ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015 - 70

ÉCOLE
Céline ABECASSIS-MOEDAS and Valérie MOATTI (91)*

Luxury, fashion
and technology
The fast development pace of technologies is a challenge for numerous traditional
industries. The analysis of luxury and fashion industries shows that it is possible
to reconcile tradition and technology.

In fact, fashion and luxury are based on handcrafts, where handmade is central.
Even the Pope seems to have embarked on the
technology trend and has now more than 10 million followers on Twitter! Compared to that, fashion
and luxury industries may appear as islands of
tradition, resisting the adoption of numerous technological innovations. In fact, fashion and luxury
are based on handcrafts, where handmade is central. The share of labour cost in the final cost of a
garment, shoe or accessory is the main argument
used by ready-to-wear fashion firms to offshore
manufacturing to Asia. At the other extreme, luxury
brands, protect handcraft skills going as far as
integrating workshops. Technology in fashion and
luxury is considered either as a threat or just as
inadequate.
Technology is at the heart of innovation
At the same time, technology is at the heart of
innovation in fashion and luxury for numerous

- ESCP Europe Magazine N° 158 - Janvier/Février 2015

decades. In the 20th century and particularly since
the 1960s, the fashion industry has evolved from
made-to-measure to mass production and ready-to-wear. The industrialisation has only been
possible with the development of machines and
technologies allowing the creation and diffusion
of standards across brands and manufacturers.
Lectra*, world leader in integrated technology
solutions for industries using soft materials, has
played a key role in this development. Lectra, in
partnership with Fédération française de la haute
couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des
créateurs de mode, has developed a common
language between the different players in the
value chain. It developed new technologies such
as Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing
(CAD-CAM) tools, as well as smart services and
PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions.
Apart from technology, these evolutions have
been followed by a professionalization of skills,
practice and the evolution of business models,
turning fashion into an exemplary case. In parallel,
as an additional proof of such professionalization,
more and more graduates from leading engineering and business schools have been recruited in
luxury and fashion industries for the past 15-20
years and are now exerting top executive positions. Specifically, many ESCP Europe Alumni
are now leading luxury and fashion companies, as
exemplified through this special issue.
Innovation makes differenciation
As far as manufacturing and innovation through
technology are concerned, the Italian fashion
group Benetton was the first one to implement
and benefit from late differentiation by moving the
dyeing process to a much later stage in the operation so that clothing could be dyed in response
to consumer demand for particular colours. It was

ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015

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