Paris, July 16, 2008 – Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to the fashion industry, and the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (National Chamber for Italian Fashion—CNMI), today announced the launch of the second “Fashion Incubator Project” enabling designers from young Italian companies to design their first collections for presentation at Milan Fashion Week from September 20 to 27, 2008.

The Fashion Incubator program: discovering talent!

Following the success of the “Next Generation” and “reGeneration” projects, Lectra and CNMI are pursuing their initiatives to support young talent in Italian fashion. This year the jury chose to honor eight young designers: Andres Caballero/SAN ANDRES, Chicca Lualdi/BeQueen, Valentina Vizzio and Elena Pignata/A.VE, Federico Sangalli/FEDERICO SANGALLI, Gilda Giambra/GILDA GIAMBRA, and finally, Juan Caro and Fabio Sasso /LEIT MOTIV.

As an award, Lectra has made its Kaledo range available to these young designers so they can develop their brand new collections more efficiently for presentation at the traditional Fashion Week in Milan in September.

The Kaledo suite offers them an innovative solution that can visually translate what they want to express through shapes and styles, elegance, and emotion. A rich vocabulary is at the designers’ fingertips for designing and combining colors, fabrics, textures, styles, etc. In addition to these essential skills, designers also benefit from a design environment that takes account of the production constraints of the fashion world, so that creative imagination and profitability objectives remain compatible.

“Designers can waste a lot of time on repetitive tasks that have little to do with their creative abilities. Solutions like Kaledo, specifically conceived for the fashion industry, enable designers to focus on their principal task of designing original, innovative collections,” explained Mario Boselli, President of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.

Lectra and CNMI: a stronger partnership

Begun almost a year ago, the partnership between Lectra and CNMI—established to coordinate, govern, and promote the development of Italian fashion globally—aims to support budding entrepreneurs from the fashion world by giving them access to innovative, highly effective solutions to encourage their creativity and competitiveness. Consequently, Lectra is now involved in all the key fashion events and conferences in Italy, including the famous runway shows in Milan.

“We are delighted to be working with CNMI because it means we can support the work of promising young talent. ‘Fashion Incubator’ is the third program Lectra has taken part in. The results so far have been so impressive that we are very keen to continue this partnership,” explained Daniel Harari, CEO Lectra.

Kaledo: designed by Lectra!

The Kaledo range is the result of Lectra’s experience acquired over the past 35 years. It includes the Kaledo Collection application for designing collections along with Kaledo Print, Kaledo Knit, and Kaledo Weave, textile applications for creating original prints, knits, and yarn-dyed woven fabrics. With Kaledo, designers can present, test, change, and develop a large number of styles and easily create a wide variety of fabrics and colorways. Ultra-realistic simulations allow them to easily express their creative ideas. This user-friendly range of design applications takes technical data into account, simplifying production series and allowing product lines to be developed very quickly.
For more information about Kaledo, please visit our website: http://www.lectra.com/design/

About the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana
The Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana is a non-profit association that governs, coordinates, and promotes the development of Italian fashion throughout the world. It represents the highest cultural values of the Italian fashion industry, and it exists to defend, coordinate, and upgrade the image of these values, both in Italy and abroad. The association is the point of reference and the privileged interlocutor for all national and international initiatives to give value and promote Italian style, Italian customs, and Italian fashion.
For more information, visit www.cameramoda.it