> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.garmentflow.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Master catalogs

> The reference catalogs every BOM, cost sheet, purchase order, vendor record, and parcel log draws on — fabrics, accessories, colors, body parts, units, the two category lists, plus currencies and couriers — and the AI-assisted Translate that keeps each record bilingual.

GarmentFlow keeps your shared reference data — the fabrics, accessories, colors,
body parts, units, and categories your
<Tooltip tip="The reusable product record that owns the BOM, cost sheet, and manufacturing orders.">[styles](/reference/glossary#style)</Tooltip>
are built from — under a single **Masters** area so every
<Tooltip tip="The bill of materials — the list of fabrics and trims a style is made from.">[BOM](/reference/glossary#bom-bill-of-materials)</Tooltip>,
<Tooltip tip="The costing breakdown for a style, used for quoting and margin analysis.">[cost sheet](/reference/glossary#cost-sheet)</Tooltip>,
and
<Tooltip tip="A purchase order sent to a supplier for fabric or trims.">[purchase order](/reference/glossary#po-purchase-order)</Tooltip>
downstream draws on the same records, not on free-text descriptions that drift
from one document to the next.

Each catalog is small on its own; what they share is the role they play. A
fabric named on a BOM is the same record a PO buys from. A color picked into a
<Tooltip tip="A specific color or color combination that a style is produced in.">[colorway](/reference/glossary#colorway)</Tooltip>
is the same one a customer sees on the quotation. A unit set against a
fabric is the unit the cost sheet quotes in. Get the catalogs right once and the
records flow through every downstream document.

<Frame caption="Watch how materials defined once in the master catalogs get reused across every BOM, cost sheet, and purchase order.">
  <iframe className="w-full aspect-video rounded-xl" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E2t3k48dzCo" title="GarmentFlow: define your materials once, reuse them everywhere" frameBorder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowFullScreen />
</Frame>

## What master catalogs are

The platform holds nine master catalogs:

* **Fabrics** — your fabric items, with mill, category, unit, and lead time.
* **Accessories** — your trims and accessories, with supplier, category, unit, and lead time.
* **Colors** — your shared color list.
* **Body Parts** — the curated list of garment body parts your team aligns on.
* **Units of Measure** — the units quantities are recorded in.
* **Fabric Categories** — how fabrics are grouped (woven, knit, denim, and similar).
* **Accessory Categories** — how accessories are grouped (buttons, zippers, labels, and similar).
* **Currencies** — the list of currencies you tag vendors with.
* **Couriers** — the list of express companies you tag on the Parcel Log.

The first seven are reached through the **Masters** hub: each catalog opens to
a list with **Search**, a **Show inactive** toggle, an **Add** button to create
a new record, and per-row **Edit** and remove actions. Cross-cutting behavior —
the **Translate** action that keeps a record bilingual, and how Deactivate and
the **X** icon work — sits at the foot of this page. **Currencies** and
**Couriers** are tenant-scoped lists too, but they ship with sensible defaults
out of the box and do not yet have a Masters-hub editor; your administrator can
adjust them if your team needs different entries.

Set the catalogs up before your first style. The
[setup sequence](/admin/setting-up-your-tenant#configuring-master-catalogs) walks
through the right order — units and colors before vendors, vendors before
materials — and the [Data Import wizard](/admin/importing-master-data) loads any
of them in bulk.

## Fabrics

The fabric record is the canonical entry for each fabric you source. Visible on
the Create and Edit screens:

* `Item No.` — your identifier for the fabric.
* `Name` — the record's display name, kept as the original single-language string for older imports.
* `Name (English)` and `Name (Chinese)` — the bilingual name pair; each is optional individually (see [Bilingual names and translation](#bilingual-names-and-translation)).
* `Vendor` — the fabric mill this item buys from; set up your vendor list before adding fabrics by hand.
* `Category` — one entry from **Fabric Categories**.
* `Unit` — one entry from **Units of Measure**.
* `Weave` — free text, such as plain, twill, or interlock.
* `Lead Time (days)` — the supplier's quoted lead time, in days.

A fabric record feeds the [BOM](/modules/bom)'s fabric lines (which pick from
this catalog), the [cost sheet](/modules/cost-sheet) (via **Copy from BOM**),
fabric purchase orders (vendor, item number, lead time, and the unit cost
captured at BOM approval), and the on-hand fabric stock list.

The fabric record also carries spreadsheet-level fields — width, GSM, MOQ, the
standard cost, and similar — that you load through the bulk import rather than
the on-screen form. For the full list see
[Importing master data](/admin/importing-master-data#columns-by-entity).

