"Is it ready?"
The question every tailoring shop answers twenty times a day. When the only record is a notebook and whoever is at the bench, answering it means stopping work and going to look.
The expensive version of the same problem is the deadline nobody noticed passing — the job that was somewhere in the middle of the pile while the customer was counting days.
Six stages, one tap to advance
Every order in Shona sits at one of six production stages. Moving it on is a single tap, and the dashboard shows what is overdue and what is active without you opening anything.
- ReceivedThe order is booked in with its deadline.
- CuttingFabric is being cut.
- SewingThe garment is on the machine.
- FinishingHems, buttons, pressing.
- ReadyDone and waiting for collection.
- DeliveredHanded over.
What goes on an order
- The client, with their saved measurements already attached
- The outfit type, from your own list of what you cut
- Fabric details and up to five design photos
- A deadline
- The tailor it is assigned to, if you work with staff
Design photos matter more than they sound. The picture a client shows you on their phone is the brief — five slots on the order means it is still there when the garment reaches the bench.
The customer finds out on their own
Each stage advance can message the client automatically, so moving an order to Ready is also the moment they learn it is ready. There is a template for every stage, plus one for a changed deadline and one for an assigned staff member — all eleven are editable, in Swahili and English.
Assigning work in a shop with staff
Staff live in shop mode. In Settings, switch your tailor mode from Solo to Shop and a Team section appears: add people with their role and phone, assign any order to a tailor, and see each person's orders in progress, revenue, outstanding amounts and earnings. Solo tailors never see any of it.
Worth being plain about: staff are records, not logins. Shona is one account per shop, so assigning an order to someone tracks the work against them — it does not give them a separate sign-in.
Orders and money stay joined up
A deposit, the running balance and the material and labour cost all attach to the order rather than living in a separate book, so the job that is nearly finished is also the job you can see what is still owed on.
More of what Shona does
The rest of the app, one job at a time.
- A tailoring app that works with no internet at allEvery action saves on the phone first and syncs when a connection turns up — a week without a data bundle costs you nothing.
- Keep every client's measurements in one place59 standard measurements grouped by body area, plus any you add yourself, saved once per client and pre-filled by outfit type.
- Know what every client owes and what every job earnedDeposits and part-payments record against the order, balances track themselves, and material and labour costs show the profit on each job.
- Keep customers updated without typing the same message twiceEleven editable message templates in Swahili and English, sent over WhatsApp or SMS, with the client's details filled in.
Try it on your next order
Shona is free to download and free to run your shop from — no subscription. Android and iOS.
Questions first? Read the support answers.