Kering Eyewear, formed in 2014, is an innovative venture within the Kering Group developing eyewear for 12 of the group’s brands. With the recent announcement of a strategic partnership with Maison Cartier for development, manufacturing and the worldwide distribution of the Cartier Eyewear collection, Kering Eyewear is entering an exciting new phase of development.
Kering Eyewear had been relying on a homegrown PDM system to handle the design and development of its eyewear collections, but found that the company needed a solution that could manage the growing complexity of eyewear development and enable wider collaboration between different departments and suppliers.
The company realized they needed a solution that would not just hold and circulate information about a product – they needed a solution that would also enable all of the steps of design and product development up to final approval for production. They wanted to keep track of the development of each product, but also to get a high-level view of different brands and the overall development of all the collections in Kering Eyewear, which happen season by season.
Because the eyewear industry is quite unique, as it combines elements of both fashion and hard goods manufacturing, Kering Eyewear needed to find a PLM solution that was set up specifically for fashion, but could be flexible enough to handle the traditional manufacturing elements of eyewear production. Its basic requirement was to find a solution that could handle the eyewear development process but at the same time be adaptable and smart enough to support their very fast and productive way of working.
Following a short PLM system selection process and strong industry recommendations, Kering Eyewear selected Centric Software. Its core team is based in Padova, Italy, but Kering Eyewear also has teams in Asia and the UK.
“With Centric Software we have found a partner that is able to understand the complexity of eyewear and support it,” explains Daniel Bellini, Global Head of IT and Planning at Kering Eyewear. “At the moment, we have increasing information going back and forth in a partially unstructured way. It will be very important for us to have a quick overview of the collection, a dashboard where we can understand if there is any issue with a specific brand, or risks that are delaying the development of particular styles. We also expect a benefit in terms of support of our growth.”
Eyewear is a new departure for Centric Software and Kering Eyewear emphasizes that the excellent design tool integration capabilities of Centric PLM (Adobe Integration) are crucial to a project that crosses the borders between hard goods and fashion.
“We are excited to begin an adventure in eyewear with Kering Eyewear,” says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “Eyewear is a new arena for Centric, and we are pleased that Kering Eyewear looks forward to an innovative partnership together.”
