California Apparel News

The recently held Lectra Technology Week, which was a series of production-oriented seminars, meetings and conferences, raked in one of the biggest and broadest audiences for the Atlanta-based technology provider, but the most important aspect about the week was that most of the participants didn’t have to leave their offices to attend the events.

Thanks to evolving Web conferencing technology provided by partnering firm WebEx, Lectra was able to draw more than 100 companies from 22 states and Canada, who tuned in via their computer terminals to online “webinars” and teleconference calls being held at Lectra’s New York showroom, where live events were also held.

Users were able to view demos of Lectra products including the Modaris pattern development and grading tools as well as tune into talks from industry experts including Steve Lamar of the American Apparel and Footwear Association and Elliot Schreiber and Lisa Quinn of swimsuit maker A.H. Schreiber.

Altogether, Lectra hosted just under 40 seminars and covered topics including global competition, digital printing, coloring, pattern making and design. While most of the week was devoted to events that were educational in nature, Lectra also had an opportunity to show off its latest products, including its U4ia Colorist package and 3D Visual Merchant. Some events were open to customers only but most were open to the trade. And all the meetings except for one in which a workstation crashed went smoothly, according to Lectra’s marketing manager, Tim Copeland.

That’s a far cry from the initial days of teleconferencing, when crashes and delays were rampant. Problems such as those are increasingly ceasing to be factors since firms including Silicon Valley-based WebEx and Placeware.com have recently brought new technology to Web conferencing.

“WebEx has changed conferencing technology from a database-centric model in which users have to log into a remote server and post data to one centered around a telecommunications network that allows for one server over high-speed data lines allowing for real-time voice activation and real-time video,” explained company spokesperson Colin Smith.

These advancements have finally made virtual meetings more feasible as the technology and cost factors begin to appeal to businesses. Three-year-old WebEx as a result has become one of the hottest tech companies on the street and has attracted firms including Lectra, Kodak, Toshiba and others.

But it’s not only the big companies that are using the service. WebEx has structured multiple levels of uses based on pay-per-use, subscription and a per-event basis. Prices can run as low as 45 cents per minute per user or cost around $100 per month. The consensus for most companies is that it’s substantially lower than the combined costs of plane tickets, hotel rooms, meals, etc. Lectra’s headquarters in Paris bought into a global package and is hosting online meetings around the world.

Using the Web conference concept, Lectra expanded its usual one-day conference into a week-long event and was able to draw a wider guest list since most of the day-long seminars are usually held in Los Angeles or New York and cater to local markets. That’s important, said Copeland, because of the growing global marketplace, which has expanded the apparel industry’s reach to freelancers and manufacturers popping up beyond the usual garment power centers.

Company president David Siegelman noted, “We are seeing successful companies focus on the fundamentals of their businesses and reduce their product development cycle time with the use of integrated technology.”

Added Copeland, “It’s all about being more efficient.”

Web conferencing adds to the growing list of resources that are making it easier to conduct business from one place. Online showrooms are allowing buyers to see lines over the Web. Collaboration software is allowing companies to work on product together from different sites. And nester tools are making it easy to make markers over the Internet.

There’s still a growth and learning curve, however. Participants in Lectra Technology Week still had to dial into a toll-free telephone conference for the audio portion of their webinars because of the graphic-intensive nature of Lectra’s presentations. But it is possible to do everything online, and eventually users can play back sessions they missed.

“That’s the next step,” said Copeland.