Lectra Unveils a Host of New and Updated Products

BORDEAUX, France—Sixty layers of thick, dark-blue denim were spread out across a brand-new automated cutting machine, bright lights blazing down.

Technicians in white coats, perched on either side of the machine, stood ready to display the latest quickturn technology that Lectra, a fashion-oriented software and hardware company based in Paris, had integrated into its newest cutting room–equipment models.

With a press of a button, the machine hummed, and two minutes later all 60 layers were precisely cut into back pockets, waistbands and legs that could be assembled into 60 pairs of pants.

Gazing upon this rapid-fire demonstration were apparel manufacturers flown in by Lectra from around the world to demonstrate that the company is on the cutting edge with its newest range of computer software programs and machinery that represent eight years of research and development.

Other programs unveiled during a two-day event in early February included Modaris 3-D Fit, which helps designers and patternmakers create and shape their fashion ideas on three-dimensional virtual mannequins while integrating different fabric specifications and color palettes with the click of a mouse. The result is saving time and making fewer samples.

“The world has changed drastically in the last two years,” said Lectra Chief Executive Daniel Harari, noting that more apparel and footwear companies are having to develop their products faster and more efficiently and relay all that information to overseas factories several time zones away. “We believe this is a major breakthrough in technology.”

Lectra has been one of several companies focusing on developing software, technology and equipment for the fashion, footwear and leather-goods industries. It is also developing programs for the automotive, marine and air sectors to make seat covers and air bags.

For the fashion industry, the French company unveiled its Lectra Fashion Product Lifecycle Management, a Web-based program where designers, manufacturers, brands and retailers exchange information on all product data. It also displayed its newest generation of VectorFashion automated cutting machines, which are faster, more energyefficient and send e-mail messages alerting owners when maintenance is required.

The programs and machines come at a good time. “This is a vital year, a year of globalization where quotas and borders no longer exist,” said Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Designers, based in Paris. He was referring to the fact that Europe’s quotas on Chinese-made textiles and apparel expire at the end of this year, opening the door for increased manufacturing in that country. The need to employ software that tackles language-barrier problems and improves the time it takes to make and deliver products is more important than ever.

Lectra, a $271 million company with 1,500 employees around the world, went all out to introduce its array of new products to 330 apparel companies, 50 journalists and 20 fashion-college professors from around the world. Attendees were given a tour of Lectra’s 24-acre research and development campus, located in a forested industrial park 18 miles outside of Bordeaux. The campus used to be Lectra’s headquarters until Daniel Harari and his brother, Andreacute;, chairman of the board, relocated the company’s headquarters to Paris after they invested in the organization in the early 1990s. The Hararis own 32 percent of the publicly traded organization. Today, about 56 percent of the company’s revenues comes from European customers. Another 18 percent comes from the United States.

Lectra’s low-slung, modern-looking buildings house the company’s warehouse, call center and R & D site. It was here that demonstrations were set up to show how some of Lectra’s updated software programs worked, from RomansCAD Software for shoe designers to Kaledo Style for apparel designers. All the company’s software programs will be available on Microsoft’s latest software program, Windows Vista, by June, Daniel Harari said.

Several manufacturers from North America attended the event. Jean Legal—who is in charge of information technologies, processes and systems for Cirque du Soleil in Montreal—works closely with the sophisticated circus’s costume-design department. The company started using Lectra’s Investronica software system two years ago for the patternmakers to quickly remake or refashion some of the troupe’s costume designs. “We’re not like a company in retail. We do one costume at a time. Everything is personalized on a person-to-person basis,” Legal said. “But the software program helps us reduce the design time to make our patterns. Before that, everything was done by hand.”

Mary Kay Lamarre, the design information services manager for St. John in Irvine, Calif., was taking in all the new software information. St. John uses Lectra’s Diamino software program for marker making, Modaris for pattern-making and a pre-PLM program for product data management. “We make an awful lot of samples, and we’re trying to reduce our design time,” Lamarre said. “We do all our grading in-house. Any time I can save that pattern-development area some time, I’m happy.”