cfab — formerly Creamy Fabrics — is a German intimate apparel brand specializing in bodysuits, shapewear, bras, and underwear. In just two years, the company built strong market recognition in Germany.
“One in four people in Germany know who we are, whereas across the rest of Europe, that’s not the case,” pointed out Ronan Dallender, who leads affiliate and influencer operations at cfab.
Turning that domestic brand awareness into an international creator program required tools that could match the brand’s ambition.
What challenge did cfab face while scaling their creator program?
Ronan brought 15 years of traditional affiliate experience to cfab. He quickly identified a gap in the way the creator channel was managed.
The team could see overall channel performance — total referrals and total revenue — but couldn’t drill down to individual creators. Who was growing? Who was dropping off? The data existed, but it wasn’t accessible at the level cfab needed.
“We can see the channel overall, but we can’t see on an influencer level,” Ronan explained. “We would like to identify who’s growing, who’s dropping off on an individual level.”
This gap forced Ronan’s team to export raw data and build internal dashboards manually. With 2,000 affiliates in the system and international expansion on the horizon, that workaround wasn’t sustainable.
Why did cfab choose UpPromote over more expensive alternatives?
Ronan evaluated several all-in-one influencer platforms — Modash, Upfluence, and Influencity — to see if a single tool could handle sourcing, tracking, and reporting.
All three came with a significantly higher price tag. UpPromote’s Enterprise plan delivered the core tracking and management features at $100 per month.
“The price for those is much different to the price that we’re paying for the app,” Ronan noted. “As it stands, we’re going to stay with UpPromote because the price is good.”
But cost wasn’t the only factor.
UpPromote assigned a dedicated customer business manager for bi-weekly calls and built custom features for cfab, including an individual affiliate filter in the analytics dashboard that directly addressed their primary pain point.
How did cfab build data-driven affiliate management at scale?
Ronan’s core philosophy: all the data already lives inside UpPromote. The team just needs better ways to access and act on it. Three systems made that possible.
Individual-level performance tracking
The single most requested feature from cfab was the ability to chart individual affiliate performance — not just channel totals.
UpPromote’s development team built a custom analytics filter specifically for cfab. Ronan can now select individual creators or groups (top 50, mid-tier, long-tail) and see their performance charted over time.
“All of the data is here and so we just want to be able to drill down on this data,” Ronan shared. The feature eliminated the need for the internal dashboard his team had been building from exported CSV files.
Tiered bonus designed to protect margins
cfab wanted to incentivize mid-tier creators to push for more sales but without letting costs spiral out of control.
Ronan designed a non-cumulative tiered bonus structure: creators earn escalating bonuses at milestones (50 sales, 100 sales, 200 sales), but only receive the single highest tier they reach. If the system auto-stacked all bonus levels, cfab would lose money on every top performer.
“If they hit 200 orders, they just get the 200-order bonus — not the 50 plus the 100 plus the 200,” Ronan explained.
UpPromote configured this non-cumulative logic specifically for cfab, keeping the incentive structure aggressive for creators while protecting the brand’s unit economics.
API and webhooks for cross-department workflows
cfab’s use of UpPromote extends beyond the marketing team. Ronan connected UpPromote’s API and webhooks to multiple internal systems.
The finance team pulls payout data directly from the API. Live webhook updates feed status changes into the team’s operational workflow. Ronan built a Google Sheets reporting layer on top of the raw data for affiliate-level analysis.
One specific automation stands out: Ronan uses the API to automatically reject negative commissions triggered by customer refunds.
When a customer returns a product, the system would normally claw back the creator’s commission, but cfab absorbs that cost to keep creators whole.
“Essentially what we’re doing is building this internally from the raw data,” Ronan explained. The approach protects creator earnings while giving cfab’s finance team clean, automated reporting.
How did cfab expand their creator program across three markets?
