Centric Software® is pleased to announce that Free Fly Apparel has selected Centric PLM™ to drive go-to-market innovation and value creation. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, buy, make, price, allocate, sell and replenish products such as fashion, outdoor, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home and related goods like cosmetics & personal care as well as multi-category retail to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Free Fly Apparel was founded in 2011 and is based in Charleston, South Carolina. A family-owned business, the idea was born while Tanner Sutton was working as a fly-fishing guide and wanted a comfortable, natural, performance shirt. After years of research, the right fabric for the first product—a lightweight hoodie—was found. It is a bamboo blend that ticked all the boxes. Today, the line includes clothing for men, women and children and covers fly-fishing, surfing, sun protection and outdoor casual. Free Fly products are sold through 600+ outdoor specialty and sporting goods stores, as well as its e-comm site.
Head of Product at Free Fly, Chris Preston manages the entire product creation process including design, development, product management and inventory management. The company is going through strategic expansion, says Preston.
This is good news for the company but was pushing the limits of their legacy PLM. Says Preston, “Going from season to season in our former system required a lot of manual data entry. It’s busywork that eats up bandwidth and we need to alleviate that.”
Free Fly had already begun evaluating Centric PLM when Preston was hired. As the executive sponsor for PLM at a previous company, he was completely onboard. “We like the connectivity into other business systems like ERP’s, design platforms and 3D functionality. Centric PLM’s reporting function will provide us with invaluable insights from the data we input, giving us the ability to analyze line architecture, assortments buy plans and more, ultimately enhancing our strategic decision-making process.”
A big reason for renewing Free Fly’s tech is to streamline seasonal transitions in light of the pace of the company’s growth. Preston shares that in a recent meeting, they reviewed multiple seasonal assortments in one marathon session. He says, “The efficiencies in Centric PLM will allow us to capture any adjustments made to the current season and ensure they are carried over to future seasons. It’s the ‘puts and takes’ that come with growth, requiring a system that automates and tracks changes from season to season.”
Preston also highlights the need for a solid data management foundation, “We want information to flow seamlessly from season to season and be able to access data easily as well as quickly inform our buying, planning or merchandising teams. Right now, all that work is manual and through discussions. We will use Centric to get to a foundational point and then build out from there.”
Sustainability is another area of focus. Preston notes, “We don’t have a virtual landing place for all the fibers and fabrics in our material library right now. To be able to go into Centric PLM and see all the styles that are utilizing a recycled fabric, for example, is key.”
President of Centric Software, Fabrice Canonge says, “We are honored that Free Fly Apparel has selected us as their digital foundation technology. We eagerly anticipate the efficiencies that Free Fly will gain in data management, automation and season-to-season transition and look forward to partnering with them long into the future.”