## Accessories

The accessory record has the same shape as a fabric, minus `Weave`:

* `Item No.` — your identifier for the accessory.
* `Name` — the display name; same legacy/bilingual role as on a fabric.
* `Name (English)` and `Name (Chinese)` — the bilingual name pair.
* `Vendor` — the accessory supplier.
* `Category` — one entry from **Accessory Categories**.
* `Unit` — one entry from **Units of Measure**.
* `Lead Time (days)` — the supplier's quoted lead time, in days.

An accessory record feeds the [BOM](/modules/bom)'s accessory lines, the
[cost sheet](/modules/cost-sheet) (via **Copy from BOM**), trim and accessory
purchase orders, trim submissions, and inventory.

## Colors

The colors catalog is the shared color list — **the tenant colour palette**
your styles' colorways are built from. Each row carries:

* `Code` — your color code.
* `Name (English)` — required.
* `Name (Chinese)` — optional.

Colors feed each style's colorway list, the BOM line's **Body colorway**
entries, and the customer-facing colorway listings on quotations, PIs, and
orders. A color you no longer offer can be deactivated without disturbing the
colorways that already named it.

### The colour picker on style and order modals

Wherever a user picks a colour for a style today, the **Colorways** picker
reads from this catalog. Existing palette entries appear as chips you select
from, and an inline **+ Add colour** affordance lets you add a new colour
without leaving the form: type the new name and an optional code, click "Add
colour", and the entry is saved to this catalog and selected on the style in
one step. The palette grows from real use, and two coordinators picking the
same colour name on different styles land on the same row instead of
creating two free-text duplicates.

The picker is on the **Create style** form and on the order's **Add style**,
**Add color**, and **Edit color** modals — every place a user picks a colour
*onto* a style for the first time, or replaces one on an order.

Two surfaces still take colours as free text rather than through the picker:

* The **Colorways** card on the style detail page is the editor for the
  per-colorway hex value, optional Pantone reference, display order, and
  per-colorway thumbnail. Those fields are not on the palette, so editing
  there is by hand. A colorway added on this card is a per-style record
  rather than a palette pick.
* The colour rows shown on a [quotation](/modules/quotations) read as text
  labels carried in from the upstream style and order, not as picker
  selections.

Both keep working alongside the palette. New colour selection lands in this
catalog whenever the picker is in play.

## Body Parts

The Body Parts catalog is the shared reference list of garment body parts —
front, back, sleeve, and similar — that your team aligns on. Each row carries:

* `Code` — the body part code (e.g. `FRONT`, `BACK`, `SLEEVE`).
* `Name (English)` — required.
* `Name (Chinese)` — optional.

The catalog stands as the curated vocabulary the workspace builds around. The
BOM line's `Body part` field is a free-text input today
([BOM — Lines](/modules/bom#lines-identity-and-display)); the catalog is the
list your team types from.

## Units of Measure

The units catalog is the small list of measures every quantity field reads:

* `Code` — the unit code, such as `YDS`, `MTR`, `PCS`, or `KGS`.
* `Description` — free-text description of the unit. Optional.

Units feed every quantity field in the system: the [BOM](/modules/bom) line's
`Unit` and `Qty per piece`, the [cost sheet](/modules/cost-sheet)'s `Unit` and
`Purchase unit`, the fabric and accessory record's default `Unit`, purchase-order
quantities, and inventory.

## Fabric Categories

The fabric categories catalog groups your fabrics into a small set your team
uses to navigate them:

* `Code` — the category code, such as `WOVEN`, `KNIT`, or `DENIM`.
* `Description` — free-text description. Optional.

A fabric record requires a category, so the categories you use should exist
before you create fabrics by hand. The bulk import is more forgiving: a fabric
row that names a category code not yet in the catalog mints the category on the
fly, so you don't have to pre-create the list when you onboard
([Importing master data — Minted on reference](/admin/importing-master-data#minted-on-reference)).

## Accessory Categories

The accessory categories catalog plays the same role for trims and accessories:

* `Code` — the category code, such as `BUTTON`, `ZIPPER`, or `LABEL`.
* `Description` — free-text description. Optional.

Same auto-mint behavior on import.

## Currencies

The currencies catalog is the per-tenant list of currencies you can tag a
vendor with — the values that fill the `Currency` dropdown when you create or
edit a [vendor](/admin/vendors#currency) record. Each row carries:

* `Code` — the ISO currency code, such as `USD`, `TWD`, `EUR`, `CNY`, or
  `JPY`. Stored on the vendor's `Currency` field.
* `Name (English)` — the spelled-out currency name (for example, `US Dollar`,
  `New Taiwan Dollar`).
* `Name (Chinese)` — the Chinese-language name (for example, `美元`, `新台幣`).
  Optional.

