THIRDLOVE SHAPES THEIR FUTURE WITH CENTRIC PLM™

INCLUSIVE INTIMATES BRAND TURNS TO TECHNOLOGYTO SUPPORT THEIR INDUSTRY-BUSTING RANGE OF SIZES©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

“I could never have imagined just how difficult and complex thecategory really is. Each bra has 30+ components so you aremanaging a large number of raw material suppliers for eachgarment and need to make sure all of that is orchestrated
appropriately…”
Marcus Chung, VP of Manufacturing and Supply Chain atThirdLove describes his initial reaction to the intricacies of thebra industry, despite having worked in the apparel business foryears.
ThirdLove needed a Product Lifecycle Management system(PLM) to establish formal processes and harmonize tech packdata to handle the complexity of each individual style. They also
wanted to improve transparency in product development andcommunication.
Today, ThirdLove enjoys one single source of the truth in acentral data repository, their processes are more clearly defined
and their tech packs are virtually error-free, ensuring operational
excellence. What journey did they take with Centric PLM tosolidify their digital foundation?

A CUSTOM FIT					Headquartered in San Francisco, ThirdLove was established in2012 after co-founder Heidi Zak experienced frustration that
not one of the bras she owned fit properly. So she set out tomake her own bra. She and her team created innovative designs,
throwing out the industry-standard molds, crafting each size
from scratch.

PLAYING CATCH UP			

ThirdLove was growing rapidly and their team was too. They had
few procedures to point to when onboarding new staff to theproduct development process and every season, the productdesign team started anew.
Says Chung, “It was this onerous product development process
and was very difficult to get new team members to understandwhere the information was, and what our standards were.
Each size was created independently of one another so eventhough there were base sizes, grading was specialized. When
we launched our business, each size was designed from scratch.
It sounds crazy—but it is also part of the magic of what madeus successful—however you can’t replicate that season overseason, plus, customers expect consistency in sizing. We needed
to be able to document everything meticulously, beyond whatspreadsheets and emails could provide.”“Ironically, we’ve always considered ourselves to be a tech-enabledcompany; we’ve had artificial intelligence algorithmic machinelearning capabilities for fit and marketing from the beginning. But
supply chain is not typically the first place companies make tech
investments, so we were seven years old before we implemented
PLM; it was high time for an upgrade to build the foundation of
more efficient product development and production.”©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

“PLM HAS BECOME ONE

SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH IN“Based on a direct-to-consumer model whose initial sales
were on a mobile app, ThirdLove started a small revolution
with their Fit Finder® which assesses a woman’s fit challenges
and recommends the perfect size and style bra for her. They
pioneered the half-cup, with inclusive sizing, making up to 80
different sizes available.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS THATDIDN’T EXIST BEFORE.

CHALLENGES+ Very rapid growth+ Need to increase accuracy of techpacks+ Complexity of products linked to thecategory+ Managing high volumes of sizes+ Lack of formal processes+ Disparate, manual tools

AN EASY CHOICE					RESULTS

The PLM selection was led by supply chain (Sourcing and production arepart of the supply chain organization) with input from design, planningand merchandising. Centric stood out due to their ability to prove how
inconsistent processes would be improved, the responsiveness of theCentric team, and the fast time-to-value of Centric SMB, Centric Software’s
cloud-based, SaaS solution for small to medium enterprises.

+ Accurate tech packs and grading“We decided to go with Centric SMB because ease of implementation was
front and center for us. We have a small team and didn’t have the timeor bandwidth to dedicate resources to a year-long implementation. We
needed a turnkey solution which we got up and running really quickly andgot everybody on board quickly too,” says Chung.

+ Elimination of email andspreadsheets resulting in fewererrors+ Time saved by using tech packtemplates for new products+ Established standard processes+ Ability to work remotely

He continues, “The modular approach was really attractive to us. There
was a place to start and we knew that as our business grew in size andcomplexity, we could add on more modules.”Centric’s deep experience in fashion was the icing on the cake. “It really came through that the Centric team is familiar with fashion. Having
them speak the same language as our designers, as our production team, we could tell that they’d worked with other companies with similarseasonality issues and product development challenges. Centric SMB is very user-friendly and we felt like our product category made sensefor the solution,” says Chung.

