June 18th, 2025

Schöffel Selects Centric Software to Accelerate Time to Market, Fuel Innovation and Bolster Agility

“Working with a foundational solution like Centric PLM will improve collaboration and communication across teams, simplifying day to day tasks through automation and reducing reliance on manual processes.”

— Gesa van den Kerkhoff

Director of Product for Schöffel SPORT

Historic German Outdoor Apparel Brand Adopts Centric PLM to Drive Sustainable Future Growth

CAMPBELL, Calif., June 19, 2025 – Centric Software® is pleased to announce that Schöffel has selected Centric PLM™ to optimize business performance and propel strategic growth. 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.

Founded in 1804, Schöffel is a family-owned company now led by its eighth-generation CEO, Jakob Schöffel. The brand, headquartered in Schwabmünchen, Germany, employs approximately 220 people and generates an annual revenue of around €100 million. Schöffel offers high-quality outdoor, ski and bike apparel as well as technical and workwear across three key segments: Schöffel SPORT, TEC and PRO. Schöffel products are available through various retail channels, including specialty stores, online platforms and company-owned outlets.

Under mounting pressure from fierce market competition and shorter product lifecycles, Schöffel knew it had to adapt. For Gesa van den Kerkhoff, Director of Product for Schöffel SPORT, the solution was clear: replace the outdated PDM system with a dynamic Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to keep pace with evolving customer demands.

“The industry is undergoing major changes, especially with the shift towards sustainable production. This requires companies like ours to restructure the entire supply chain and manufacturing processes,” van den Kerkhoff explains. “At the same time, customers expect personalization, exceptional experiences and for their favorite brands to keep up with the latest trends and innovations. This means we need to stay agile if we want to safeguard our reputation as leaders in the market.”

After exploring multiple options, Schöffel chose Centric PLM for its flexibility, robust features and ability to meet their unique business needs. Daniela Kiefl, Director of Business Operations, explains what made Centric stand out.

“The intuitive interface, powerful functionality and seamless cross-departmental integration were game-changers for us. Its cutting-edge, AI-driven technology will help us further digitalize and streamline our design processes and ultimately reduce our time to market.”

By implementing Centric PLM, Schöffel anticipates significant improvements in efficiency, productivity and product quality across the value chain—from concept to market launch.

“The outdoor and apparel industry is notoriously fast-paced and constantly evolving. Our strategic goal is to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate market changes before our competitors—and Centric PLM equips us with the tools we need to make that possible,” says Kiefl.

Along with increased speed and adaptability, the Schöffel team expects other transformative benefits thanks to the harmonizing of data and product workflows through PLM.

Looking ahead, Schöffel is confident that Centric will support their long-term growth strategy. Kiefl concludes, “This investment will enable us to allocate our internal resources more effectively, allowing us to focus more time on developing pioneering, innovative products for our customers.”

“We are thrilled to support Schöffel in their digital transformation journey,” says Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software. “With Centric PLM, Schöffel is well-positioned to accelerate product innovation and reinforce its leadership in the outdoor apparel industry. We look forward to a strong collaboration and continued success.”

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Schöffel (www.schoeffel.com)

The Schöffel Group, based in Schwabmünchen, Bavaria, is one of the leading companies for outdoor, ski, and bike apparel, as well as premium workwear, in the German-speaking market. The Schöffel name has stood for quality, reliability, and innovation for over 200 years. Founded in 1804, it is the oldest family-managed outdoor apparel company of its kind in the world.

Now in its eighth generation, the Schöffel Group is led by Jakob Schöffel as Group CEO. Since 2022, the company has been structured into three key segments: Schöffel SPORT, TEC, and PRO.

Schöffel SPORT focuses on the outdoor market under the overall leadership of Stefan Merkt. The brand’s slogan, “Ich bin raus.” (“I’m out.”), reflects its commitment to providing high-quality gear for outdoor adventures and nature lovers who value dependable, premium apparel.

Schöffel TEC specializes in outfitting government agencies and BMW Motorrad with technical textiles and is led by Nicole Prell as authorized officer.

Schöffel PRO, headed by Thomas Bräutigam, is redefining workwear with the motto “Born in nature. Made for work.” The goal is to make workwear more functional and tailored to individual needs, offering companies comprehensive corporate and workwear solutions — from the office to the construction site.

Centric Software® (centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides an innovative and AI-enabled product concept-to-commercialization platform for retailers, brands and manufacturers of all sizes. As experts in fashion, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home, cosmetics & personal care as well as multi-category retail, Centric Software delivers best-of-breed solutions to plan, design, develop, source, comply, buy, make, price, allocate, market, sell and replenish products.

Centric PLM™, the leading PLM solution for fashion, outdoor, footwear and private label, optimizes product execution from ideation to development, sourcing and manufacture, realizing up to 50% improvement in productivity and a 60% decrease in time to market.
Centric Planning™ is an innovative, cloud-native, AI solution delivering end-to-end planning capabilities to maximize retail and wholesale business performance, including SKU optimization, resulting in an up to 110% increase in margins.
Centric Pricing & Inventory™ leverages AI to drive margins and boost revenues by up to 18% via price and inventory optimization from pre-season to in-season to season completion.
Centric Market Intelligence™ is an AI-driven platform delivering insights into consumer trends, competitor offers and pricing to boost competitivity and get closer to the consumer, with an up to 12% increase in average initial price point.
Centric Visual Boards™ pivot actionable data in a visual-first orientation to ensure robust, consumer-right assortments and product offers, dramatically decreasing assortment development cycle time.
Centric PXM™, AI-powered product experience management (PXM) encompasses PIM, DAM, content syndication and digital shelf analytics (DSA) to optimize the product commercialization lifecycle resulting in a transformed brand experience. Increase sales channels, boost sell through and drive margins.

Centric Software’s market-driven solutions have the highest user adoption rate, customer satisfaction rate and fastest time to value in the industry. Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, appearing regularly in world-leading analyst reports and research.