Lectra, recently hosted, in Bordeaux-Cestas, France, a seminar focusing on the use of 3D technologies in the fashion product development process.
The event, which brought together over 40 delegates from around the world, centered on how fashion companies can benefit from integrated 3D technology to optimize and streamline the end-to-end collection development process to improve competitiveness.
Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO and Anastasia Charbin, Fashion Marketing Director, kicked off the two-day event with insights into the current state of the market and projected evolutions. Emphasis was placed on the growing need for companies to assess the relevance of their business models in a reset economy and to meet growing demand for innovation from consumers across the world. Special focus was placed on the importance of linking design and product development to stand out in a market that is increasingly plagued by sameness.
An afternoon round table discussion focused on the new era in product development being ushered in by 3D technology. Participants included Lotta Silow, Pattern Maker and Pattern Coordinator, KappAhl; Gilberto Santos, General Director, Cordeiro Campos; Laurinda Campos, Quality Manager, Cordeiro Campos; Felicite Middle, Category Technical Manager at Tesco’s F&F; Anita Heiberg, Founder, 13dresses.com and Souraya Bouwmans-Sarraf, Director of AMFI-Amsterdam Fashion Institute. The round table allowed these very different entities to share their experiences and best practices. Leonie Barrie, Managing Editor of Just Style, moderated.
“The presentations given during the event confirmed our experience with Lectra 3D technology,” said Gilberto Santos, General Director at Cordeiro Campos, a Portuguese garment manufacturer that has been a Lectra partner since 1996 and a 3D user since 2011. “In addition to reducing prototypes by 20%, we are now able to deliver to our clients faster and with less waste.”
“Lectra technology allows us to see a 3D image of the product before we sample. If you bear in mind that the first sample demands the most changes, then being able to cut that out has enormously beneficial implications for product development over time,” said Felicite Middle. “I believe it will allow us to develop better, certainly more consistent, products especially in terms of sizing and grading.”
“We find 3D very useful for plus-size ladies wear. It’s hard to get a good fit in larger sizes. Using Lectra 3D, we can test many different elements which we don’t have time to do with physical samples. It’s helpful to be able to visualize prints as well, because the scale of a print doesn’t always look right in larger sizes,” says Lotta Silow.
“The round table was a great opportunity to hear real users talk about their experience with 3D,” said Anita Heiberg, founder at 13dresses. “While I am very interested in the way 3D technology supports sustainable fashion, it was nice to see it being used in different ways to achieve different goals linked to time and cost reduction. The shared experiences demonstrated what a universally powerful tool 3D is.”
Customers were also given a demonstration of Lectra’s lean cutting room, developed to support operational excellence at the production stage. A visit of the technology campus rounded out the event and gave participants an insight into the workings of Lectra.
