Lectra’s white paper states that as technology adoption increases, the competitive gap in fashion will widen – not between “digital” and “non-digital” companies, but between those that operate predictably and those that remain operational.
“Products that transform traceability, performance data, and AI into a single, profit-protecting system are the ones that will outperform their competition,” the study argues. “As economic uncertainty becomes the new baseline, the biggest risk for fashion brands is not failing to innovate – it’s operating without visibility.”
Brands are being urged to move away from delivering more data and instead find “better, more connected, decision-making data connected to truly vulnerable resources.”
Lectra says effective fashion brands no longer treat technology as an overlay; they are reorganizing how decisions are made in their organization.
“Technology is key to making that happen so that data is shared across design, sourcing, production and distribution. If measurements, materials, supplier capacity, and demand projections all live in one place, an organization can stop asking which set of numbers is the most accurate, and instead start solving problems before they become costly.”
PLM and connected manufacturing systems deliver ROI because they can use the same data, rules, and processes consistently across teams and seasons.
“In the programs, this looks like the development timelines are compressed because the approvals and feasibility tests go ahead of time. The production results are more predictable because there are fewer offers in the teams and the reconciliation is done manually. Speed-to-market improves because the conflict is removed which used to be accepted as “this is the way we work.” In the management teams, they get a single dataset that is an indicator to help portfolio level decisions,” reads the study.
The white paper also talks about the benefit of performance value tracking. When brands see materials and parts moving between suppliers and divisions — and can connect that movement to SKUs and POs — it reduces uncertainty, the most expensive variable in fashion. For example, if a quality problem arises from one supplier, orders can be resubmitted before finished goods are affected.
“This helps brands meet regulatory expectations while also improving efficiency and productivity. Exchanges can be validated against compliance data, not just prices. Supplier cards go from anecdote to evidence. And for extended leadership teams, compliance is a result of routine tasks, not last minute.”
