Maison Stella & Suzie, an elegant French brand of women’s ready-to-wear clothing, has selected Centric Software’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to power their digital transformation. Centric Software® provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home décor, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Created in 2017 by Margaux Minguez Lahana, Stella & Suzie is a young & fresh ready-to-wear brand, driven by the ambition to offer a complete women’s wardrobe that mixes strong core pieces, accessories, swimwear & home wear with bohemian chic accents. At the beginning, this digitally-native brand distributed products only through their proprietary e-shop. Since then, they have established a corner at Printemps Haussmann in Paris and opened a new boutique in Toulouse.
Stella & Suzie is experiencing very strong growth and needed a comprehensive PLM solution to save time, streamline the development of their product offering and optimize the production process in order to increase product margins. After careful consideration, the company chose Centric Software, the industry leader in PLM solutions for fashion brands, both small and large. Centric’s greatest assets for Stella & Suzie included deep knowledge of the fashion industry, and similarities between other fashion brands that also use Centric to develop similar products.
Besides the clear benefits of Centric’s PLM platform, Romy André-Corbé, product manager for Maison Stella & Suzie, had already used Centric PLM in her previous positions at Naf Naf, a long-time Centric Software customer, and was already familiar with the advantages. Finally, the quality of the customer support offered by Centric was a key determining factor.
“This digital turnaround is essential. We currently have about 30 employees and should have 100 within four years. Building a solid infrastructure from the start of our growth, without waiting until it’s too late, is therefore crucial,” says Romy André-Corbé.
The style and purchasing teams will be the first to use the solution. André-Corbé points out its advantages, “Until now, we used about twenty Excel files. With Centric PLM, the style and purchasing teams will have a unified and up-to-date source of information. Our managers will be able to consult the data in a timely manner, obtain an overview of the final collection, status, prototypes, ‘OK for production’, validation of themes and colors, before entrusting communication, shootings, etc. to the marketing teams.”
She adds, “The financial teams will have direct access to the costs associated with the different collections and to the product margin calculations.”
Maison Stella & Suzie also intends to use the PLM solution to support its environmental objectives: in particular via the analysis of materials (Oeko-Tex) in order to obtain the GOATS label.
“We are delighted that Maison Stella & Suzie has chosen Centric as an ambassador for their cutting-edge and highly differentiated style,” said Chris Groves, president and CEO of Centric Software. “With Centric PLM, Stella & Suzie has taken another step in its development in France and internationally. We look forward to deepening this promising partnership.”
