EILEEN FISHER Adopts Centric Visual Boards and Centric PLM to Improve Efficiency and Simplify Collection Creation

“The team was using spreadsheets and slide presentation software to create a visual representation of the collection. Imagine pulling every image, every color, and making the adjustments. It was all very manual.”

EILEEN FISHER’s Manager of Design and Merchandising Systems, Nicole Kaluzne, discusses the situation prior to Centric Visual Boards™ and Centric PLM™. She continues, “All that manual gathering and entering into stand-alone programs led to mistakes as the data was interpreted by different teams.” Today, the teams can view up-to-date information in real time by whatever filter they choose in one glance on a visual board.

“We are now able to sort, filter and group our collection with ease, visually reviewing it to ensure we have the right balance of attributes—and we can make immediate adjustments where needed.”—Morgan Masterson, Merchandise Planning Manager

Responsibly made. Thoughtfully chosen. Endlessly worn.

In 1984, Eileen started her company with four simple pieces that made getting dressed easy. The line grew into a system of shapes designed to mix and match, in fabrics that work together across the seasons and the years. Over the next four decades, the company’s approach of timeless design proved it is possible to break the trend cycle—to wear what you love and live with it longer.

EILEEN FISHER is an employee-owned company with 850+ employees, 50+ retail stores, and sells clothing at 400+ department stores. Customers can also discover gently worn designs from the company’s take-back program at 2 Renew stores.

The search for an improved system

As part of the company’s commitment to have a healthy technological infrastructure, EILEEN FISHER searched for improved data collection tools. The team tried a demo of Centric Visual Boards and were excited about the tool’s capabilities.

After realizing that retaining their legacy PLM with Centric Visual Boards would be costly and inefficient, there was unanimous agreement to implement Centric PLM. The new system meets EILEEN FISHER’s needs to integrate Centric Visual Boards with other existing systems and add libraries, tech packs and sourcing information.

Kaluzne says, “Once the decision was made, we fast-tracked it, getting the system up and running in four months. We have the most essential pieces of our PLM—the libraries, tech packs and sourcing—and we’re working to continually build on what we’ve done and make improvements.”

Benefits across teams

Morgan Masterson, Merchandise Planning Manager, reflects on how the new system impacted the merchandising team. “Centric Visual Boards helped us optimize our product offering thanks to its ability to dynamically represent our merchandise. We are now able to sort, filter and group our collection with ease, visually reviewing it to ensure we have the right balance of attributes—and we can make immediate adjustments where needed. Visual Boards lets us understand the impact of our changes as they are made in real time with instant aggregations and roll-ups that allow us to keep an eye on the numbers while we edit in a visually friendly format.”

The new system is also valuable to the design team. Julie Rubiner, VP, Design Innovation, says, “Centric’s Adobe Illustrator plug-in enables designers to share their creative ideas with multiple teams instantly and seamlessly. The centralized and up-to-date information helps our team stay connected with product teams, and the efficient process allows more time for creative thinking.”  plug-in enables designers to share their creative ideas with multiple teams instantly and seamlessly. The centralized and up-to-date information helps our team stay connected with product teams, and the efficient process allows more time for creative thinking.”

Rubiner also notes the system makes the color allocation process more effective and dynamic. “Being able to see the historic material colors gives me a framework when beginning seasonal color allocation. I can filter and view colors by material and theme to quickly answer questions about what’s been activated. And being able to embed color details directly into the colored material has really helped keep our use of vendor colorways consistent season after season.”

The Centric team partnered with EILEEN FISHER to specially create a new line sheet view function that exports to PowerPoint. This supports the company’s unique process, offering various ways for the design and merchandising teams to control, edit and view the data, such as by color and materials. “It’s so helpful to see the different colors and styles in the collection to make decisions,” Kaluzne says. “Pivoting the data lets us see how much color we have vs. how many neutrals—we do try to balance everything out to build a well-rounded collection.”

Continuous improvement

With Centric PLM, Kaluzne feels that the company now has the means to further streamline and improve specific processes, as well as the end-to-end workflow. “We’re constantly looking to improve internal processes. We search for opportunities to enhance product development, process management and data governance, and to automate some of the day-to-day tasks.”

A simple wardrobe. A sustainable life.

As it has grown over the years, EILEEN FISHER has stayed true to its roots as a design-driven brand offering simple, timeless shapes in high-quality fabrics that are easy to wear and easy to care for—because the most sustainable clothes you own are the ones that spend the least amount of time in your closet.

As a certified B Corporation, the brand voluntarily meets high criteria for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Kaluzne says, “Our design process is centered around traceable materials—we work to meet socially and environmentally responsible standards by achieving certifications such as bluesign, Fair Trade and the Responsible Wool Standard. We’re continuously looking to expand the number of fabrics that meet these certifications.”

Having a modern tool like Centric PLM eases the way for companies who want to achieve a higher level of environmental responsibility—and align with legislation regarding sustainability measures already emerging in the EU. Centric PLM manages key sustainability metrics by housing certifications, specifications and CO2e data in one system for streamlined tracking.

A positive partnership

Change often comes with some challenges, but that has been kept to a minimum with Centric PLM and Centric Visual Boards. The quick-go-live and layered enhancements empower the company to achieve continuous improvements, leading to higher satisfaction levels. Up next, the team will be rolling out vendor portals and expanding style and material data management opportunities.

Kaluzne pays Centric a high compliment: “I view Centric as best-in-class, having experienced other systems.” Of the Centric team, she says, “Our partnership has been great so far with very strong collaboration on both sides.”

About 

EILEEN FISHER creates simple, timeless shapes that work together effortlessly, season after season. We design our clothes to last—and then take them back to be worn again or remade into entirely new designs through our take-back program, Renew. We believe in the fundamental potential of every person—our employees, our customers and those who make our clothes—and are committed to creating conditions that empower people. EILEEN FISHER is a certified B Corporation, which means we make our clothes with people and the planet in mind. It’s all part of our commitment to doing business in a way that helps build a better industry. And a better future.