Represent Clothing.
Represent had the brand. It had the order book. It needed integrations that just worked. HighCohesion to the rescue.
The brand.
The Represent story is every movie writer’s dream.
Founded in Manchester by brothers George and Mike Heaton back in 2011, the pair have gone from selling humble printed t-shirts from market stalls to mixing with celebrities and running a fashion empire
It started with a college course in graphic design and selling their artwork on tees to their mates. But by 2012, some quick thinking at a Welsh festival the brothers were selling their clothing at gave the brand a boost.
George knew Rizzle Kicks were headlining the event and a few gifted Represent caps later, everybody in the crowd was looking at the brand on the performers’ heads.
After this early leg-up, the pair focused on honing quality and individuality, launching various collections and attending fashion shows around the world in search of greater exposure.
But in 2016, the sort of exposure money can’t buy landed straight in their laps. Justin Beiber was performing in town and he wanted to be seen in Represent clothing for the rest of his tour.
From there the collabs, collections and orders piled in and the brothers suddenly had to focus on moving manufacturing abroad and structuring their business to support its rapid growth.
The snag.
And like so many business founders experiencing such growth, what started out as a passion project quickly became a race to ensure stability.
The first go at implementing an ERP didn't get off to a great start, with an initial launch leaving Represent frustrated with limited visibility over its data.
It was also left without a satisfactory solution for its returns process and a hefty bill for the work.
The result was a business struggling to remain confident in its data flow as the celebrities and department stores came knocking and the orders stacked up.
Staff were spending too much time sorting issues manually and the overall efficiency of the business was suffering.
Represent had the brand, the following and the order book. Now it needed a digital solution.
1,000,000+
Events processed since go-live
350,000
Sales orders created in NetSuite since go-live
<6 months
Netsuite implementation
“HighCo are reliable, thorough, experienced and good communicators – it was easy to build a good working relationship.”
Lucy Martin - Finance Director, Represent.
The HighCohesion solution.
HighCohesion to the rescue!
We weren’t afraid to muck in and sort the fundamental issues, ensuring Represent had the digital backbone it needed to succeed.
Essential was ensuring Represents ERP Netsuite was getting the data it required to act as a useful reporting tool.
Key to this was financial reporting, which with HighCohesion’s help meant that Represent could move away from its old tool and find confidence in its automated future.
Enhancing SKU-level data was another focus. It meant greater control over stock movement and ultimately brought the agility the company needed to react quickly to demand.
And just as important was streamlining Represent’s returns process. With greater automation and more accurate reporting, Represent staff were now able to spend more time on growth and less time on issues.
By successfully integrating its Netsuite ERP, Zedonk PLM, Beckmann 3PL and, of course, Shopify stores, HighCohesion had Represent back on track and ready to embrace the demand for its products with confidence.
The feedback.
HighCohesion was there for Represent from initial planning to successful launch.
We ensured no stone was left unturned and intense quality control testing preceded the go-live - but even then we stuck around to make sure nothing slipped through the net.
HighCohesion’s experience, flexibility and thoroughness got the job done promptly and effectively.
Lucy Martin, Finance Director at Represent said:
“HighCo has supported Represent in the implementation of NetSuite which will assist us in our growth journey - in unlocking access to SKU level data, transforming reporting of financials and allowing the finance team to significantly reduce the time it takes to complete month end close.
“HighCo is reliable, thorough, experienced and good communicators – it was easy to build a good working relationship with them. They proved to be very productive and solution-driven and became part of our team during the project, working with us directly on a daily basis.
“Before going live, they had the confidence to challenge us on our processes where necessary, to ensure that the solution would work for the business not only now but in the future.
“During go live, with any problems that came up, they were promptly on hand to help resolve them and continue to support in any BAU developments.”
And, that’s a wrap!
Tech stack integrated through HighCohesion
Ecommerce Platform
ERP
PLM
Bleckmann - 3PL