ICT for product development in the luxury fashion industry: evidence in the leather sector

The paper shows the main results of a detailed analysis concerning the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) conducted within the Italian luxury fashion industry in the last year. In particular, the paper focuses the attention on the application of the so-called PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) tools, supporting the New Product Development process. The explorative survey involved 20 companies of the luxury leather market, mainly located in the central Tuscany region. The research showed the relevant differences that exist between the luxury industry and other sectors (e.g. mechanical, automotive, aerospace, etc.) in terms of ICT tools adopted for supporting the NPD process. Such a difference calls for a diverse business model, still to be investigated in detail, addressed in the conclusions.