ticks itself off as you go. Stuck anywhere? Reply to your welcome email and a person helps.

1Sign in

1 minute

Your welcome email has a one-time sign-in link (good for 7 days). Click it and you're in. From then on, go to app.apparelpro.app, type your email and click the link we send — there's no password to forget. Each browser stays signed in for 30 days.

Bookmark app.apparelpro.app, or add it to your phone's home screen.

2Shop profile

2 minutes

Where: Pricing & settings → Shop profile

This is what customers see on quotes, invoices, the portal and in emails.

  • Shop name, phone, email — replies to your quote emails go to this email.
  • Address as 123 Main St, Las Vegas, NV 89104 — it's also your ship-from address for shipping rates.
  • Logo URL — a square PNG link (your website's logo file works). Colors are optional.
  • Terms links — your terms of service / order terms pages; customers tick these when they accept a quote.

3Prices & costs

5–10 minutes (worth it)

Where: Pricing & settings → edit pricing rules

Your shop starts with Apparel Pro's starter prices — sensible, industry-typical numbers, not yours. Go through them before you send a real quote:

  • Blank markup — e.g. under $10 cost × 1.75, $10 and up +40%; add brands you sell at MAP.
  • Screen print grids — one for light garments, one for dark (underbase). Price per piece per location, by quantity and number of colors. Screens per color, and when screens are waived.
  • Embroidery — price per piece per placement by quantity, stitches included, and the price per extra 1,000 stitches. Cap upcharge, hooping, digitizing fees.
  • DTF, laser, patches, rush %, customer-supplied handling.
  • Your costs — your labor rate, what you pay staff, electric rate, press speed, embroidery heads and stitches/minute. These never show to customers; they power the true-margin numbers.
Quote a job you already know the answer to and compare. If it's off, adjust the grid row — every new quote uses the change immediately.

4Connect SanMar and/or S&S

3 minutes each

Where: Pricing & settings → Integrations

With your own supplier accounts connected, typing a style number (PC54, 3001, IND4000…) pulls every color with its photo, your cost by size, MAP, weight and live warehouse stock — and reads each color's shade so it prices on the right grid.

  • S&S Activewear: your account number + API key (S&S account page → API access; or ask your S&S rep).
  • SanMar: your customer number, plus your sanmar.com username and password. SanMar needs to switch on "web services" for your account once — ask your rep for "PromoStandards web services access".

Click Test connection after saving. Keys are encrypted and only used for your shop.

No supplier accounts yet? You can still quote: add a blank row and type the brand, style, color and cost.

5Square card payments

3 minutes

Where: Pricing & settings → Integrations → Square
  1. Go to developer.squareup.com/apps and sign in with your normal Square login.
  2. Create an application if you don't have one (any name, e.g. "Apparel Pro").
  3. Open it → Production (top toggle) → Credentials → Production Access Token → Show → copy.
  4. Paste it into Apparel Pro and click Save & connect. We pick your first active location automatically and show which one; paste a Location ID if you want a different one.

Customers then see Pay by card on their invoice. The payment goes straight to your Square account — Apparel Pro never touches the money. A 3% credit-card surcharge line is added (debit cards aren't surcharged); ACH, Zelle, wire, check and cash have no fee.

Card surcharging rules: register with Visa/Mastercard (through Square or your processor) about 30 days before surcharging, show the surcharge before payment (we do), and keep it at or under your cost. A few states restrict surcharges — check yours. You can switch the surcharge off by not offering card.

6Shippo shipping rates optional

2 minutes

Where: Pricing & settings → Integrations → Shippo

Create a free account at goshippo.com → Settings → API → copy the live token (starts with shippo_live_). Then on a quote, choose UPS / FedEx / USPS as delivery, type the ship-to address and click Get shipping rates — Apparel Pro weighs the order from the supplier data, packs it into boxes and shows real rates. Pick one and it becomes the Shipping line.

7Your website quote form

5 minutes

Where: your address is on Pricing & settings → Website quote form (it ends in ?tenant=your-shop)

Point your site's quote form at that address. Each request lands in Requests with any uploaded artwork, the customer gets an instant "we got your request" email listing what you still need, and one click turns it into a drafted, priced quote.

