Ever wondered who makes the clothes you see in supermarkets that feature TV, film, cartoon, and video game heroes? The answer in many cases is Erve Europe, a market leader in the area of character licenses and brands. Thanks to deals with the likes of Disney and Marvel, it enjoys free rein on printing our favorite cartoon characters on a t-shirt.
Founded in Brussels in 1985, they also import socks, nightwear, underwear and accessories – mainly from Asia and Europe. In the last years, they've grown fast and realized they needed to innovate to maintain their growth.
Part of their strategy was to find a PLM software that would adapt to their operations, and they found one in Denmark.
“We liked that Delogue was a European company: that it was not too far (from Belgium) and that when we met the team, we immediately had the feeling we were not a number – it was a good connection,” recalls Fanny Goussaert.
Fanny, who works for the logistics team in Belgium, together with Siska and Kyra from the merchandising team, managed the Delogue project from the start at Erve.
“I am the contact person for our ERP financial system, and when we were looking for a PLM, a condition was finding a system that would match our current ERP,” recalls Fanny.
“We wanted to stay away from having to double input all our information – and that’s what Delogue gave us. We can type it in there and transfer it.”
The three of them were in charge of setting up the framework and the workflow, deciding what data should go to Delogue and how the interchange with the ERP should happen. Regarding the logistics information, methods were set so Delogue could be used to check the box labels and shipment discussions.
The one thing that instantly attracted the team at Erve was Delogue’s visual-friendly platform.
“The program itself was visually strong. It looked nice to work with, and it was very natural and intuitive – you knew where to click,” she explains.
And the fact it was cloud-based was a plus too, as Erve has offices in India, Bangladesh, and China.
“Another big advantage for us was that it was digital, which led to less printing and email communication.”
Working full-on digitally before the pandemic struck proved to be great preparation for tackling all of the obstacles brought on by the lockdowns.
“We are so happy we made the switch before covid-19. It’s so handy: you just need the internet and you have all the information and communication about a style that you need to perform your job,” says Fanny.
Having “one version of the truth” brought transparency to Erve, as anyone with access to the platform, from any location, can consult the available information.
“Before, when we had discrepancies about a color or a size range, for example, it was a lot of back-and-forth emails and it wasn’t efficient. Now you have one place where all the information is centralized, and there's even room for pictures, feedback and testing reports.”