From the Sector

Focus on Sustainability and Climate Change

Passion for Cotton: The 35th International Cotton Conference Bremen starts on 25 March in the Hanseatic city’s historic Town Hall. But before subject-specific questions are discussed in depth in the individual sessions, the concise and inspiring keynotes by leading business experts from science and industry will draw attention to the current trends and challenges in the industry at the start of the conference. A large part of the presentations is shaped by the current discussion on environmental and sustainability issues and the resulting consequences for the global economy.

Climate Change and Sustainability

“Climate change - a storm in a teacup?” asks Kai Hughes, Executive Director of the International Cotton Advisory Committee, Washington D.C., USA, in a provocative speech. The aim of his presentation is to work out the challenges of climate change especially for agriculture and cotton production. This should form the basis for later discussion on concrete approaches and solutions within the cotton community.

With his lecture “The HUGO BOSS sustainability programme ... and what our customer has to do with it” Andreas Streubig, Director of Global Sustainability at Hugo Boss AG, Metzingen, Germany, rolls up the textile value chain from a different angle, starting at the consumer level. As a representative of a premium brand for women's and men's clothing, Streubig discusses sustainability as a strategic element of the corporate strategy and provides information on how elements of the strategy are being implemented at Hugo Boss.

Rüdiger Senft, Head of Sustainability at Commerzbank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, looks at the changing role of banks in financing the cotton market. In addition to a general introduction to the topic of sustainability and banking regulation, Senft's presentation deals with the financing of the cotton trade from a social and ecological point of view.
The opening session on 25 March is hosted by Bill Ballenden, founder and owner of Dragontree, Swindon, UK, an online auction platform for the cotton trade. As a former cotton manager for Louis Dreyfus in Europe and Asia, Bill Ballenden has many years of experience in the industry.

Cross-Cutting Issues: Digitalisation, Gender, Value Chains

The subsequent session in the conference programme with the headline “A Wider View” is devoted to currently defining trends and important cross-cutting issues in the industry. This goes far beyond classic cotton themes.

A lecture by Mark Messura, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain Marketing for Cotton Incorporated, Cary, North Carolina, deals with the role of cotton in an increasingly digitally controlled supply chain. Significant keywords here are faster delivery times, vertical integration, transparency and traceability.

The presentation by Roger Gilmartin, Managing Director of Tri-Blend Consulting, Charlotte, USA, entitled “The secret recipe for timely, cost-optimised and high-quality cotton clothing” promises exciting and enlightening insights. Tri-Blend Consulting conducts studies on the performance of different cotton varieties during the entire consumption process to the finished yarn and evaluates them from an economic point of view.

Amy Jackson, from the Better Cotton Initiative, London, UK, presents ICA Liverpool's “Women in Cotton” initiative. With this commitment, the initiative aims to increase the influence of women in the cotton industry and give them a stronger voice, for example by building networks in cooperation.

Navdeep Singh Sodhi, International Strategic Management Consultant at the Gherzi Textile Organisation, Switzerland, gives an insight into the current development of the value chain for cotton, textiles and clothing in Africa. Looking ahead to the coming decades, also in view of population growth, Africa is seen as having a high potential for building economic structures to improve income and prosperity.

Thomas Schneider, Professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and active in the field of production planning and control, textile materials and materials testing will host the session. A leading light in his field, Thomas Schneider has more than 30 years of experience in scientific and application-oriented research in the textile and fibre sector, including at the Fibre Institute Bremen e.V.

By combining the Lectra and Kubix Lab offers, Lectra will equip fashion customers with a revolutionary platform for managing product information.

Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, announces the signing of a share purchase agreement to acquire the entire capital and voting rights of the Italian company Kubix Lab.

Founded at the end of 2015, Kubix Lab has developed a cutting-edge technological offer called Link. This offer enables fashion brands to manage, from end-to-end, all product information deriving notably from multiple IT systems (ERP, PDM, PLM…), within one single application. Users can modify, enrich or add new data, while maintaining data synchronization with all IT systems. In just a few months, Link has convinced over ten high-end Italian brands of its value.

“We were particularly impressed by the relevance of the solution created by Kubix Lab,” underlines Daniel Harari, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lectra. “By capitalizing on their knowledge of best practice, the founders of Kubix Lab knew how to develop an offer perfectly adapted to the expectations of fashion companies. Link enables all players involved in product development, manufacturing and sales to collaborate in real time, in a simple and efficient way, around exactly the same data.”

“We are delighted to join Lectra. We are convinced its leadership, global presence, strong expertise in the fashion industry and the richness of its product portfolio will enable us to develop an integrated offer with high value for all Lectra customers,” states Giampaolo Urbani, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Kubix Lab.

The founders of Kubix Lab will be in charge of developing an integrated Lectra – Link offer, which will complement - and reinforce - Lectra’s entire offer.

“Product data is at the heart of Link. We took an approach diametrically opposed to existing solutions on the market and designed an offer which is highly innovative, flexible, evolutionary and easy to use,” explains Pierluigi Beato, R&D director and co-founder of Kubix Lab. “With Lectra, we will take Link to the next level.”

The transaction involves the entire acquisition of Kubix Lab for the maximum amount of €7 million: €3 million paid when the acquisition agreement is signed; €1.3 million and €2.7 million paid respectively in 18 and 36 months’ time, providing objectives are met.

Final completion of the acquisition should take place by January 31, 2018.

These amounts will come from Lectra’s available cash, with no financing from the bank. Kubix Lab will be consolidated into Lectra’s accounts, effective from the signature of the final agreement.