Brands & Suppliers

The brand and supplier directory. Every product is tied to a brand; every brand is tied to a supplier (or sometimes multiple). This page is where they’re set up.

The shape of the data

ThreadCloud uses a graph model under the hood:

• Party — generic entity (a brand, a supplier, an agent)
• PartyRole — what role(s) the party plays (Brand, Supplier, Agent)
• Mandate — “Supplier X reps Brand Y in Territory Z”

For day-to-day use, you’ll just see Brands and Suppliers. The graph runs underneath.

Adding a brand

1. Settings → Brands & Suppliers → Brands tab

2. Click New Brand

3. Fill in:

   • Name (the brand name as shown on the storefront)
   • Brand code (2–4 char prefix used in SKUs, e.g. “LRD” for Lardini — must be unique across the store)
   • Country of origin (optional, but enables auto-fill in Enrich)
   • Default markup (% used to compute retail from cost — typically 2.4x for most menswear)
   • Brand voice override (optional — overrides the global brand voice for descriptions of this brand only)

4. Click Create

Brand codes

The brand code is a 2–4 char prefix that goes into every SKU for the brand. Pick well — changing it later requires re-stamping every SKU.

Good codes: short, distinctive, capitalized.

• ✅ LRD (Lardini)
• ✅ DRK (Drake’s)
• ✅ KIT (Kiton)
• ❌ LARD (too long — eats SKU space)
• ❌ L (too short — collisions)
• ❌ 1 (numeric — confusing)

If the code you want collides with an existing brand, the system suggests an alternative.

Adding a supplier

1. Settings → Brands & Suppliers → Suppliers tab
2. Click New Supplier
3. Fill in:
   • Name (the legal/billing name)
   • Contact email (where supplier ack links and POs go)
   • Default currency (EUR / USD / GBP / etc.)
   • Default delivery lead time (weeks)
   • Brands they rep (multi-select)
4. Click Create

Linking brands to suppliers

A brand can have multiple suppliers (e.g. one for North America, one for Europe). Set this up via mandates:

1. Open the brand
2. Click Mandates
3. Click New Mandate
4. Pick supplier + territory (or “all territories”)
5. Save

For day-to-day use, you’ll almost always have one supplier per brand. The graph supports more if you need it.

MTM brand recipes

If a brand offers MTM (Made-to-Measure), you need a recipe. The recipe defines:

• Available fabrics — code, composition, mill, lead time, swatch image, retail markup
• Available options — lapel styles, vents, lining, etc. (constrained to what the supplier actually offers)
• Measurement fields required — for this brand’s MTM
• Deposit % (typically 50%)

To set up an MTM recipe:

1. Open the brand
2. Click the MTM tab
3. Toggle “Offers MTM” on
4. Click Import Fabric Library — upload the supplier’s fabric CSV (format documented when you first import)
5. Configure available options (lapel / vents / lining / etc.)
6. Save

Once saved, the brand becomes available in the MTM workflow.

Editing existing brands & suppliers

Open the brand or supplier → make changes → save. Most fields can be changed freely. Exceptions:

• Brand code — changing this requires re-stamping every SKU of every product from that brand. Email hello@threadcloud.io before changing — this is a sensitive operation.
• Default currency on supplier — only affects future orders. Existing orders keep their original currency.

Archiving

If you stop carrying a brand:

1. Open the brand
2. Click Archive
3. Confirms — the brand stops appearing in dropdowns but existing products stay searchable
4. To resurrect later: click Unarchive

Common mistakes

Next steps

• Build Order — order from a configured brand
• MTM — create an MTM order against a brand recipe