Furthering Patagonia's Mission with Modern Technology

For Patagonia, putting its brand and resources to work on behalf of the environment is as important as providing the best possible outdoor products...and Dynamics 365 has helped the company achieve this mission through less waste, improved efficiency, and reduced costs.

Global Omni-channel Growth with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Founded in 1972 to succeed a small company that provided climbing tools, Patagonia has grown into a globally recognized outdoor brand. The company designs, produces, and distributes clothing and gear for sports like trail running, skiing, mountain climbing, surfing, and snowboarding. Headquartered in Ventura, California, Patagonia has a strong presence across the Americas, Europe, and Japan. The company serves its markets through multiple channels, including international distributors, wholesalers, retail stores, catalog sales, and eCommerce.

Many apparel products are technically complex, featuring hundreds of lines in the bill of materials. The development, design, and production of many Patagonia products involve long lead times, sometimes a year or more. Critical functions like forecasting, demand planning, and inventory management flow seamlessly on a single platform, allowing Patagonia to react quickly to market changes and supply chain disruptions. With one global ERP system, the company is positioned for additional growth in wholesale, retail, and eCommerce channels. Today, the company is well into its cloud digital transformation journey, fully live on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain, Commerce, Sales, and Power Platform.

Digital Transformation with a Modern, Tier 1 Platform

Working with Sunrise Technologies as the apparel industry Microsoft Partner, Patagonia was able to achieve:

  • Unified finance, operations, and business analytics on a scalable global platform.
  • Smoother operations with apparel and retail industry solutions provided by Sunrise 365 Supply Chain and Retail Replenishment.
  • Advanced omnichannel commerce solution for call center, retail, and DOM (Distributed Order Management).

solution overview

Challenges

  • Lack of supply chain visibility across the global sourcing network.
  • Challenging multi-channel inventory optimization problem.
  • Time-consuming and manual fabric management.
  • Lack of flexibility to run the growing international business.
  • Multiple unreliable custom legacy ERP solutions that could not scale.

Solution

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 offered an integrated financial, supply chain, and retail experience on a single platform.
  • The Sunrise 365 Supply Chain and Retail Solution provided key inventory and replenishment capabilities.
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a strong roadmap and Azure provides a secure, global platform.
  • Sunrise offered a strong blend of product expertise and apparel industry solutions that would maximize value.

Outcome

  • A global experience, with one system across all locations.
  • Reduced IT costs from consolidating multiple business applications under a single global ERP platform.
  • Improved intercompany operations with full financials and supply chain running in one platform across more than 50 legal entities around the world.
  • Boosted inventory turns from 20% to 30% and increased fill rates from 5% to 10% with an intuitive multi-channel inventory planning solution.
  • Realized double-digit growth for the first time in history.

The Power to Pivot

Patagonia implemented curbside pickup, buy online - pick up in store, and distributed order management (DOM) capabilities, turning stores into mini warehouses and ensuring customers could get what they needed quickly and safely. Hear from Patagonia team members on how Dynamics 365 not only enables their IT goals, but aligns with their company values.

Digital Transformation Without the Cost and Complexity of SAP

Over a decade ago, after narrowing its choices to SAP and Microsoft Dynamics, Patagonia selected Microsoft for its scalability, flexibility, and extensive roadmap. Patagonia selected Sunrise for its apparel industry solution and deep understanding of the business.

At the time, Patagonia’s business systems were decades old and heavily modified. Only a couple of longtime employees understood the extent of customization in the largely homegrown business systems, exposing the company to risk if those employees were to leave. Through a multi-phased, initial deployment and additional phases and upgrades, Sunrise has helped Patagonia extend the full functionality of the solution to all business operations worldwide.

CHALLENGES

  • Lack of supply chain visibility across the global sourcing network
  • Challenging multi-channel inventory optimization problem
  • Time consuming and manual fabric management
  • Lack of flexibility to run the growing international business
  • Multiple unreliable custom legacy ERP solutions that could not scale

SOLUTION

  • Microsoft Dynamics AX offered an integrated financial and supply chain solution within a single platform
  • Consolidated multiple legal entities on a single instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX
  • Microsoft Dynamics AX offered a strong road map to the cloud with Dynamics 365
  • Sunrise offered a strong blend of product expertise and apparel industry solutions that would maximize value

BENEFITS

  • A global experience, with one system across all locations
  • Reduced IT costs from consolidating multiple business applications under a single global ERP platform
  • Improved inter-company operations with full financials and supply chain run in one platform across more than 50 legal entities around the world
  • Boosted inventory turns from 20% to 30% and increased fill rates from 5% to 10% with an intuitive multi-channel inventory planning solution
  • Realized double-digit growth for the first time in history