Aptean Apparel ERP, Full Circle Lite Edition Case Study: REBEL8

1 Aug 2023

Headline

REBEL8 Optimizes Warehouse and Inventory Management for Continued Growth

In 2003, Josh Draper founded REBEL8 with just $500. Working out of his small San Francisco studio apartment, he was on a mission to deliver authentic clothing featuring original artwork that merged graffiti, punk and tattoo cultures. Just over five years later, he built a streetwear company that shipped apparel to stores across North America, the UK, Europe, Australia and China.

The Challenge

In the company’s early days, Draper was able to use QuickBooks to perform basic accounting tasks like tracking income and expenses. As REBEL8 grew more complex, he utilized add-on components and solutions from third-party vendors to meet new operational and management needs. But the company still didn't have the visibility it needed in financials, inventory or warehouse operations. Other challenges included:

Entry-level accounting system limited insight and growth
Inefficient, manual warehouse operations
Disparate systems hindered visibility into inventory and sales
Unreliable electronic data interchange (EDI) jeopardized key business opportunities

“We were doing a lot more business with major retailers and they required EDI compliance to accept and send orders. At the time, our system was pretty awful and I wasn’t happy with it. I knew there has to be something better.” Draper commented on the challenges REBEL8 was facing.

“I think there comes a point in time for every apparel brand, that if you’re trying to run a successful business and grow, it is impossible to do so without a fashion-specific ERP system.”

Josh DraperCEOREBEL8

The Solution

It was clear that REBEL8 needed a more powerful, fashion-specific enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to solve its challenges and enable future growth, so Draper reached out to his apparel industry peers for recommendations.

With features designed for the apparel industry, Aptean’s fashion ERP offered REBEL8:

A single source of truth to improve visibility and enable sales performance tracking
Precise inventory levels and faster inventory turns
More accurate production schedules and reduced chargebacks
Management dashboards showing daily shifts, inventory, accounts receivable and accounts payable at a glance

“When I asked around, Aptean Apparel ERP kept coming up as the crème de la crème.” said Draper. “That’s when I said, let’s make the move to do this.”

The Implementation

From the initial kickoff meeting to full go-live, REBEL8 benefitted from Aptean’s partnership-driven approach to implementation.

“The professional services team was very helpful. I was always able to hop on a phone call or send an email,” Draper recalled. “Technical support was always responsive within 24 hours, which was cool because I remember that initially I needed a lot of hand holding.”

The experienced Aptean team is always on hand to offer best practice guidance, technical expertise and by-your-side support to REBEL8 to ensure the company gets the most from the system now and into the future.

“Without a fashion-specific ERP, you really can’t see what you’re doing in your business. If you’re looking at Aptean Apparel ERP, don’t look anywhere else, I believe it’s the best and it worked wonders for REBEL8.”

Josh DraperCEOREBEL8

The Result

Implementing Aptean Apparel ERP helps REBEL8 achieve absolute visibility, transparency, and accountability in all aspects of its business.

Gained real-time data visibility for accounting and inventory management
Improved visibility and measurement of sales KPIs with a single source of truth
Achieved EDI compliance, allowing the company to scale and grow
Automated warehouse operations with UPC generation and maintenance

“Prior to Aptean Apparel ERP, we had too many problems in the warehouse. We knew we wanted a barcode system to scan things like purchase ordering,” Draper shared. “Once we implemented Aptean Apparel ERP, we were able to generate UPCs and send out POs and CSV files with all of the barcode information. Now it’s like second nature.”

In addition to streamlined processes and warehouse automation, Draper now has complete visibility across the entire business. “The absolute transparency and accountability of the solution. It’s such a truthful snapshot of your business and to me, that’s absolutely invaluable,” he noted.

“It is incredibly powerful because you know down to the penny exactly how much money you have or should have.” Draper remarked. “There’s no loss of money, nothing can escape Aptean Apparel ERP.”

This visibility helps REBEL8 better manage operations, control expenses and boost profitability—steering the company toward continued growth.

Ready To Button Up Your Operations With Aptean Apparel Software?

At Aptean, we know apparel. With dedicated in-house teams that live and breathe your industry and a specialized software suite designed to solve your sector-specific challenges, we can help you power your digital transformation and accelerate growth.

Whether you’re looking to streamline warehouse operations, improve financial controls, enhance demand planning, accelerate time to market, boost shop floor productivity or replace manual, repetitive processes, we’ve got you covered with our full apparel solution suite.

By choosing one software vendor for your entire tech stack, you can reduce complexity and communication issues between third-party vendors, streamline implementations and unlock improved scalability. With a strategic partner like Aptean by your side, you get out-of-the-box value and speedy ROI, allowing you to focus on what you do best—growing your business.

To get started, check out our fashion systems below, read more apparel customer success stories or get in touch with our experts today to arrange a personalized demo.