Swimwear brand Arena selects Lectra PLM solution

Lectra, the world leader in integrated technological solutions dedicated to the soft goods industries, announces that Arena has chosen its PLM solution.

Lectra Fashion PLM will allow Arena to capitalize on its know-how and to optimize the product development process, as well as to improve the communication flow with its suppliers of finished products.

One of the leading swimwear brands, Arena is the reference for athletes and water-sports lovers all over the world.

Founded back in 1973, Arena combines an acute sense of design, product innovation and use of advanced technology to meet the needs of its customers, as well as of many of the greatest swimmers in the world, such as Laure Manaudou, Filippo Magnini, Massimiliano Rosolino, Roland Schoemann, Ryk Neethling, Lazlo Cseh and Otylia Jedrzejczak.

“We chose Lectra and its Lectra Fashion PLM solution because we were looking for a partner who was familiar with our industry and understood our challenges. We are sure to gain from Lectra’s experience and the quality of its support,” stated Cristiano Portas, CEO of the Arena Group.

Innovating and capitalizing on company know-how
New cuts, new materials, and new components: Arena is constantly looking for new sources of inspiration, while also relying on its past experience and know-how to nourish innovation. All these assets are available in real time using Lectra Fashion PLM to rapidly define new specifications and shorten time-to-market.

Shortening design and development time
Arena’s Design and Development department can be considered as the real “heart” of the company. Work done by the Design office has repercussions at all company levels, meaning that an efficient information and process flow is a must. A single work environment used by the Waterwear and Activewear product managers and designers, as well as by the sourcing and cost control department, will ensure consistency throughout the collection lines covering several product categories. It will also limit errors by allowing the whole team to work with a single, common and shared set of data.

As a result, Lectra Fashion PLM will enable the synchronization of products and collection development, via simultaneous, real-time monitoring of the key development stages. Arena will fully benefit from the complementary nature of Lectra's business and organizational applications, in particular for design and pattern-making.

With production mainly performed in the Far East, Arena needs to monitor its sourcing activities as closely as possible, as well as to control its purchase costs. Lectra Fashion PLM will enable effective management of iterative sourcing and prototype development processes by facilitating data access and information sharing between Arena and its suppliers. Lectra Fashion PLM will also provide accurate monitoring of fabric consumption and costs.

Also quality of products will improve, thanks to theimplementation of a quality assurance process throughout the whole manufacturing cycle.

The Arena group, one of the world’s leading companies in the “Waterwear” category, recorded revenues of €105 million in 2006. Based in Tolentino, Italy, the Group is structured with four main business units (Italy, France/Belgium, Germany/Austria/Netherland/Switzerland and International Business) and four Global Strategic Functions (Marketing, Design & Development, Sourcing and F&A/IT).