Centric Software Product Lifecycle Management Selected by Tape à l’Œil

LOS GATOS, Calif., Dec. 8, 2015 – Centric Software announces that part of the Mulliez Family Association, childrenswear brand Tape à l’Œil, has chosen Centric 8 Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to support strategic objectives and reinforce brand integrity.

Based in Wasquehal in northern France, Tape à l’Œil (TAO) adapts trendy adult fashions for children — from birth to age 14. TAO sells 25 million items annually from a global retail network of 300 stores, with products designed and developed internally. TAO will deploy Centric across its international team of designers, product managers, buyers and pattern makers.

With their customers in mind, TAO initiated its PLM project as a way to improve operations and become even more customer-focused by shortening time to market.

“Traditionally, it would take us between 4 to 5 months from the first sample to final product delivery,” Olivier Paul, Group Buying Director, explains. “But with Centric, we expect to reduce cycle times by 25%, giving our designers and product managers the opportunity to better anticipate trends and adapt our offer.”

To achieve this, TAO will use Centric 8 PLM to improve the way technical specifications are communicated to supply chain partners. The company also aims to use Centric’s innovative technologies – particularly its integrated mobile applications – to support the relocation of key activities like quality assurance closer to suppliers’ production sites in order to reduce the average number of samples per style from three to one, and mitigate the environmental impact of international logistics.

Paul also highlights the importance of Centric’s position as “the number one PLM specialist for fashion” and its intuitive Agile Deployment^sm approach as being instrumental in TAO’s choice of PLM partner.

Supporting Paul’s enthusiasm, Centric Software CEO Chris Groves says, “We are excited to work with another member of the Mulliez Group – particularly one with such a strong customer community. TAO is committed to capturing the essence of youth in its products, and the Centric team is dedicated to providing the proven processes and technologies that will help drive that optimistic spirit.”

 Tape à L’Œil (www.t-a-o.com)

Tape à l’ Œil is synonymous with fashion, customer satisfaction and omni-channel stores around the world. For the past 20 years, Tape à l’OEil has offered colorful childrenswear, for ages 0 to 14, matching price with quality. Cheerful and welcoming, TAO offers a wide range of product choices and frequent collection replenishment.

TAO is an omni-channel company, distributed across 300 stores in 19 countries and online. Over 900 employees stand united behind the brand and share its core values.

Centric Software, Inc. (centric-staging.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software builds technologies for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, and consumer goods.  Its 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 Cloud 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, and was named to Red Herring’s 2015 Global Top 100 list.

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