Sports clothing giant harnesses creativity and control for design and development with industrial software
Sports clothing giant harnesses creativity and control for design and development with industrial software
La Jolla Group has recently completed the successful implementation of Lectra Fashion product lifecycle management (PLM) software.
Headquartered in California, La Jolla Group is one of the world’s biggest producers of surf, skate, motocross, and youth lifestyle apparel, whose portfolio includes iconic brands such as O’Neill Clothing USA, Rusty Clothing and Metal Mulisha Clothing.
“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,” said Josh Wellington, La Jolla Group chief operating officer. “An apparel-centric PLM that understands and compliments the nuances of our industry has finally arrived.”
Streamlining manual processes
Before adopting Lectra Fashion PLM, La Jolla Group used a system of spreadsheets that required manual data entry and updating, and left some departments such as design and merchandising feeling disconnected from the development process. Recognising these frustrations, La Jolla Group sought a solution and chose Lectra for its fashion-specific development processes and functionality.
“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,” added Wellington. “It allows for the design cycle to have a single consolidated dataset and has helped LJG move away from disparate data and manual processes.”
Lectra Fashion PLM also integrates easily with La Jolla Group’s Macintosh-based design environment. A visual user setting with image libraries and a standard bill of materials facilitated adoption by all teams, including design. Designers can now communicate styles and trends, but also have control over pre-costing, helping to ensure that budgets and production constraints are adhered to.
Standardising development lifecycle
By aligning the entire team globally and giving members lifecycle control over design, pattern making, merchandising, sourcing, production, and printables, the company can now consistently meet market deadlines.
Scott Fitzpatrick, La Jolla Group’s director of business intelligence, who supported the project, added: “Lectra’s multi-disciplinary team was always on top of making sure we continued to push towards the next steps in the project scope to ensure we wouldn’t miss deadlines and get the project going. This was key.”
The initial project was implemented ahead of schedule. La Jolla Group also said it was so pleased with the results that the scope was recently expanded to include its entire portfolio of brands and supplier base.
