Superdry has selected Centric Software to provide its product lifecycle management (PLM) solution.
Superdry’s origins lie in Cult Clothing Co., which established stores in major university towns and cities across the UK after its foundation in 1985. The company opened its first Superdry store in London in 2004. The brand expanded nationwide and then globally, becoming known for cool, contemporary high street apparel. Superdry’s menswear, womenswear, footwear and accessories collections fuse vintage Americana and Japanese-inspired graphics and text with British style. Superdry now operates through 515 branded outlets in 46 countries and reported £1 billion in brand revenue across retail, wholesale and eCommerce in 2016.
Scott Robertson, head of business transformation at Superdry, explains that the company was aware of its need for a PLM system for some time.
“We’ve evolved from having two separate parts to our business, retail and wholesale,” he says. “We were almost designing two separate ranges because each timeline was very different and some products were being duplicated. About two years ago, we started consolidating the retail and wholesale ranges into a global range, reducing the total number of options we create, and putting new ways of working in place. Getting a PLM system was the next step on our roadmap to support that change.”
“We were working with Excel and email, using literally thousands of different spreadsheets. There was no single source of the truth, and people spent too much time trying to find information rather than doing value-added activities. We had no clarity, and couldn’t track how many options we were developing during product development. We knew PLM would give us visibility to streamline that process.”
As Robertson explains, “It was important for us to get a system that users actually wanted to adopt. Our selection team included a wide range of users across different departments – designers, merchandisers, category managers, garment technologists, sourcing teams, production teams – and every single one of them selected Centric as their preferred solution.”
“Superdry is focused on design detail, and obsessed with quality, fit and innovation,” continues Robertson. “Centric will help us to support these areas; we will be able to do sampling and fit reviews much more quickly and easily. Connecting with Adobe Illustrator is important, as it gives our designers the ability to collaborate more efficiently and provides visibility into the design process for category managers throughout the season.”
“One example of this is that it takes the design team up to a week to prepare for reviews because they have to print everything out and create storyboards. All of that will be accessible in PLM with the press of a button, saving them a week of effort four times a year. This will be a massive improvement, and an example of how we can invest that time back into product development, design, improving quality and attention to detail.”
“We are delighted to welcome Superdry on board as our largest customer to date in the United Kingdom ,” says Chris Groves, president and CEO of Centric Software. “Superdry are at a very exciting, forward-looking phase in their global development, and we are very pleased that they have selected Centric PLM to streamline and accelerate their product development process.”
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