July 7th, 2025

ZAJO to Reach New Heights with Centric PLM’s Single Source of Truth

Slovak outdoor brand partners with Centric Software to gear up for growth and navigate changing terrain with data-led precision

CAMPBELL, Calif., July 8, 2025 – Centric Software® is pleased to announce that ZAJO has selected Centric PLM™ to fuel smarter, more sustainable product development. 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 1996 by Juraj Králik, ZAJO began with a simple mission: to create high-quality hiking trousers that were much needed but unavailable in Slovakia. Over the years, it has grown into one of Europe’s most respected outdoor brands, renowned for its functional, durable and timeless design. With two retail stores in Slovakia and an e-commerce platform serving customers in 27 European countries, the brand continues to expand. It maintains production in Slovakia and the Czech Republic and is experiencing rapid growth in key markets such as Germany and Poland.

Facing fierce competition and a surge in customer demand for high-quality gear at lower prices, ZAJO embarked on its PLM journey. It needs a solution to power efficiencies to create sustainable, quality products whilst decreasing time to market.

“The market is getting more crowded with major international fashion brands starting to offer outdoor, athleisure gear,” explains Marcela Čanakyová, Head of Design and Development at ZAJO. “Customers are price conscious and one of our biggest challenges is to convey the complexity and value of our products.”

Peter Juhas, Production Manager at ZAJO adds, “We need a system to better organize our processes and information. We were using multiple sources of data and different spreadsheets which was making daily tasks like a puzzle.”

As climate change and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns continue to reshape the outdoor industry, ZAJO recognizes the need for enhanced agility to evolve its product strategy and stay aligned with the changing needs of its consumers.

“With snowfall levels decreasing in our core market of Slovakia, it’s clear that portfolio diversification will be essential moving forward,” explains Čanakyová. “Tools like Centric PLM give us the insight and flexibility to adapt—helping us respond quickly and make smarter product decisions in the face of shifting environmental conditions.”

ZAJO selected Centric SMB, Centric’s cloud-based PLM solution for small to medium-sized businesses, for its impressive customer references, scalability and rapid implementation time. Juhas comments, “Centric PLM is used by most of our competitors, and its customer references are impressive across the board.”

The PLM implementation is near completion and will be rolled out to ZAJO’s design, product development and production teams. It expects to significantly reduce errors and improve cross functional collaboration.

“We will be able to deliver tech packs and BOMs much more quickly with PLM,” comments Čanakyová. “Because we’ll be tracking all data throughout each step in PLM, the system will alert us when we run into issues. The entire product development process will be smoother and more automated.”

Juhas adds, “We’ll also be able to reduce mistakes when we are calculating the materials needed per season and collection and when it comes to negotiating with suppliers, we can be confident that the product information in the system is accurate and ready to use.”

Centric PLM will also reinforce ZAJO’s commitment to sustainability through data-led product development.

“We create timeless, versatile, quality products so our customers can use them for a long time—we like it when we see that someone’s been using our products for 10 years or more,” explains Čanakyová. “Longevity is the basis of our sustainability strategy and with PLM we’ll be able to make better decisions that will ultimately improve product quality.”

“We are excited that ZAJO, our first customer based in Slovakia, has selected Centric PLM to empower adaptability and resilience in a rapidly evolving market,” says Fabrice Canonge, President of Centric Software. “We’re proud to provide ZAJO with a digital foundation that strengthens data-driven decision making and enhances operational efficiencies across the product lifecycle.”

Learn more about Centric solutions.

Request a demo

ZAJO (www.zajo.com)

Outdoor to the People

Hiking is one of life’s great pleasures. It is the freedom to explore the world around us and discover new places. It is an endless adventure that starts at your doorstep and never ends. It is the effort of conquering the elevation and the ecstasy of reaching the top. It’s an opportunity to connect with nature and take time for yourself. It’s a chance to push yourself to your limits and test your endurance. Whether we’re hiking alone or with friends, it’s never just a hike. It’s an experience that stays with us forever. So lace up your boots, grab your backpack and let’s hit the mountains together!

Our Goal

Our main goal is to inspire as many people as possible to spend time out there. Whether it’s through quality outdoor clothing and gear that makes every moment in nature an even better experience, or through the stories of (not only) hidden heroes who prove to us that anything is possible.

We don’t just see our clothes as clothes. We don’t want to be just another piece in a cluttered wardrobe. We see our clothes and gear as a tool. A ticket. Into the woods, into the mountains, into nature. We create products that make you enjoy your time out there to the fullest, that make you come home safely, that make you collect experiences for a lifetime.

Our values Timeless, to live longer.

To this day, all of us at ZAJO unconditionally believe that nature is a basic human right, not a privilege. That’s why we create products that are functional, durable and of a quality that everyone can afford.

We take a “less but better” approach to designing clothing and gear, focusing on quality and timeless design that stands above fashion trends. And we work hard every day to minimize our impact on the environment, where the first step is creating the best possible products, able to last and serve for years to come.

Harmless, to feel better.

We are committed to protecting nature and minimizing our impact on the environment. We take a holistic approach to sustainability, analyzing and addressing all aspects of our business, from the production of materials to day-to-day operations. We only work with suppliers who meet our highest ethical standards, and we prioritize the use of recycled and recyclable materials.

Selfless, to give more.

Everyday life isn’t just about adventures. While beauty is all around us and sometimes all we need to do is open our eyes, life and everyday working days can bring stressful moments. We believe that nature is the best refuge. A place that erases any differences. A place where we are all one big family. Here we forget the problems of everyday life, because if we need to focus on every little thing, there is no room to dwell on the trivial.

Whether the goal is Everest or a walk around the lake, we believe in everyone’s potential. And we take every goal equally seriously. No matter its size. That’s why we’ve long supported both Himalayan climbers and everyday enthusiasts who get an idea during a coffee break.

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.