The apparel industry is one of Indonesia’s top ten industries and a subset of the textile industry. Clothing is one of the fundamental human requirements. This fact promotes the expansion of companies that manufacture clothing such as t-shirts, jackets, shirts, and trousers. This business ranges from large to micro (MSMEs), including major clothing factories and home-based enterprises.

One of the crucial problems in the apparel industry is the problem of scheduling the production process. Besides supporting the smooth running of the production process, a good scheduling process will also impact resource efficiency. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can also support the apparel industry, especially on production scheduling issues. The existence of software that is easy to use and comply the needs of MSME apparel will make it easier for MSME actors to arrange production schedules so that the production process can be optimal.

This paper presents the development of APPAREL, a mobile-based software (application) prototype that can produce an apparel production processing schedule. The prototype features provided are customer management, product management, production process management, and schedule generator. The schedule generator is based on three heuristics and metaheuristics: FCFS algorithm, NEH algorithm, and Firefly Algorithm.