Lectra announces new product development solution

In order to develop styles with a minimum of errors and wasted time, pattern-makers need fast, accurate and powerful tools. Lectra‘s newly enhanced Modaris solution meets these challenges.

“The devil is in the details,” says Anastasia Charbin, Fashion Marketing Director, Lectra. “Product development teams need to have accurate information from the early stages of collection development. The more precise the patterns are, for example, the closer to the designer’s creative ideas the final result will be.”

Modaris V7R2 includes several improvements that streamline pattern development and offer additional options for increased speed, flexibility and control. Chiefly, Lectra now includes an innovative new tool for creating pleats, among other updates.

A professional pattern development solution

For years, Modaris has featured the concept of intelligent links that connect pattern components together so that if one piece is modified, the modification cascades to all adjoining pieces; this way of working significantly reduces the risk of error when fine-tuning or creating new designs.

Modaris also features the ability to link grading to pattern pieces and the option of modifying measurements on the piece itself, or via a dynamic measurement chart. Once a piece has been modified, all linked pieces and grading follow suit, delivering a considerable time savings as non-value added work is eliminated. It is much easier to respect the original sloper or basic block that often defines fit.

An amazing new pleats tool

Built on this engine now comes an amazing new pleats tool. Pleats, meticulous folds of fabric arranged in various dimensions and directions, are very time-consuming to develop and the risk of making a mistake is high, especially when producing different size ranges and applying different sets of grade rules—all while trying to keep up with the accelerated pace of fashion. In short, even the most experienced pattern-makers find creating and grading pleats to be a painstaking challenge.

“60% of our next collection involves pleats. With this enhanced version of Modaris, the unfolded pieces are automatically calculated, reducing pattern errors by a factor of 3 and minimizing fabric costs,” says Daniel Frégier, Production Manager at Cotélac, the well-known French ready-to-wear brand.

By using this smart pleats tool, designers save time in style development and industrialization. “We have already noticed a time-savings of 50% for designs with pleats,” adds Daniel Frégier.