Chinese leather shoe group Aokang has adopted Lectra’s PLM (product lifecycle and collection management) system to streamline the company’s processes with the aim of increasing its design activities by up to 70% by 2015.

Founded in 1988, Aokang employs 15,000 across mainland China and owns four leather brands: Aokang, Kanglong, Redess and Meirie’s.

“To face fierce competition, the rising cost of inventory and discounts at retail, we have to strengthen our merchandise planning capabilities and streamline the flow of goods to retail,” said Wang Zhenquan, Aokang’s CEO.

Aokang designs and develops 50% of its products in-house and manufactures the entire range. “By increasing our in-house design activities, we are looking to change a core component of our customer value proposition and a core part of our strategy. Lectra Fashion PLM helps us to achieve our objectives by merging creative and technical skills,” added Mr Zhenquan.

“Innovation is one of our core values. We have three R&D centres in charge of internal design and development. We know we have to improve our R&D management if we want to stay ahead of competitors and keep our market shares,” said Xu Xu Liang, Aokang’s vice-president of sales.