From the Sector

On Thursday, March 22nd, C.L.A.S.S., with support from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), will invite fashion’s industry leaders, designers and members of the press to celebrate An Evening of Smart Innovation.  An exceptional team of artists, filmmakers, food and textile designers have created an immersive experience that will engage the guests’ senses highlighting that smart innovation is the new standard for fashion. The experience will examine the four key areas that are vital to C.L.A.S.S.’s business philosophy: Heritage - Smart Innovation - Circular Economy - Design Responsibility. The commitment to those principles and to forward thinking led to C.L.A.S.S. having been nominated as one of the European Business Awards 2017/2018 Ones to Watch for exceptional growth, significant innovation along with an ethical approach to business.

The March 22nd date is a deliberate choice as it marks International Water Day and serves as a way to advocate for sustainable water management, a key issue in textile manufacturing. Many of C.L.A.S.S.’s partners, such as ECOTEC® by Marchi&Fildi, Bemberg™ and ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei and TINTEX Textiles use technological breakthroughs to offer fashion materials that provide significant reductions in water during the manufacturing process, an important step toward responsible future fashion systems.

“In touting significant reductions in water, energy usage and CO2 emissions, C.L.A.S.S.’s  message has always been one of consistency but now with today’s customers becoming increasingly environmentally mindful, the timing has never been better to bring awareness to the ways that responsible sustainability can be incorporated, in an authentic way, into a fashion or lifestyle brand increasing the bottom line without compromising design integrity,” said C.L.A.S.S. founder Giusy Bettoni.

The future is already here; guests can see and feel materials during the event that showcase technological breakthroughs currently available. While C.L.A.S.S. works with leading brands that practice responsible design, the next step is to expand their reach and set a new level of standards that benefit the entire industry. To that end, they have identified C.L.A.S.S. Education, their new division, as an essential learning resource to support fashion schools. The new division was co-founded with James Mendolia, professor in the MFA Fashion Design program at Fashion Institute of Technology. C.L.A.S.S. will also launch C.L.A.S.S. e-commerce platform, which will sell partner materials to support emerging designers and fashion start-ups.

Thank you to all of our partners for making this event and the last ten years possible: Bacx by Centro Seta, Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei, ECOTEC® by Marchi & Fildi, Organic Cotton Colours, Re.VerSo™, ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei, TINTEX Textiles, Zignone.

Lectra brings together partnership schools and industry experts to discuss how changing professions
in fashion are impacting training programs

Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather,
technical textiles and composite materials, recently welcomed partners from the world of
education to the company’s Bordeaux-Cestas campus for its eighth education congress. The
event was dedicated to the mega trends shaping the fashion industry and impacting
professions from design to production.

Over fifty representatives from among the most important fashion schools in Germany, Canada, China,
USA, France, Hong Kong, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Sweden, participated
in this biannual meeting between industry experts and teaching professionals.

Fashion professions are evolving as companies make their first steps towards Industry 4.0, adopting 3D
and rationalizing the lifecycle management for their collections thanks to PLM. Lectra’s congress enabled
schools to discuss the developing role of designers and patternmakers, and the new elements to be
integrated into training programs.

Lectra illustrated future changes through presentations on design, patternmaking, 3D prototyping, and PLM.
“It is fundamental to bring innovation experts in the industry together with fashion schools, because
students will drive the evolution of this industry,” stated Pascal Denizart, Managing Director of the Centre
européen des textiles innovants (CETI).

Working with schools to design courses which meet the needs of fashion companies has always been at
the heart of Lectra’s education program. During the event, the company presented collaborative
experiences between partner schools and fashion brands, such as the competitions organised by Lectra
with Missoni, Balenciaga, and Armani in Italy, as well as Peacebird in China and JC Penney in the United
States.

