CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
27 July 2004
Implementation Investments
Christopher & Banks Selects Freeborders PLM Solutions to Help Grow Its Women's Wear Lines
Freeborders announced that Christopher & Banks, a specialty retailer of private-label women's fashions, will use FB Product Manager and FB Designer to speed products to market as it grows its business.
Christopher & Banks will use FB Product Manager and FB Designer as its product development infrastructure. "We anticipate that Freeborders Solutions will help us gain greater efficiencies in all aspects of the development and production cycle," said Tom Guetter, VP/CIO, Christopher & Banks.
With more than 570 stores in 43 states, Christopher & Banks offers unique casual sportswear to working women between the ages of 40 and 60 in its Christopher & Banks Stores. The company also operates C.J. Banks plus-size stores, and is slated to open approximately 160 additional stores by end of calendar 2005.
Christopher & Banks' point of differentiation in the crowded women's apparel market is its exclusively designed and coordinated assortments, which often feature novelty designs that are seasonally based.
FB Product Manager, a product development infrastructure module within Freeborders' Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) suite, enables real-time coordination among retailers, brands, and their entire supply chains, shortens the product lifecycle, and allows teams that are expanding their offerings such as Christopher & Banks to produce more lines faster.
FB Designer allows brands to draw true-to-scale, detailed line sketches with enormous speed and accuracy. Users draw, update, and distribute accurate product sketches, thereby minimizing communication and production errors and facilitating efficient product development, manufacturing, and sourcing. Additionally, FB Designer shares powerful AutoCAD images and callouts with FB Product Manager, and speeds future development 20-30% by storing and reusing items or individual components stored in its Stylebook library.
Freeborders ( http://www.freeborders.com/ ) software and services are used by over 350 brands and retailers globally, including Dillard's, DuPont, Gap, INVISTA, J. Crew, L.L. Bean, Lands' End, Liz Claiborne, Marc Jacobs, Saks, Target and Williams-Sonoma. Freeborders is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
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