Created over 20 years ago, Kariban offers a diversified range of clothing through its own brands for clients to personalize, as well as a range of teamwear, headwear and luggage for a professional clientele of promotional item resellers, professional uniform suppliers, screen printers, embroiderers and advertising agencies. The Kariban brand, whose product offer started with a single rugby shirt, today manages nearly 20,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) and 1,400 styles. Kariban’s design and management teams operate from Toulouse, France. Manufacturing is outsourced to Asia, mainly taking place in Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey.
In an extremely competitive promotional market, streamlining and modernizing the product design and development process became imperative. Kariban’s development phase was particularly time-consuming and slowed down by erratic sample management. Between demand and production, it could take four to six months. Kariban’s distribution activity involved handling a large volume of inventory and referrals, which was extremely complex and slow with the Product Data Management (PDM) tool they had in place. The PDM system was disconnected from other information systems, requiring reentry of the same data set in different tools with the risk of making cascading errors. The brand set out to find a PLM solution that would allow it to synchronize all stages of the product and collection lifecycle.
“The fashion world is moving fast,” explains Laurent Marceau, Managing Director at TOPTEX Group / Kariban. “Faced with increased competition, it is essential to continue to modernize our work tools to gain performance. We must always be one step ahead.”
Kariban Executives conducted a large market study and tested three PLM solutions. According to Nizam Deepooa, Technical and Quality Director at TOPTEX Group / Kariban, Centric Lifestyle PLM was selected for its capabilities and references in the distribution and fast fashion sector.
“Centric offers very flexible configuration,” says Olivier Labourel, Director of Information Systems at TOPTEX Group / Kariban. “The solution covers the entire value chain from source to final product and will allow us to link our ERP tool and PIM system. This global and open solution perfectly meets our needs.”
“Centric PLM will encourage exchanges between employees and suppliers around design, product development, supply and production, in particular thanks to Centric’s mobile applications, which are very useful on our many trips,” adds Marceau. “Finally, the system strengthens our employer brand with the most competent employees, by offering them an intuitive and innovative working interface in which they can easily find their brands and work comfortably.”
“We are delighted that Kariban has chosen to partner with Centric,” says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “This leading promotional clothing brand was looking for a robust solution capable of following the changes and rhythm of the fashion market in order to manage all aspects of its supply, design and manufacturing chain on a large scale with extreme precision. With Centric PLM, Kariban is on track to achieve its ambitions and prepare for future growth, while offering its clients quality products at an ever-faster pace.”
