CAMPBELL, California, August 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Outdoor shoe brand selects Centric Software PLM to support rapid growth 

KEEN, Inc. (KEEN), the Portland, Oregon-based manufacturer and retailer of shoes, sandals, boots, bags and apparel, has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Centric Software is the leading PLM solution for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods companies.

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KEEN's first product, the Newport sandal, appeared on shelves almost 15 years ago. Hot on the heels of this rugged sandal's success, KEEN has expanded to a range of outdoor, work, kids and adventure wear, from bags to work boots to children's shoes. KEEN sells its products through its own branded retail and online stores as well as via a vast network of global retail partners and distributors. KEEN prides itself on its values of quality, integrity, health, caring  and pioneering, and reflects these in its commitment to environmental causes.

KEEN is growing fast, prompting the company to look for a system to lend structure and improve efficiency during this period of expansion. As Hari Perumal, KEEN's Vice President, Global Technical Operations explains, the time was right for change.

"We have grown pretty dramatically since 2003," Perumal says. "Because we manufacture, source and distribute on a global scale, we deal with a lot of complexity. Our design and development teams are spread across multiple regions to be in tune with consumer tastes and expectations in different markets as diverse as Japan, Europe and Canada. We have been running the business in the same way since the company was founded, using spreadsheets, word documents, emails and line drawings, and now we need a system to bring all these together."

Perumal continues, "Product developers spend time chasing spreadsheets rather than getting their real, productive work done. Multiply that by the number of countries we are in, and the amount of time lost just explodes. The lead time for development is drawn out because we do not have clear visibility into our KPIs. We are at a threshold where we need strong foundation systems to scale the business up and support our aggressive growth plans. We are confident that this is the right moment to implement Centric PLM and that it will enable us to grow our business."

"We chose Centric because their team has a very deep knowledge of the footwear and apparel space and because everyone loved the ease of using Centric PLM," says Perumal. "The solution is very intuitive and the user interface is so simple. Centric has worked with many footwear companies, so they have tons of best practices and lessons learned. Centric has taken these and applied them to out of the box features, which is very enticing for a company like ours that is using a PLM solution for the first time."

"We want to bring all of the global teams together, so there are no discrete people working in corners of the world that are invisible to each other," adds Perumal. "We also want to break down separate systems to help people figure out their workload. With Centric we can make all these emails and spreadsheets obsolete, so that people will come to work, log into Centric and, based on their roles and responsibilities, get a dashboard and an automated workflow that will tell them what the next steps are. We're looking forward to having business intelligence reports to tell us what progress is being made and what the pain points are, so that we can address these early on."

Perumal believes KEEN and Centric are at the beginning of a productive, long-term working relationship. "We expect Centric PLM to have a positive influence on our business," Perumal adds.

"We are delighted to begin our collaboration with KEEN," says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. "KEEN's rate of growth is impressive and a testament to the company's dedication and innovative approach. We look forward to sharing our expertise in the PLM footwear and apparel arena to help KEEN enter their next phase of growth."

About KEEN, Inc. (http://www.keenfootwear.com): 

KEEN, Inc. is values led, independently-owned outdoor footwear brand from Portland, Ore. with a mission to responsibly create original and versatile products, improve lives and inspire outside adventure. Founded in 2003, KEEN ignited a revolution in the footwear industry with the introduction of the Newport sandal, launching the concept of Hybrid footwear into the market and setting KEEN on a path of driving consistent product innovation that exists today. KEEN strives to live by its values, from its products to its actions, and by activating communities and individuals to protect and preserve the places where we work and play. KEEN employees passionately endeavor to live fulfilling lives, challenge the status quo, do good, give back, and inspire others. Learn more at http://www.keenfootwear.com

Centric Software (http://www.centricsoftware.com) 

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods.  Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centric's flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM in 2016 and Frost & Sullivan's Global Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015, and 2016.

Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

SOURCE Centric Software