Scaling from Germany to the US and Europe is an ongoing process, not yet finished. cfab built the structure for multi-market operations, though some technical challenges (currency display, payment processing) remain unresolved.
Country-specific programs from a single Shopify store
cfab runs a single Shopify Plus store but serves customers across Germany, the US, France, and the Netherlands. Instead of managing all creators in a single program, Ronan created separate programs for each country.
Each program has its own commission structure, communication flow, and community link. “We want to try and keep things consistent so that we have the same reporting and consistency across all markets,” Ronan emphasized.
The US program launched in early 2026 with around 60 active creators.
However, the expansion hit practical friction: US-based creators see Euro-denominated dashboards, and PayPal fees cut into commission payouts more than expected.
UpPromote supported cfab through these issues, including temporary banner notifications on affiliate dashboards while a permanent currency solution is built.
Product seeding through free gifting
For new product launches, cfab used UpPromote’s free gifting feature to distribute products to creators at scale.
In one campaign, they sent free products to 182 creators. Of those, 92 claimed the gift – a conversion rate above 50%. The process replaces the need to build dedicated pre-sale pages on Shopify.
“We would rather use UpPromote to do the inviting and the sending,” Ronan noted. Creators receive the product with no mandatory posting requirements — cfab relies on authentic, voluntary content creation.
Creator onboarding: from registration form to Discord community
The onboarding funnel starts with UpPromote’s registration form, where prospective creators apply to join cfab’s affiliate program.
Ronan customized the form to require a phone number, which was a deliberate choice to enable community invitations from day one.
Once approved, creators receive an email containing a Discord invitation link. As the network grew past 2,000, managing individual WhatsApp conversations had become unsustainable – Discord replaced that model entirely.
“What we want is everyone to be in one community. We want them to help each other,” Ronan shared. Each country program links to its own Discord channel, keeping communication organized by market.
The result is a clean pipeline: registration form → approval → Discord community — with no manual steps between signup and community access.
What results has cfab achieved with their creator program?
cfab’s affiliate program has generated over $1.4 million in revenue and 25,000+ referral orders — driven by a network of 2,000+ creators across three markets.
The program’s top performer — a creator named Lily — generated €90,000 in affiliate-driven sales on her own. “It’s insane,” Ronan confirmed while reviewing her dashboard during a check-in call.
Product seeding proved highly effective. Out of 182 creators invited, 92 claimed the free gifting offer — a 50% conversion rate that fuels authentic content creation without scripts or forced partnerships.
The program is also expanding geographically. cfab launched dedicated programs in the US, France, and the Netherlands, with the infrastructure in place to scale further once currency and payment challenges in non-Euro markets are resolved.
Key Takeaways for Merchants
Evaluate influencer platforms on price-to-value, not feature count. cfab found that UpPromote’s Enterprise plan delivered core tracking and management at a fraction of the cost of all-in-one influencer platforms like Modash and Upfluence.
Design non-cumulative tiered bonuses to incentivize without overspending. cfab’s creators earn only the single highest bonus tier they reach — not a stack of all tiers. This keeps incentives aggressive while protecting margins.
Use the API to auto-reject negative commissions from refunds. cfab absorbs return costs so creators always receive full earnings for their original referrals — a retention strategy that keeps top performers loyal.
Use country-specific programs to scale internationally from one Shopify store. cfab created separate programs per market, each with its own commission structure and community, though currency and payment challenges in non-Euro markets required ongoing iteration.
Use UpPromote’s free gifting feature for product launches at scale. cfab achieved a 50% claim rate by inviting 182 creators to receive free products — no mandatory content required.
Ellie Tran, a seasoned SEO content writer with three years of experience in the eCommerce world. Being a part of the UpPromote team, Ellie wants to assist Shopify merchants in achieving success through useful content & actionable insights. Ellie's commitment to learning never stops; she's always eager to gain more knowledge about SEO and content marketing to create valuable content for users. When she's not working on content, Ellie enjoys baking and exploring new places.
