Reports the results of a study undertaken to determine the technical and economic feasibility of improving the state‐of‐the‐art in marker making systems for the apparel industry. The study concentrates on three primary areas: an assessment of the current state of the art in marker making software; an extensive literature search; analysis of the cutting stock problem and its application to the marker making problem; and other approaches to solving the marker making problem. Explores the economic viability of increasing marker making automation. Conclusions and recommendations are presented.