TECH PACKS, TEMPLATES AND MORE

ThirdLove now boasts accurate tech packs, grading and data management in PLM. The important thing with a category such as bras and evenmore so with ThirdLove’s unique materials and design approach is the high level of precision required as new styles are added in wide size
ranges.
“Constructing tech packs in the system has given us templates that allow us to build upon a new product based on a silhouette from theprevious season. That’s the biggest and most high-impact benefit,” says Chung. He elaborates, “PLM has become one single source of truthin the creative process that didn’t exist before. Even though we didn’t grade, we sort of backward engineered into grade rules, which became
the foundation for scalability for us.”
Essential workflows were created digitally in PLM. Email and spreadsheet product development is becoming a thing of the past, leaving noquestion as to what the latest versions of anything is, now that all product data is in a single accessible digital space.
“For us, PLM was really building that foundation, not only from the standpoint of having a PLM system, but to push us to create standardprocesses,” says Chung. “One of the upsides of being a younger, emerging brand, is we didn’t have a lot of standard processes, so we werereally open to developing them in PLM.”

MANAGING THROUGH A CRISIS

With the arrival of COVID-19, ThirdLove like all companies had to react
quickly. They re-forecasted the year’s sales and pivoted from growth tomanaging cash flow. They reduced their inventory commitment for theyear and were forced to re-size their organization in accordance with thelower sales volumes.
“By having Centric PLM in place, we were able to operate leaner and make aseamless switch to remote-working by unifying product-related processes
and internal and external teams in one digital space.”

LOOKING AHEAD

When asked about how technology shapes inclusive sizing, Chung
responds, “One of the amazing things at ThirdLove is the data we get from
our Fit Finder®. There’s so much opportunity to service our customerin making new and different products based on millions of data points
that inform how we think about product development. There is a ton of
information that we can take advantage of internally that we still have yet
to fully unlock.” These data points can be managed in PLM and bettersupport creative teams by staying close to consumer needs.
ThirdLove has also decided to invest in the vendor portal which they arelaunching now. Says Chung, “The intention is to have vendors on theplatform to reduce the emails back and forth—it comes back to that single
source of the truth—it’s so important to be able to make sure we’re alltalking about the same thing.”©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THIRDLOVE (www.thirdlove.com)
ThirdLove was founded by husband and wife team Heidi Zak and David Spector in 2012 after Heidi’s frustration with bras that didn’t fit.
We do bras differently. No discomfort. No dressing rooms. No drama. Just insanely comfortable bras, designed to fit perfectly. We use millions of real
women’s measurements—not size templates—to create our products. Our Fit Finder® recommends your ideal bra in 60 seconds. In between cup
sizes? We invented half-cups. We carry double the amount of sizes of most other brands. We make it our mission to make a bra for you.
Every woman deserves to feel comfortable and confident. That core belief drives our company, from the products we design to how we give back.
That’s why we’ve partnered with renowned organizations such as I Support the Girls, Soles4Souls, Good360, and St. Anthony’s to donate bras to help
women make powerful life changes. To date, we have donated over $20M in bras.

ABOUT CENTRIC SOFTWARE (www.centricsoftware.com)
From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail,footwear, luxury, outdoor, consumer goods and home décor. Centric’s flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers
enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving
consumer industries. Centric SMB provides innovative PLM technology and key industry learnings for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation
Platform (VIP) offers a new fully visual and digital experience for collaboration and decision-making and includes the Centric Buying Board to transform
internal buying sessions and maximize retail value and the Centric Concept Board for driving creativity and evolving product concepts. All Centricinnovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.
Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock
Up and PLM solutions.
Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015
and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016 and 2018

Fwww.centricsoftware.com©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved. Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software.
All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.