What Belongs on a Tailor’s Bill (and What Costs You Money)

A tailor bill is not paperwork. It is the only written record of what was agreed, and almost every dispute a stitching shop has — about price, about date, about what was even ordered — is a dispute that a properly written bill would have ended before it started.

Most shops in Pakistan use a carbon receipt book: customer name, amount, date, signature. That is a receipt, not an invoice, and the difference costs money.

Receipt or invoice

A receipt says money changed hands. An invoice says what the money was for. When a customer comes back three weeks later saying the ghera was supposed to be wider, a receipt cannot help you and an invoice can.

The word *khata* means exactly this — the account, the running record of what was agreed and what is owed. A silai khata kept properly is not a formality; it is the thing you reach for when memories disagree.

The eleven things a tailor invoice must carry

1. 1 Your shop's name, address and mobile number. On every copy. The customer will need it, and it is free advertising in their drawer.
2. 2 An invoice number. Unique, sequential, with your own prefix. This is not optional — see below.
3. 3 The date the order was taken.
4. 4 The customer's name and mobile number. The number matters more than the name; two Muhammad Aslams a month is normal.
5. 5 The garment and the quantity. "2 shalwar kameez", not "suit".
6. 6 The fabric. Whose cloth, how much, what it is. If the customer brought it, say so on the bill.
7. 7 The stitching and style choices. Collar or ban, cuff style, pockets.
8. 8 The delivery date. A date, not "next week".
9. 9 The total.
10. 10 The advance paid.
11. 11 The balance due. Written out, not left for anyone to calculate at the counter with a queue behind them.

The three that prevent arguments

Of those eleven, three do most of the work, and they are the three most often skipped.

The delivery date, written down

"Eid se pehle" is not a date. Every shop knows this and every shop still says it. Write the actual date on the bill and hand the customer a copy with that date on it. Half of all delivery arguments end right there, because there is nothing to disagree about.

The advance and the balance, separately

Not one total with a note. Two lines: what was paid, what is owed. When the customer collects, the number on the bill is the number at the counter, and nobody has to remember.

What the customer actually chose

Not "as discussed". If they picked a ban collar and double cuffs, the bill says ban collar and double cuffs. When the garment comes back and the customer says they wanted something else, the bill is the answer — and on the rare occasion the bill shows the shop got it wrong, you find out honestly and fix it without a row.

Why the invoice number matters more than it looks

A receipt book gives you numbers that start again at 1 every book, and two books in use at once gives two number 47s. That is enough to lose an order.

A proper numbering — ANT-0001, ANT-0002, with your shop's own prefix — means:

• Every order is findable by a number the customer can read out over the phone.
• You can tell at a glance how many orders you have taken this year.
• Nothing gets recorded twice, and nothing is skipped without you noticing.
• When you send work out, the karigar's job sheet and your bill refer to the same order.

If a customer phones and says "my bill number is ANT-0412", you should be able to find that order in under ten seconds. If you cannot, the numbering is decoration.

What should NOT be on the copy that leaves your shop

Two things.

Your cost. What you are paying the karigar is your business. If the bill shows both the customer price and the stitching cost, you have printed your margin and handed it to somebody.

Internal notes. "Customer is difficult", "check cloth carefully", "chase for balance" — real and useful, and never on the customer's copy. Keep them where only your staff can see them.

This is the same principle behind sending karigars a job sheet rather than a photograph of the bill, which is covered in managing karigars without arguments.

Paper, WhatsApp, or both

Paper still wins at the counter — a customer wants something in their hand, and older customers particularly do. But paper alone has a failure mode every shop knows: it goes through the wash.

Sending a link the customer can open on their own phone solves it. They lose the paper, they still have the bill. They forget the delivery date, it is in their WhatsApp. And it costs you nothing to send.

Do both. Print for the counter, send the link as they leave.

Four habits worth more than any software

None of these need a system. Do them tomorrow.

• Never write a bill without a mobile number. Not once. It is how you chase the balance and how you tell two customers apart.
• Read the delivery date out loud as you write it. Confirmed dates are not disputed.
• Total, advance, balance — every time, even when the balance is zero.
• One book at a time. Two books in use is how numbers get duplicated.

How Silai Khata does it

Silai Khata — سلائی کھاتا, the stitching account book — writes all eleven items by default, because the form does not let you skip them. The numbering carries your own prefix and counts up on its own. The advance and the balance calculate as you type. The customer gets a printed copy on your letterhead and a link on WhatsApp, in Urdu or English, whichever they read.

And the karigar gets a separate job sheet with the stitching on it and no price anywhere near it.

If you are still deciding whether a system is worth it at all, the complete guide to tailor shop software in Pakistan lays out the questions to ask. Or see what it costs.