SucceSS Story

THE CHALLENGE

Before switching to Lectra Fashion PLM, the La Jolla Group (LJG) was using a cumbersome system of spreadsheets that were neither up-to-date, nor in sync with the company’s culture of technological innovation and cutting-edge performance products. This labor-intensive method did not provide central storage for data, images, or artwork, and accurate pre-costing was virtually impossible.

THE SOLUTION

Today, four of La Jolla Group’s six apparel brands are up and running with Lectra Fashion PLM. The Lectra Fashion PLM solution is helping them streamline the product development process for all brands, from design and merchandising, to pattern making and sourcing, with a final payoff of lower costs and shorter time-to-market. Integrated enterprise solutions dedicated to apparel finally allow designers to track changes, establish pre-costing, and collaborate across multiple sites with minimal labor.

“After an extensive amount of PLM market research and a seamless integration, La Jolla Group has finally found and deployed the solution that will take the process of product development and lifecycle management to the next level,” says Josh Wellington, Chief Operating Officer, LJG. “An apparel-centric PLM that understands and compliments the nuances of our industry has finally arrived.”

The La Jolla Group’s brand portfolio represents a diversity of specialty apparel for action sports including surf, skate, snow, and motocross, as well as beach lifestyle apparel and accessories. A dynamic company with efficiency, performance, innovation, and quality at its core, LJG recognized the need to improve design and development across its offering in order to keep up in a competitive market with rapid trend turnover.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

MARKETSurfwear • Action sportswear •Beachwear

LOCATIONIrvine, CA

CHALLENGETransform an unwieldy system of spreadsheets into a flexible, convenient product development tool

BENEFITSImproved communication • Reduced costs • Accurate pre-costing and calendaring

LECTRA SOLUTIONSThe only PLM solution developed esThe only PLM solution developed especially for fashion, Lectra Fashion PLM’s modular offer addresses col-lection development from the draw-ing board to the cutting room, includ-ing product development and virtual prototyping.

Coupled with Lectra’s consulting, Lectra Fashion PLM represents a revolutionary end-to-end approach to apparel and fashion development.

LECTrA fASHION PLM SUPPOrTS INNOvATION ANd drIvES

fOrWArd-thinkinG desiGn At LA jOLLA INDUSTRY: Fashion

A transparent development process

“Previously, our season’s information was manually tracked in an Excel file that was input not just once, but twice, by design-ers, merchandisers, etc.,” explains Jessica Redden, PLM administrator. The result was a confusing multiplicity of information silos and versions for any one style. To make mat-ters worse, there was no calendar to track changes. Inefficiencies were already costing money in the form of air-shipping and retailer discounts for late arrivals.

Enter Lectra Fashion PLM. Lectra’s Fashion PLM solution includes a central repository for all data, including graphics; a workflow system with timed milestones; a live cost-ing and margin estimate; and an internal communication system with an audit trail for internal and external exchanges.

Since implementing Lectra Fashion PLM, La Jolla Group has reduced a significant amount of manual work and addressed the problem of data silos. This means a cleaner process for designers, but also better communication from design to mer-chandising. “All of our data is captured in Lectra Fashion PLM and we can automati-cally generate the same report visualized in Excel, but now with the images included along with all the style information,” explains Scott Fitzpatrick, La Jolla Group’s Director of Business Intelligence. “Getting a report of all the data that was previously entered manually just threw it over the edge. It was an epiphany for our merchandisers!”

rusty brand solution

The initial project involved moving the Rusty brand on to the Lectra Fashion PLM plat-form. Data from LJG’s existing ERP system was integrated into Lectra Fashion PLM to maintain critical business functions.

An Adobe Illustrator integration on both Macintosh and PC enabled designers’ work to be automatically created or updated in Lectra Fashion PLM, while a color solution integrated the ERP and NRF codes with both marketing and technical names for seasonal colors. Coupled with an easy-to-use bill of materials (BoM) and a size, specification,

and fitting solution, designers have every-thing they need to control development from design to merchandising at their fingertips.

“It allows the design cycle to have a single consolidated dataset and has helped LJG move away from disparate data and manual processes,” says Wellington.According to Redden, the system is already showing benefits. Previously, La Jolla was forced to give retailers discounts because of late delivery, which cut into revenues. Because their system lacked organization and effective calendars, they often resorted to costly air shipping for samples or even retail-bound garments. Lectra Fashion PLM is helping them cut these costs.

An apparel-specific PLM

To maintain control, quality, and consis-tency and ensure that designers buy in to the system, La Jolla Group pre-loads all the fabrics, trims, and colorways needed for the season’s collection.

Designers then create their styles using Adobe Illustrator and the artwork is auto-matically pulled into Lectra Fashion PLM. The designer can then log on to the net-work, link the style to an image and choose the appropriate fabrics, trims, and color-ways to determine a BoM.

“The apparel-centric user interface addresses issues experienced in other PLM offerings by being more of a design environment, rather than having a rigid ‘engineering’ feel,” explains Wellington.

Pre-loaded LJG-specific libraries ensure cost and quality and help reduce error. Controlling access to BoM components gives a measure of control to designs as well, allowing everyone to capitalize on brand assets. Designers are spared repetitive administrative tasks and left to do what they do best—design.

Implementation experience

La Jolla Group wanted a fast and pain-less implementation, and Lectra met their deadline ahead of schedule.

The company says it is just scratching the surface of Lectra Fashion PLM. When the solution is fully implemented across all brands, they will be able to share select data with key partners around the globe, capitalizing on Lectra Fashion PLM’s com-munication services. They will have com-plete control over the entire lifecycle of every product in every brand.

“The biggest benefit from the designer standpoint is that it’s easy to use. The visual space makes sense to the design-ers and all of the users are quite happy,” says Redden.

About LectraLectra is the world leader in integrated technology solutions that automate, streamline, and accelerate product design, development, and manufacturing processes for industries using soft materials. Lectra develops the most advanced specialized software and cutting systems and provides associated services to a broad array of markets including fashion (apparel, accessories, footwear), automotive (car seats and interiors, airbags), and furniture, as well as a wide variety of other market sectors, such as aeronautical and marine industries, wind turbines, and personal protective equipment. Lectra serves 23,000 customers in more than 100 countries with 1,350 employees. The company is listed on NYSE Euronext.

lectra.com

La Jolla Group, inc.

La Jolla Group is the premiere multi-brand apparel licensing company, with a prominent portfolio that includes some of the most recognized names in fashion and action sports: O’Neill Clothing USA, Metal Mulisha Clothing, Rusty North America, The Berrics, and FMF Racing. La Jolla Group has cre-ated a diversified brand mix special-ized in surf, skate, snow, motocross, fashion and beach lifestyle.

With a variety of successful brands, over 400 employees across the U.S., and 10 successful retail locations, La Jolla Group continues to evolve. The groups brands are sold in over 3000 retailers across the US, and world-wide, including Europe, U.K., Canada, Latin America, Australia, and Japan.

For more information, visit www.lajollagroup.com.