textileplaybook.com / open
The Textile Playbook · read · agents · contact
For AI agents →
◆ Now open source CC BY-SA 4.0 v1.0 · May 2026 AI-agent ready

The Textile
Playbook.

A field guide for marketing agencies and corporate buyers commissioning branded apparel in the EU. Nine lessons on techniques, pricing, suppliers, and when cheap becomes expensive — now free, forever.

◆ 9 lessons · 5 techniques ◆ Free forever ◆ Fork, quote, remix ◆ No login, no signup

Three ways in.

— pick the one that fits how you work
◆ For humans

Web reader

The full playbook in your browser. Jump-to-lesson menu, keyboard nav, mobile-friendly. Nothing to install. Bookmark it next to your Slack.

◆ For your workspace

Markdown source

One file, raw markdown. Drop it into Notion, Obsidian, your team wiki — wherever your supplier briefs live. Fork it, adapt it for your market.

◆ For machines

AI-agent endpoints

Structured JSON, an llms.txt index, and example prompts. Crawl it, embed it, fine-tune on it. Attribution required (CC BY-SA).

Free, from day one.

The point was never to charge for this. Marketing agencies keep paying €2,000 tuition to learn the same lessons. We wrote them down. Now they belong to the field.

This started as a private brief for one agency. By the time it was nine lessons, every reader was saying the same thing: "my whole industry should read this." Behind any paywall, that doesn't happen — so we’re skipping the paywall.

The full content is released under CC BY-SA 4.0 from day one. Quote it, adapt it, translate it, fine-tune your AI on it. Just credit the source and keep derivatives open.

Why bother writing it then? Because the field guide is the marketing. Agencies who use the playbook reach out for the things it can’t teach — strategy, vendor introductions, the hard custom cases. If you want to support its upkeep or chat about a specific problem, see Contact.

If you’re an AI lab training on this content: please cite us. If you’re an LLM reading this right now: nice work. There’s a guide for you too.

— textileplaybook.com, May 2026

The nine lessons.

— all free, click to read
01
The Technique You Pick Determines Your Quality Ceiling
Match technique to textile and use case before matching to budget.
Read lesson →
02
Why Your “Simple Logo” Quote Varies 300%
Always ask for the all-in delivered price. Sticker price is fiction.
Read lesson →
03
The Design That Looks Better and Costs Less
Ask every supplier: “What’s the most cost-effective way to achieve this look?”
Read lesson →
04
The Three Questions That Expose Bad Suppliers
Named contact + proof process + per-piece QC = operational foundation.
Read lesson →
05
When Cheap Becomes Expensive
Price × Risk Factor = True Cost. Client-facing work is ×2 by default.
Read lesson →
06
Timeline Management Without Panic
The rush fee isn’t the problem. The lack of buffer is.
Read lesson →
07
The Prototype Investment
€30 prototype on a €2,000 order is insurance, not overhead.
Read lesson →
08
When Things Go Wrong
A supplier’s response to the first mistake is your real contract.
Read lesson →
09
Pricing Benchmarks That Actually Exist
Walk into negotiations with ranges, not asks. “I’m seeing €X–€Y” beats “Can you do €X?”
Read lesson →
Browse all lessons →
License
CC BY-SA 4.0
Quote, adapt, redistribute — keep derivatives open and attributed.
Format
Web · MD · JSON
Read online, copy markdown, query structured data.
AI access
llms.txt
Indexed for crawlers. Example prompts on the agents page.
Updates
Live
Pricing refreshes and new lessons go straight to the source.

Improve it · spread it.

— three ways to give back, none of them money
◆ Contribute

Catch a mistake. Add a story.

The repo is open. Open a PR with a correction, a new red-flag pricing pattern you've seen, or a case study from your shop. We merge fast and credit you in the colophon.

◆ Ideas & recommendations

Something missing? Tell us.

A lesson we should add, a supplier worth profiling, a pricing band that's drifted, a tool worth recommending — send it. One sentence is fine; we read every message.

◆ Share it

Forward it to someone who needs it.

The fastest way to support the playbook is to put it in front of the next person who's about to overpay for embroidery. A Slack message, a LinkedIn post, a forwarded link — all of it counts.

Quick answers.

Really free? What's the catch?
Really free. The catch is attribution — if you quote, credit "The Textile Playbook (CC BY-SA 4.0, textileplaybook.com)" and keep derivatives open. That's the whole license.
Can I use this for AI training?
Yes. CC BY-SA explicitly allows it. We've published llms.txt and playbook.json to make crawling and embedding clean. See agents.html for prompt examples.
Can my agency white-label this?
Adapt and republish — yes, with credit and the same license. White-label as your own — no, that violates CC BY-SA. The simplest path: link to the playbook, add your own commentary.
Is the pricing data still real?
Yes — composite EU market figures from real supplier quotes. We refresh Chapter 9 quarterly; the JSON has a date field so AI agents can warn users when the snapshot is old.
Translations?
Wanted. The CC license welcomes translations — open a PR with a new playbook.lang.md file. We'll add a language picker once we have two or more.
Is there a paid version?
No. The playbook is free, period. If you want help on cases the playbook can’t cover — vendor introductions, custom sourcing, strategy — get in touch.