4T2D Gains Visibility and Eliminates Spreadsheets with Centric PLM
Outdoor and sports brand 4T2D designs versatile apparel and high volume custom beanies in Burlington, Vermont. Production takes place at Fourbital Factory, its in house manufacturing facility, where design and execution operate under the same roof. Rapid SKU growth and complex experimentation stretched spreadsheet based ways of working. Since implementing Centric PLM™ in 2022, 4T2D has centralized product data, strengthened visibility and built a scalable digital foundation for vertically integrated American manufacturing.
“Instead of having a million Excel spreadsheets saved on different drives, everything lives in one place.”
Jenna Baginski, Technical Designer at 4T2D, describes the operational shift that reshaped how the Vermont based outdoor and sports brand manages growth. As custom beanie demand accelerated across the United States and technical outerwear evolved through heavy experimentation, spreadsheet driven workloads began to strain under expansion. Since implementing Centric PLM in 2022, 4T2D has transformed fragmented tracking into a centralized digital hub that aligns design and production across its vertically integrated model.
Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, 4T2D operates differently than many outdoor brands. Design and manufacturing sit side-by-side. Fourbital Factory produces custom beanies at scale while a small atelier team develops technical apparel, including reversible outerwear built for versatility across activities.
Approximately 150 beanie SKUs move through the business annually, representing roughly 80 percent of total volume. Distribution spans nearly all 50 states through wholesale programs and partnerships. Growth has been steady and intentional.
Even as a small company, leadership recognized that structure would define the next stage of expansion.
“We knew we wanted to have that organization to build with us,” says Design Team Lead Monica Reyes-Wright.
From experimentation to a strong foundation
Product innovation drives 4T2D’s outdoor identity. One reversible winter coat moved through multiple design iterations, including interchangeable hood concepts and magnet variations.
“We were trying a bunch of different things,” Reyes-Wright explains. “There are a million components that go into these jackets.” Without organized documentation, complex products became difficult to track across versions and details lived in multiple files.
Centric PLM introduced a streamlined approach, iterations evolved and versions and BOMs gained a clear digital reference point. “I feel like it started to narrow out what we had done in previous versions,” says Reyes-Wright. That clarity established accountability across departments.
If it’s not in Centric, it doesn’t exist.
Product data now lives in a single platform becoming an actionable source of truth. Innovation still moves quickly on the factory floor and real time data enables the team to manage changes across seasons.
Scaling 150+ custom SKUs with visibility
Custom beanies drive the majority of revenue and growth. Each custom order now receives its own product record in Centric PLM, complete with BOM, specifications, materials and visual references.
Before PLM, product data was managed through separate Excel sheets and shared drives. As custom programs expanded, maintaining consistent visibility across styles and versions became increasingly challenging.
Today, spreadsheet reliance has dropped significantly. The team estimates that up to 80 percent of Excel tracking for beanies has been eliminated since adopting Centric PLM.
“The fact that the BOMs, size charts and specifications all live in one place and we can build a canvas page with photos and notes is so valuable.” says Reyes-Wright.
Designers integrate imagery directly into BOMs and spec sheets. Assets move seamlessly from Adobe into PLM with drag and drop efficiency via the Adobe Connector. Product data becomes shared rather than isolated.
“It makes everything communal,” explains Steph, Surface Designer for beanies at 4T2D.
As ribbed beanies expand in volume, they are being fully migrated into Centric PLM to increase visibility into materials, color tracking and SKU comparison across categories. Having real time data now informs planning decisions among the teams with confidence.
American manufacturing, digitally aligned
Because 4T2D and Fourbital Factory operate side-by-side, production decisions happen in real time. Adjustments to thread colors, materials or construction occur instantly on the factory floor. Centric PLM ensures those changes are captured, documented and communicated across departments.
“Being able to just hand off technical details of something instead of having to explain every single one to someone… it’s really nice to say, ‘here’s all the information you need’ and now you’re good to go,” says Reyes-Wright.
Centric PLM streamlines communication between BOMs, size charts and technical specifications to centralize the product data into a single version of the truth while personalized dashboards enable designers to view seasonal work at a glance.
The outcome connects teams and fuels clear communication between their physical manufacturing in Vermont to operate with accurate product data.
A foundation for outdoor growth
Since 2022, Centric PLM has evolved alongside 4T2D’s expansion. What began as an investment in digitization, now defines scalability. Product alignment, version tracking and centralized visibility anchor daily operations across more than 150 annual SKUs.
“I think it simplifies your business and organization,” the team reflects. “Start organizing sooner than later.”
For outdoor and sports brands navigating technical complexity and national distribution, 4T2D demonstrates that a strong product lifecycle management foundation drives sustainable growth.
Design and manufacturing share the same roof in Vermont. Centric PLM ensures they share the same source of truth.
Explore how Centric PLM transforms product development for modern outdoor brands. Schedule a demo to see structured growth in action.