Carhartt has selected Centric Software to provide its product lifecycle management (PLM) solution. Centric Software is the leading PLM solution for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor, and consumer goods companies.
Deb Ferraro, Vice President of Product Development at Carhartt, explains that Carhartt’s growth led to increased complexity in its global operations causing the company to look for an effective PLM solution.
“Like most of our competitors, our manufacturing mix has grown to include overseas production. The key difference between Carhartt and many other manufacturers in our category, is that we have always manufactured here in the U.S. since our founding in 1889,” said Ferraro. “Prior to Centric, we had a product data management system that was outdated, and it couldn’t provide us with what we needed. Like many other brands, our main challenge is to get to market sooner.
“We needed better information to help us make decisions about what should be in our lines,” Ferraro added.
“Our old system helped with our product specifications, but we didn’t have one location with all the information about each product. Our fabric specs were housed in one place, our garment specs were housed in another place, and the line plan architecture was stored elsewhere. We needed a single source for the truth.”
After considering offerings from several other vendors, Carhartt selected Centric. As Ferraro explains, “We looked at other software solutions, and some catered more to production; others more to retailers. Centric supports brands similar to ours, which was an important factor. The user-friendliness, intuitiveness of the software, and the fact that the user community has an influence on new areas of development was crucial in our decision-making process.”
“We look forward to moving closer to market with better data to guide us on the season. We don’t just want to reduce the time it takes to get to market, but we want to eliminate multiple entries of the same information. We really expect that this will help us monitor our quality, not only in development, but also in production.”
“Carhartt is renowned for producing high-quality workwear, and we are thrilled to be part of their continued growth and development as a brand,” said Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “Carhartt has a long and proud history, and we will partner with them to innovate and bring development and production in line with the most up-to-date best practices in the apparel industry.”
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