The dropdown shows the `Code` next to the English or Chinese name depending on
the user's language; the value stored on the vendor is always the `Code`.

A workspace ships with a baseline list — `USD`, `TWD`, `EUR`, `CNY`, and `JPY`
— and your administrator may extend it if you trade in further currencies. A
row you no longer use can be deactivated without disturbing the vendors already
tagged with it.

The currencies catalog is **separate from foreign exchange**. It fills the
vendor billing-currency dropdown and nothing else: the
[FX rate table](/admin/fx-rates) carries its own
[managed currencies](/admin/fx-rates#managed-currencies) list, the
[workspace base currency](/admin/workspace-settings#company-info) is set when
your account is provisioned, and the currency on a
[vendor invoice](/modules/invoices) reads off the originating document. The
currencies catalog does not feed any of them. See
[Foreign exchange](/modules/foreign-exchange) for how multi-currency money
actually flows, and [Finance ledger](/concepts/finance-ledger) for how base and
foreign currencies sit alongside each other in reporting.

## Couriers

The couriers catalog is the per-tenant list of express companies you can tag on
the **Parcel Log** — the values that fill the `Express company` dropdown when
you record an inbound or outbound parcel (see
[Shipments](/modules/shipments) for the related shipment-level fields). Each
row carries:

* `Code` — the courier code, such as `DHL`, `FedEx`, `SF Express`, or `UPS`.
  Stored on the parcel log's `Express company` field.
* `Name (English)` — the spelled-out courier name.
* `Name (Chinese)` — the Chinese-language name (for example, `順豐` for SF
  Express, `郵局` for the local post office). Optional.

A workspace ships with a baseline list — `DHL`, `FedEx`, `SF Express`, `UPS`,
`TNT`, the local post office, and `Other` — and your administrator may adjust
it to match the carriers your team actually uses.

## Bilingual names and translation

GarmentFlow keeps two equivalent names side by side on every master that
travels through customer-facing documents, so the same record reads correctly to
an English-speaking buyer and a Chinese-speaking factory — without anyone
re-keying it on the other side. **Fabrics**, **Accessories**, **Colors**, and
**Body Parts** all carry the bilingual pair today.

**The plain `Name` field — on Fabrics and Accessories — is the original
single-language name** the record was created or imported with, kept on the
record so older entries still display the way your team has always seen them.
`Name (English)` and `Name (Chinese)` are the bilingual pair you fill in when
you have both languages. Each side is optional on its own — a record can carry
one language to begin with — and you can fill the other side later.

**Translate fills the missing language for you.** Open a Fabric or an Accessory
in **Edit** mode and a **Translate** button sits on each of the two language
fields: click it, and GarmentFlow's translation assistant drafts the equivalent
name and inserts it into the field as an editable draft. The drafted name lands
in the field directly so you can review, tweak, and save it in one motion. You
stay in control of the wording; the assistant takes the typing off your hands.

The Translate hint says it plainly: *"Translate fills the missing language as
an editable draft — review and correct it before it is used in customer
documents."* The point is not that the AI is unreliable — it is that **you**
sign off on what goes out under your name. A record can go bilingual in one
click; the review keeps the words yours.

Translate is on Fabrics and Accessories. **Colors**, **Body Parts**,
**Currencies**, and **Couriers** also carry the bilingual pair, but you fill
them by hand — they are short, curated lists you only edit a handful of times.

Wherever a master appears on a customer-facing document — the
[cost sheet's audience-tailored exports](/modules/cost-sheet#effect-of-changes),
the BOM as displayed on a PO, the colorway list on a quotation — the bilingual
name is what flows through. The cost-sheet export, for example, can be
downloaded with English or Chinese column labels for the factory and internal
audiences; the values you saved stay as you entered them, and the language
toggle picks which side reads.

## Active and inactive

Every catalog row has an active/inactive state, so you can prune a list without
disturbing the documents that already named a row.

* **Deactivate** hides a row from future selections, with a confirmation prompt.
  A deactivated row shows an **Inactive** badge under the **Show inactive**
  toggle, and **Reactivate** brings it back into the selection list.
* The **X** icon next to a row removes it from the list.

In both cases, records that already captured this row's identity — a
BOM line's captured supplier, item number, and lead time at approval; a cost
sheet's captured supplier and item code at **Copy from BOM**; a PO line's
captured unit price — keep their captured copies. Historical documents still
read correctly; the catalog change applies to future picks.

## Related pages

* [Setting up your tenant](/admin/setting-up-your-tenant)
* [Importing master data](/admin/importing-master-data)
* [BOM](/modules/bom)
* [Cost Sheet](/modules/cost-sheet)
* [Workspace settings](/admin/workspace-settings)