In the United Kingdom, Lectra collaborated with COS (H&M group) and the Arts University Bournemouth
(AUB) for a competition centred on the design of a collection with zero waste.
“The process was totally digital, from design to the creation of a virtual prototype in 3D. Our students learnt
to optimize each stage of the process. By leveraging the use of Kaledo®, Modaris® and Diamino®, the
collaborative work between AUB, COS and Lectra is exactly the type of project that enormously motivates
our students. Live briefs developed with leading fashion brands and Lectra offer excellent opportunities
which directly inform industry currency and student employability,” explained Penny Norman, a lecturer at
AUB.

The event also shone the spotlight on China and its major role in the evolution of the fashion industry.
Li Min, Vice-Dean of the fashion and design faculty at Donghua university in Shanghai spoke of the event,
organized by Lectra, which brought together major Chinese companies, experts, and representatives from
the biggest schools in China.

“Exchanges on the impact of the Made in China 2025 plan on the fashion industry can better prepare
students for tomorrow’s professions, where digital and automation will occupy a far more central position
than today,” testified Li Min.

"The fashion industry is evolving so fast that sharing insights and best practices with experts and other
fashion schools has become vital to ensure we offer the best learning experience and technology tools to
our students", said Dr. Trevor J. Little, Professor of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management in
the College of Textiles at NC State University.

“Lectra’s eighth education congress confirms the company’s commitment to our partner schools. We
shared our analysis of the market, the digitalization of the eco-system, and how Industry 4.0 principles can
be applied to the fashion industry. We also discussed mass customization and the role of PLM. While these
are key subjects for our customers, many schools are only now approaching them. We are preparing
tomorrow, today: Lectra is supporting our customers, and schools to play an essential role,” concludes
Céline Choussy Bedouet, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Lectra.

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, has partnered with the popular color inspiration site Design Seeds, on a series of seasonal stories featuring colors found in the Color Atlas by Archroma®. Design Seeds founder Jessica Colaluca and the site have more than 1,250,000 followers combined across social media platforms, and Design Seeds itself gets around 300,000 viewers every month.

“Archroma Color Management and Design Seeds is a match made in heaven,” said Colaluca. “I had declined partnering with brands or incorporating sponsored content on the site for over seven years until I met the incredible folks at Archroma. Beyond our obvious shared passion for color, we share a dedication to empowering designers. And as a designer, I fell in love with the Color Atlas. It is a brilliant system overflowing with modern color.”

Through the site, Colaluca provides daily color stories, utilizing dynamic, thought-provoking images. In a new Design Seeds feature sponsored by Archroma she creates ‘seasonal atlas’ which offers storied vignettes of creative color and inspiration. Color Atlas by Archroma® codes are provided for all colors in the inspiration resource. The ‘seasonal atlas’ is catalogued on the Design Seeds site, distributed at trade shows and is available for download.

“It’s critical to designers working in today’s global fashion industry to select color that is achievable from the very start of a project,” says Chris Hipps, Global Director, Archroma Color Management. “Here at Archroma, our suite of color tools, from the Color Atlas to our online Color Search tool to our industry-renowned Engineered Color Standards, are all designed to help designers capture their inspiration, and ensure that their color choices remain consistent across global production processes.”

“We brainstormed on how to enhance what we can offer creatives through our partnership and that is when the concept of the ‘seasonal atlas’ was born. Through Archroma’s sponsorship, I am able to create the expanded inspiration resource on the site. And by featuring Color Atlas codes, folks are getting a gorgeous color match from concept to execution which I believe no other system can provide,” adds Colaluca.

When creating Design Seeds, Colaluca mixes each color swatch individually. She uses digital software much as she had gouache paint back in the early days of her career. For the seasonal atlas she then works with the Archroma team to translate her collection into selections from the 4,320 swatches in the six-volume Color Atlas. Fans of any color story can then refer to the Archroma color number which references swatches in the Color Atlas. Each color is readily available as an Engineered Color Standard and the digital reflectance data. All colors are also supported in Color Atlas Online (coloratlas.archroma.com) with dye formulas on multiple substrates, Hex, CMYK, sRGB values and a selection of surrounding similar Colors.