Altex’s Supply Chain Director, Socrates Gillis, believes the biggest risk facing a scaling fashion brand isn’t moving too fast on new technology, but rather waiting too long to do so.
Altex has been growing fast. The European fashion retailer which owns Funky Buddha brand and the wholesale distribution of Tom Tailor, now reaches more than 80 stores and 250 distribution points across Greece, Romania, Georgia, North Macedonia and South Africa. That growth is exactly what pushed its supply chain function past the limits of the tools it had, says Socrates Gillis, Altex’s Supply Chain Director.
“Don’t wait for the perfect moment,” Gillis says, looking back on the decision. “It rarely comes.” It’s advice he gives freely to other retailers weighing the same choice Altex once faced, and one it’s now putting into practice with Nextail’s AI-driven merchandising platform, with go-live planned for early September.
For Altex, Gillis explains the decision to upgrade, “It wasn’t really one single moment. It built up over the last one to two years as we kept growing rapidly.”
The core issue was replenishment and getting the right product to the right store fast enough, across a network that had outgrown what a spreadsheet, or even an in-house tool, could realistically handle.
“The core challenge was mainly replenishment: getting the right product to the right store fast enough, without ending up with stockouts on one side and excess stock on the other,” he says. “Our in-house tool had reached its limits. It was hard to maintain, hard to scale, and honestly, the technology behind it wasn’t going to carry us into the future we wanted.”
When Altex evaluated its options, the decision came down to four factors. “The cost made sense, this was critical for us,” Gillis says. “We liked their approach to running the project. The solution covered our needs, and it offered flexibility and simplicity while still being built on cutting-edge technology, including AI.”
Altex is currently in the onboarding and testing phase, with go-live planned in the coming months. But Gillis says the impact of the partnership is already visible, well before the platform goes live. “The cooperation has been very efficient,” he says. “Their project team is excellent, and we feel fully supported at every step.”
Adopting an AI tool is as much a change-management challenge as a technical one, and Gillis is candid about what that’s meant for his team. “Overall, the team was very positive about starting a new project. There’s real enthusiasm about modernizing how we work,” he says. “Like with any change, there’s some natural anxiety, and for a few months there’s extra pressure alongside daily work. But the team has stayed fully aligned with the goals and vision behind the project, and that’s made all the difference.”
Ask Gillis whether he worries about AI replacing the expertise he’s built over years in the field, and the answer comes without hesitation. “I see AI as a graduate assistant that removes repetitive manual work, so we can spend our time on the decisions that need human judgment: understanding a brand, reading the market, managing exceptions,” he says.
“AI can process data faster than any of us, but it doesn’t replace experience. It gives experience better information to work with, especially in fashion, where trends and customer taste still need human reading. It’s not a replacement. It’s a way to make our judgment even sharper and faster.”
Looking ahead to what AI-driven allocation, replenishment and store transfers will mean day to day, Gillis is thinking beyond time saved. “I expect it to free up time we spend on manual analysis, so we can focus on decisions that really move the business,” he says. “It should also mean faster reaction to sell-through, better availability, less excess stock in the wrong place, and a more consistent way of working.”
Scaling a brand like Funky Buddha while keeping service levels high, he says, is one of retail’s toughest challenges and one he sees AI as directly addressing. “I’m hoping for faster store-level allocation and replenishment decisions across all our markets, so we can keep expanding without the usual growth inefficiencies,” he says. “In short, turning inventory management into a genuine competitive advantage.”
Asked if he’d go back and adopt AI earlier, Gillis’s answer is measured. “Honestly, yes and no,” he says. “The timing made sense given our growth and our old tool’s limits. But looking back, building the capability earlier gives you more room to scale efficiently before growth outpaces your systems.”
It’s a nuance that sits alongside his broader advice to any retailer facing the same crossroads Altex once did: “Don’t wait for the perfect moment, it rarely comes. The longer anybody stays with a tool that can’t scale, the more it costs as you grow, and the more it limits your potential in the market. What’s mattered most for us is choosing a partner who understands retail, not just software, and who works through the implementation with you, beside you.”
For Gillis, that partnership is the throughline. “Funky Buddha and I appreciate a win-win cooperation with Nextail,” he says. “We’re convinced it will give us one more competitive advantage throughout our expansion.”
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