K3 and Colect: Driving innovation to provide seamless experiences for fashion

K3 and Colect are delighted to formalise our long-standing partnership through an exclusive interview with Arthur Hoffman.

Arthur is the CEO of Colect, a company founded 11 years ago that provides a powerful and intuitive solution for streamlining the sales process in the fashion industry.

Given our role within the fashion ERP world, this partnership is a natural fit, as our solutions complement each other exceptionally well.

In this interview, we discuss Colect’s journey, how we strengthen each other’s value propositions, and why now is the right time to cement the partnership.

Enhancing the sales process

Since its inception, Colect has grown into what Hoffman describes as a “scale-up”— a company that has successfully developed into what it is today, amassing 900 customers, with a focus on sustainable growth and profitability.

Hoffman’s leadership has been instrumental in striking the right balance between expanding into new markets while maintaining a healthy business foundation.

The platform itself is a testament to the business’ commitment to innovation and user-centric design. Originally developed for the iPad, the platform is designed to be highly visual, intuitive, and simple to use.

By integrating complex data from ERP and CRM systems with digital asset management, the Colect platform provides a seamless user experience.

This integration enables brands, sales reps, and buyers to access essential information across various devices, including iPads and large screens.

“The platform supports the professional buying process comprehensively,” explained Hoffman. “From storytelling and design choices to detailed imaging, our solution facilitates easier order building and assortment creation. This interactive process leverages historical and trend data, ensuring users have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips.”

Key features of the Colect platform include collaborative assortment building, quick order management, and advanced filtering and grouping for collections.

The brand portal also offers a modern-looking, user-friendly B2B webshop for retailers, while the digital showroom provides an impressive multi-screen experience to guide clients towards their perfect order.

Native integration with K3 Pebblestone

One of Colect’s standout features is its ability to complement ERP systems, like K3 Pebblestone, and provide value-added features to fashion companies.

By acting as a visual extension of ERP data, Colect makes complex data structures accessible and intuitive. Native connectivity ensures seamless integration, eliminating the burden of manual updates for customers.

“This approach not only simplifies the workflow but also provides a high level of comfort and reliability, which is particularly valuable given the scarcity of IT resources in fashion brands,” said Hoffman.

Why now?

Our decision to formalise the partnership now stems in part from Colect’s readiness to manage connectivity in-house. Five years ago, the company relied on ERP systems or middlemen for integration.

Today, Colect has developed the capacity to handle this aspect internally, offering a more integrated and streamlined solution. This shift aligns with Colect’s growth and its ability to provide an even more seamless experience for users.

In the past, we at K3 were focused on migrating K3 Pebblestone to the cloud too, which was another factor that contributed to the delayed formalisation of the partnership.

With that said, and while it is only now being crystallised, we have worked together extensively in the past. In fact, we have several mutual customers.

The way in which the market has evolved is another driving factor. With more brands adopting digital solutions, the demand for robust, integrated systems has increased.

Together, we can leverage each other’s strengths, share market intelligence, and provide enhanced services to our customers. This collaborative approach ensures that clients have access to the latest tools and innovations.

Innovation is the name of the game

We touched on this point a few times, and for good reason. Innovation sits at the heart of both Colect’s and K3’s strategies. We continually enrich our platforms to unlock additional value for fashion companies.

Colect, for instance, integrates new technologies like AI and 3D modelling to stay ahead of industry trends. Hoffman emphasised the importance of having a partner who is equally committed to innovation and understands the market.

“Constant innovation is at the core of what we do,” elaborated Hoffman. “We continually enrich our platform, avoiding customisation where possible to maintain flexibility. Being part of the fashion industry means we must constantly reinvent ourselves.”

Indeed, this partnership represents the next step in the reinvention of Colect and K3 Pebblestone.

With the native integration, everything stored within K3 Pebblestone can be visually presented in Colect’s platform and brought to employees’ fingertips, fuelling both collaboration and sales.

If you’d like to learn more about how Colect and K3 can support you, feel free to contact us today.