A plain HTML form (works on almost any site builder that allows custom HTML):

<form method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data"
      action="https://app.apparelpro.app/api/intake?tenant=YOUR-SHOP-ID">
  <input name="name" placeholder="Your name" required>
  <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Email" required>
  <input name="phone" placeholder="Phone">
  <input name="company" placeholder="Company / team">
  <input name="quantity" placeholder="How many pieces?">
  <select name="decoration"><option>Screen printing</option><option>Embroidery</option><option>DTF</option></select>
  <input name="garment" placeholder="Garment (e.g. Bella 3001 black tees)">
  <input name="size_breakdown" placeholder="Sizes (e.g. S-6 M-14 L-16 XL-8)">
  <input name="locations" placeholder="Print locations (front, back…)">
  <input name="deadline" type="date">
  <textarea name="details" placeholder="Anything else?"></textarea>
  <input name="artwork" type="file" multiple>
  <input name="_next" type="hidden" value="https://yourshop.com/thank-you">
  <input name="_gotcha" type="text" style="display:none">  <!-- spam trap -->
  <button>Request a quote</button>
</form>
  • Field names are flexible — first_name/last_name, qty, colors, message and similar all work. Style numbers, colors, sizes and due dates are read out of free text too.
  • _next is where the customer lands after submitting (your thank-you page).
  • Shopify, Squarespace, Wix: add a "custom code / HTML" block with the form above, or send us your current form and we'll point it at Apparel Pro for you.
  • Already using Formspree or another form service? Change the form's action to your address — the fields carry over.

Test it: submit your own form and watch it appear in Requests.

8Your first quote

3 minutes

  1. + New quote (or Start quote on a request — it's drafted for you).
  2. Customer name and email at the top. Delivery, terms and rush tier if needed.
  3. 🔍 Look up style → type the style → tick the colors → type sizes in the grid.
  4. Add decoration → pick the method → add each location (Full Front 3 colors, Left Sleeve 1 color…) or each embroidery placement with its stitch count. "Applies to" limits a decoration to some garments.
  5. The right column prices as you type: per-piece prices, screens and fees, total — and your true cost and margin.
  6. Save quote, then Send quote. The customer gets an email with the summary and their portal link.
Send your first one to yourself and click through it as a customer.

9What your customers see

The link opens their private page (no account needed): every line at an all-in price per piece (garment + decoration), one-time fees and the total. They can change size counts (the quote re-prices as a new revision), accept with your terms, and pick how to pay. Once paid, upload the proof on the order's Files card — they approve it on the same page, and the approval is recorded with name, time and file version. Past orders have a one-click reorder.

10Job Board & reminders

Accepted quotes become invoices on the Job Board (New → Scheduled → Ready To Ship → Shipped…). Set dates on each order — blanks arrive, production, customer due — and an urgency tier. Your dashboard lists what's due; on Shop and Pro a morning email digest and a calendar feed (Pricing & settings → Calendar feed → Google Calendar "From URL") remind you ahead of each date.

11Your team

Where: your name (top right) → Team

Invite people by name and email; they get a sign-in link. Owner can change prices, billing, team and integrations; staff quote, invoice and manage customers; production works the board. Disable someone and they're signed out everywhere.

12Claude or ChatGPT Shop & Pro

Where: Pricing & settings → connectors → Create key

Copy the address shown (once). In Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste it as the URL. In ChatGPT: Settings → Connectors → Create (developer mode) → paste as the MCP server URL. Then ask things like "what's due this week?", "price 48 PC54 black with a 2-color front", "draft a quote for the newest request", "mark #10012 paid by Zelle". Writes are always confirmed with you first. Read-only keys are available too.

13Plan & billing

Where: Pricing & settings → plan & billing

Your trial runs 14 days with Shop features. Pick Solo, Shop or Pro (monthly or annual) — payment is through Square's secure checkout and renews automatically; switch or cancel any time on the same page. If a trial ends without a plan there's a 7-day grace period, then the shop pauses (your customers' portal links keep working and nothing is deleted).

Moving from Teesom or Printavo

We bring your orders, customers and line items over so reorders and history come with you — included on Pro, $199 one-time on Solo and Shop, beta shops too. Reply to your welcome email to schedule it; it usually takes a day. Until then you can run both side by side.