Lectra explores innovation in fashion with Drapers

The Innovation in Fashion Report was part of a project carried out by leading fashion retail publication Drapers with the aim of defining the role of innovation in today’s fashion industry.

The report sheds light on attitudes to innovation among fashion companies. One of the findings of the report is that 95% of respondents to a Drapers survey claim to integrate innovation or new technologies into their business in some way. These findings were discussed at the round-table event, held in London last month, which brought together some of the best-known fashion brands in the UK, including Marks & Spencer, Jaeger, Monsoon Accessorize and Reiss. Topics ranged from the use of retailer smart phone applications to collaborative enterprise technology.

Judy Gnaedig – Strategic Projects Director, Fashion at Lectra – described some of the changes currently taking place in the fashion industry, largely thanks to product lifecycle management (PLM). “This technology helps all teams working within the same business process collaborate effectively and share the same information in real time,” she commented.

“Designers, for example, are able to have access to more product development activities, in addition to purely design activities, thus widening their input into the final product. This is bringing quite substantial benefits to companies by helping them to improve their efficiency without compromising on quality,” she added.

Participants also discussed how fashion companies can experience data management issues as a result of limited connectivity to product development systems. “Having the correct information available, to the right people, at the right time is absolutely essential. Quick and easy searching, tracking and reporting is key, as this enables informed decision making, and increased flexibility and responsiveness, as well as driving quality and time reduction initiatives,” said Glenn Littlewood, Strategic Accounts Director, Fashion at Lectra.