Fashion
Trends & insights

Fashion’s next big test: tariffs, disruptions, and the push to adapt

Adapting to change is not new to the fashion sector. The pressing question now is: how can fashion companies stay profitable, agile and competitive when the landscape is constantly shifting?

tariffs

Rethink how they create, produce and market their products

In early 2025, the fashion industry was already under strain: price-sensitive consumers, tightening sustainability regulations amid the acceleration of climate change, and shifting global trade patterns. Then, on April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the most sweeping tariff hike in over a century. 

His proposed tariffs for imports from major production hubs—46% for Vietnam, 49% for Cambodia, 37% for Bangladesh, and a staggering 145% for China—sent shockwaves through the industry, leaving brands and manufacturers grappling with uncertainty. While the recently announced 90-day pause on tariffs has offered a sense of relief for the sector, but unpredictability remains.  

If there is one thing the fashion industry has shown it is capable of, it is resilience. These tariffs are just the latest in a series of events that have reshaped the industry: Covid-19, supply chain disruptions, blocked shipping in the Suez Canal and Red Sea, and the rising urgency to operate sustainably have all forced companies to rethink how they create, produce and market their products.

Lectra: a strategic partner for uncertain times

Lectra empowers companies to take control in uncertain moments. For over 50 years, Lectra has been a partner to organizations seeking to adapt to shifting market conditions. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies and innovative processes, Lectra equips businesses with the tools they need to navigate challenges and unlock new levels of profitability and resilience. 

With a broad portfolio of interconnected solutions that span the entire value chain—from creation to manufacturing to marketing—Lectra helps brands and manufacturers preserve margins, optimize operations and make faster, smarter decisions

Create: the path to profitability starts here

In today’s volatile market, speed and accuracy in product development are essential. Delays, rework or material waste can erode margins quickly. 

With Lectra’s advanced patternmaking solutions, Modaris and Gerber Accumark, fashion brands can accelerate product development without sacrificing quality. Patternmakers can create, modify, grade and industrialize patterns faster and more efficiently than ever before. 

Using 3D visualization and prototyping capabilities, teams can refine and validate garments before cutting any fabric, resulting in fewer physical samples, less material waste, and shorter lead times. 

Manufacture: smarter, data-driven operations

Once a design is finalized, Valia Fashion’s sophisticated algorithms, integrated artificial intelligence, and big data analytics take the savings even further. 

  • Reduced material waste: This intelligent, cloud-based solution offers precise assessment of fabric needs based on production data and fabric specifications, ensuring accurate purchasing, minimal waste and optimal profitability. 
  • Faster decision-making: Data is the lifeblood of Valia Fashion. Thanks to the use of Industry 4.0 technologies, Valia Fashion is able to process and interpret an unprecedented amount of data. By collecting, standardizing and sharing always-up-to-date information on materials, garments, orders, and production resources across the supply chain, the platform enables smarter, faster decision-making.
  • Clear performance monitoring: Native connectivity between Valia Fashion and cutting solutions enables quick, easy performance analysis, with at-a-glance views of cutting equipment metrics and CSR footprint KPIs. Powerful analytics allow companies to pinpoint areas for improvement, track cutting room performance, and measure sustainability progress against goals. Valia Fashion’s connectivity to not only Lectra or Gerber solutions, but also any cutting solution on the market, means that companies benefit from the performance optimization capabilities of Valia Fashion without investing in new equipment. 

Lectra’s comprehensive suite of cutting solutions—designed for on-demand, low-ply, and high-ply cutting—harnesses advanced technology to achieve exceptional precision in fabric cutting. This not only maximizes fabric yield but also streamlines operations and shortens production times, enabling companies to swiftly adapt to shifting market demands and trends. 

Additionally, these eco-designed solutions contribute to sustainability efforts by lowering transport costs and reducing energy consumption. For instance, the latest low-ply Vector cutters feature an energy-efficient turbine that minimizes idle time, resulting in energy savings of 30% to 40%.

Market: navigate demand shifts with data

With waning consumer confidence and margins squeezed by rising costs, fashion retailers must be able to adapt pricing of collections with precision and make smarter e-commerce selling decisions. 

AI-powered data analytics are revolutionizing the way Lectra’s fashion customers process product data, analyze market trends and satisfy consumer demand. Using AI to gather, measure and model data leads to the discovery of valuable insights.

Retviews, our real-time, AI-powered competitive intelligence solutionhelps brands make data-informed decisions on assortment, pricing and promotional strategies. By analyzing competitor trends, stock levels and real-time market dynamics, brands can sharpen their inventory decisions and protect their bottom line. By identifying best-selling, high demand items, brands can more efficiently spot market trends and curate an assortment that sells at full price, while strategically discounting slower moving items to minimize waste. 

As markets move and promotions change, Neteven, our marketplace management solution, enables brands and retailers to boost online sales and expand their digital footprint by giving companies efficient insight over product listings on over 80 fashion marketplaces. Additionally, Neteven helps retailers manage their stock effectively, preventing excess inventory through efficient marketplace and drop-ship management.

To boost profitability and maximize ROI from product launches and marketing campaigns, brands must ensure that every marketing dollar is strategically spent. Launchmetrics equips companies with the essential data and insights needed to measure brand performance and enhance campaign effectiveness. By harnessing aggregated marketing data, Launchmetrics enables brands to orchestrate impactful campaign launches, precisely measure their effectiveness and maximize marketing returns.

Visibility, transparency and collaboration across the value chain

Fostering visibility and collaboration among teams and across the extended supply chain allows brands to streamline workflows, get products to market quickly and respond more agilely to disruptions.

Kubix Link PLM brings all teams—design, product development, sourcing, and merchandising—together into one connected system. It centralizes product data and streamlines workflows, giving everyone access to the same up-to-date information. This not only shortens time-to-market but also makes it easier to pivot quickly when supplier issues, regulatory changes, or new trends emerge. 

TextileGenesis, Lectra’s advanced digital traceability platform, empowers companies to accurately track materials throughout every tier of the supply chain for textiles, leather goods, and footwear. With full visibility across their extended supply chain, companies can verify the authenticity of their raw materials, gain clear insight into how costs are distributed, and mitigate compliance risks that could jeopardize brand integrity and profitability. 

Resilience requires the right tools

The fashion industry is no stranger to change. To succeed, and not just survive, fashion companies must rethink how they operate across the board. 

Leveraging over 50 years of industry experience, a global network of fashion experts, and fashion-specific data insights from 8,100 connected solutions, Lectra helps its customers move faster, reduce waste, and make data-driven decisions at every stage. 

Whether navigating a tariff-driven shift in sourcing, adjusting production to meet unpredictable demand, or racing to deliver on time despite global delays—Lectra helps fashion companies turn uncertainty into opportunity.

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