INSPECS Limited Eyes Centric PLM to Achieve Their Vision

[CORE] CAMPBELL, Calif., December 14, 2021 — Centric Software® is pleased to announce that INSPECS has selected Centric PLM™ to streamline product development, improve sales collaboration and support continued business growth. Centric Software delivers innovative, integrated, end-to-end AI-powered enterprise solutions to take products from concept to commercialization. Fashion, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home, cosmetics & personal care as well as multi-category retail teams can plan, design, develop, source, comply, buy, make, price, allocate, assort, sell and replenish products to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Founded in 1988, INSPECS experienced rapid growth through acquisition and is one of the largest eyewear companies in the world. They own their supply chain from sourcing to distribution, distribute in more than 80 countries, have four manufacturing sites and 30,000 global points of sale. INSPECS cycles two seasons per year and produces over 500 new SKUs for licences, brands and private label brands each year. Their goal is to be the go-to platform for eyewear solutions.

Eyewear is classified as a medical device and is subject to rigorous compliance standards, which along with a complicated manufacturing process, slows time to market. The average time to market can be nine months and operating during COVID has put additional pressure on timelines.

When Adam Loewy, Creative Director at INSPECS joined the team, he saw an enormous opportunity to streamline processes, speed time to market and drive the company’s success.

“When I joined INSPECS, I had this question mark,” says Loewy. “We had the ability and a fantastic team. But we didn’t design as many collections, and for as many brands as I thought we could.”

Loewy could see that teams were losing valuable time with multiple layers of processes, by relying on outdated tools like spreadsheets, and searching for information stored in disparate locations. Thus, he began his search for a solution to drive efficiencies, streamline operations and centralize information.

“We were very keen to work with a partner who had experience, had delivered for multiple brands, and was on a scale that would ensure they’d be around for the long term,” shares Loewy.

In their search for a PLM solution, Loewy and his team evaluated several PLM vendors, and Centric Software stood out for several reasons. Outstanding customer references, Centric’s work with INSPECS brands, and a clear roadmap of the development process and ROI gave INSPECS the confidence to select Centric Software as their PLM partner.

User experience was also a deciding factor. “When you’ve got to try to persuade teams to move from a system they are familiar with, like spreadsheets, that new system has to have a better interface and be a much more positive experience,” Loewy explains. “That was massively clear the first time we looked at Centric.”

Designers are expected to reclaim nearly 20% of their time to vision-critical functions with PLM. Currently the ratio of time spent on design to development is 20% and 80% respectively. According to Loewy, to be a leader in their market, they must spend significantly more time on design, and PLM will enable that.

The marketing team will save time by using Centric’s single version of the truth to develop detailed product line lists that support the sales teams. “It’s really about creating a digital catalogue because we’ll have that information in one location,” says Loewy. “It’s the database that is the really powerful tool for us.”

PLM will also bolster their sustainability efforts by empowering teams to share factories, deliveries, material developments and sample creation. From an employee perspective, reducing time wasted on redundant tasks will support a sustainable and balanced corporate culture.

Centric Software is proud to support INSPECS as it continues to innovate and grow, enabling the company to build a more connected, collaborative approach to product development.