The Complete Through6 Walkthrough

The world of on-demand manufacturing is big, complex and constantly evolving. Finding the right manufacturing partner can feel like a daunting task, and this article was built to help you determine if Through6 is the right partner for you. Below may not answer every question you may have, but it should help give you a good picture of how most partners work with us.

But of course if this or our other articles don't answer you're questions, we welcome you to contact us at [email protected] with your specific questions.

Setup Your Account
Designing Products
Placing Orders
Selling Products
Shipping & Fulfillment
Get Support

Setup Your Account

Whether you heard about us from a friend or a Google search, setting up your account takes moments at our Signup Page. We simply require your name, email and password, with a couple other brand details to get started. The second step of this process is a completely optional survey, you're welcome to skip once your account is setup.

If you've found Through6 via the Shopify App store, then your account will be automatically setup on install!

Once you've logged into the Through6 Portal for the first time, you will notice a handful of setup options listed. You can complete these steps at your own pace, as the tracker should is designed to help you get to the  places you need to get, when you need to get there.

It is important to note, we do not require that you add a payment method, until the time you're ready to place an actual order.

Designing Products

This is where the real fun begins. Through6 prides itself on offering hundreds of premium cut & sew styles to build your brand around. The Create Catalog includes robust navigation to help you search by department, category, type, activity and specialty collections. You may also free from type your interest into the search field if you're looking for something specific.

The largest factor to understanding about our catalog are the production methods themselves, which are split between Sublimation and Direct-to-Garment (DTG). You'll want to understand the difference between those methods. To summarize:

• Sublimation - The transfer of ink from paper to fabric through heat pressing. This process offers the most customizability as you can get crisp all-over-print graphics on every inch of fabric, as the art is transfer before the garments parts are sewn together. This process generally calls for a higher percentage of synthetic fabrics (e.g. polyester) for the highest color saturation. 
• Direct-to-Garment (DTG) - A popular alternative to screen-printing, that sprays ink directly onto a garment before being cured via a drying process. This method is usually leverages for standard graphic tees and hoodies, and supports a variety of fabric substrates - mostly notably cotton. While this production method is a staple in on-demand manufacturing, it does have limitations in specific placement of art; usually the front and back of a given garment.

At any time, if you want to learn more about a given style in our catalog, including properties, care instructions and specs (where available), you simply need to view the Style Details available in the catalog directly, or during product design.

Once you've settled on the style(s) you'd like to create, simply chose the 'stylus' icon or 'DESIGN' button shown above. You will not be in the Through6 Product Design experience, which offers both convenience and speed in realizing your products. The designer was purpose built for Through6 styles, allowing you to upload your own files, or those from our Free File Library, along with a myriad of other tools and features for creating stunning products - be sure to read about our feature tips to understand the full scope of capabilities.

Note: This design experience requires a desktop computer to operate.

Most new and popular styles will automatically created fully rendered product previews for review and use in your own eComm store. While the entire catalog supports the design canvas experience, renders are not yet available across all styles - but will be soon!

While the Product Designer should suit most concepts, we understand that some partners may require more design flexibility. If you require Illustrator/Photoshop style templates, please reach out to [email protected] to discuss more robust design options. 

Placing Orders

You now have a handful of products designed, the next step is to sample and/or sell! 

To place your first order, you'll just need to add whichever product's size to your cart. You can do this from your My Products page or within the specific product page you'd like to purchase. Once added to your cart, you'll simply need to click the cart icon in the top right corner of the screen to get to the checkout page.

At this stage, you will be able to preview your full order, make edits to quantity, confirm the shipping address and set a custom order number. All product and shipping prices will be displayed up front, as well as any taxes or fees that may be associated with your order, if applicable. If you do not have a preferred payment method on file yet, you will now be prompted to select one to proceed - we do not charge your payment method immediately.

Once you submit your order, it will enter pre-production for review and payment processing. After review, any orders on the system will be batched into a single invoice and a sales receipt will be emailed once successfully charged. You may see your complete payment history directly within the portal.

You can find your orders by searching the portal search directly, or via your dashboard. From here there are a number of options available from shipping edits, order merging, history view and cancelations. 

When your order finishes production, it will be securely packaged and shipped to the destination you original chose. Tracking information will be emailed to you, or passed to your eCommerce store, and your products should arrive in short order.

Selling Products

Now that you've received your first order, you may be ready to start selling your products. Through6 integrates with the world's largest eCommerce platforms Shopify and WooCommerce, with more platforms on the way (Etsy/Wix up next). Depending on your platform of choice, integration can be as simple as a one-click process. 

We also support both Custom API and OrderDesk integrations for those with a bit more development savvy on their teams.

Once integrated, you will unlock the option to sync your products directly to your storefront as the final step of product creation, or after the fact via the View Product page.

For the majority of our platform integrations, simply installing the app should pre-load shipping profiles that will naturally work with our system detailed below. However, it is at your discretion to edit/remove these profiles to adopt an alternative shipping strategy. We strongly advise you first understand the Through6 shipping system prior to making such adjustments.

Shipping & Fulfillment

Shipping is a straight forward flat-rate system by order weight. At the moment, this system supports standard ground services around the world. In most orders, shipping will ship USPS First Class or USPS Priority, based on weight. However, we will always attempt to ship with the fastest service available within the price range charged. Although to ensure an expedited service you will need to reach out to [email protected] to request an upgrade, which will require an adjusted charge.

All shipping costs will be charged up front and visible on your checkout page and via your sales receipts and individual invoice pages.

You may customize your packaging materials via the Shipping Fulfillment settings page, which allows upload of a small logo and return address details. The Through6 service is completely white label, and even if this information is left blank we will still use generic terminology throughout.

Get Support

Even thought this article took a minute to read, it's really just scratching the surface of all the ways to work with Through6. You should never hesitate to reach out to us for help at [email protected], or by using the Help icon found at the bottom right corner throughout the portal.

Disclaimer: The above applies to all accounts created in 2022 thru the time this article was written. Some accounts created prior may have slightly different settings and systems, based on legacy support mechanisms. If your account was created prior to 2022, any differences in service is due to the above. Feel free to reach out to support to clarify as