National Outdoor Retailer REI Selects MatrixOne PLM to Manage End-to-End Product Lifecycle and Speed Time- to-Market for REI Brand Outdoor Gear and Apparel

Business Wire, May 3, 2006

WESTFORD, Mass. -- MatrixOne, Inc. (NASDAQ: MONE), a leading provider of collaborative product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions for the value chain(TM), today announced that Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), a national retailer of specialty outdoor gear and clothing, has standardized on the MatrixOne Accelerator for Apparel Design and Development(TM). REI has deployed the MatrixOne apparel solution to manage the enterprise product development lifecycle for its private brands REI and Novara; from R&D, to line planning, design, development and sourcing. By replacing legacy systems and manual processes with the MatrixOne apparel solution, REI is reducing its time to market from line planning through delivery by approximately a third.

The MatrixOne Accelerator for Apparel Design and Development enables REI to clearly establish and communicate design, performance and business criteria; fully populate a materials and component reference library with well tested options; manage all design activities and information--including sketch, CAD, and robust style toolboxes; facilitate all aspects of the development process including BOM, specification, and construction details; and optimize its sourcing strategies through smart management of product placement and costing. Essentially the MatrixOne apparel solution lets REI manage product research, design, development and sourcing across a complex global value chain with a single, Web-based system, and allows the company to further build its private brands by providing cohesiveness and collaboration between REI's Gear and Apparel team, its product merchants, and its vendor partners.

"The MatrixOne deployment has enabled us to work smarter because we now have a single version of the truth," said Kevin Myette, director of Research and Development for REI. "The Apparel Accelerator supports the development, engineering and fully testing of innovative concepts, materials and components and also enforces one product development process rather than multiple, disjointed activities. For REI, shortened design and development cycles means great products to market faster. For our customers it means they get the high performance products they want and need - at the right time. This is a serious competitive advantage."

The MatrixOne Accelerator for Apparel Design and Development is a comprehensive, commercially available solution that provides standard apparel industry data models and schema, pre-defined work processes and reports, as well as role-based user interfaces to speed deployment and ease user adoption. This solution is built on top of MatrixOne's industry leading PLM platform and business process applications to provide scalability, performance and the flexibility to keep pace with the ever-quickening pace of business.

The MatrixOne apparel industry solution offers broad and robust library management capabilities for organizing information such as colors, fabrics, trim, build instructions and other key elements to assist in reuse, standardization, collaboration and access control across the extended enterprise. In addition, capabilities for product design and planning, product costing and strategic sourcing are included to encompass all aspects of the apparel design, development and production lifecycle.

"Savvy apparel companies now recognize that they need PLM in order to compete globally. These companies are under increasing pressure to produce innovative products each season and get them in the stores quickly, all while reducing costs," said Kurt Andersen, vice president of industry solutions at MatrixOne. "We've made the move to PLM incredibly easy for our apparel customers by incorporating the industry's best practices into a single, Web-based solution. Now, apparel companies can get all the specific features for dealing with the materials and processes for the apparel industry in one easy to use, rapidly implementable package."

About REI

REI is a national outdoor retail cooperative, committed to inspiring, educating and outfitting for a lifetime of outdoor adventure. Founded in 1938 by a group of Pacific Northwest mountaineers seeking quality equipment, REI is today the nation's largest consumer co-op with more than 2.5 million active members. REI offers products from all of the top brands for camping, climbing, cycling, hiking, outdoor cross-training, paddling, snow sports and travel, including its own lines of award-winning gear and apparel. While anyone may join or shop at REI, members pay a one-time $15 fee and receive a share in the company's profits through an annual member refund based on their purchases. REI currently operates stores in 25 states, two online stores - REI.com and REI-OUTLET.com - and an adventure travel company, REI Adventures. A portion of REI's profits is set aside each year for support of environmental stewardship and outdoor recreation causes. REI is a top ten company in Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to work for in America and has been on the list since its inception.