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BETTY BLUE – ELISABETTA FRANCHI
Among the leading names in Italian fashion luxury, Elisabetta Franchi has established herself not only for her elegant and recognizable style but also for an innovative and tech-forward approach to production. The company has skillfully integrated tailoring tradition with digitalization, creating a production model where artisanal quality and industrial efficiency coexist in perfect balance.
In 2006, Elisabetta Franchi acquired a decommissioned former pharmaceutical plant, transforming it after a careful design phase into the current headquarters of the company. Inaugurated in 2008, the over 6,000-square-meter space surrounded by greenery just outside Bologna is now the beating heart of all company activities: from material research to garment design and prototype production.
In this context, digitalization wasn’t just a way to keep up with the times it was a deliberate strategic choice. Adopting advanced technological tools has allowed the company to optimize workflows, reduce development times, and consistently maintain the highest quality standards. The objective was clear from the very beginning: to enhance craftsmanship and tailoring expertise through an efficient, agile, and fully connected production organization.
Inside the headquarters, just outside Bologna, every phase of production takes shape: from material research to prototype development, everything happens in-house, under the expert eyes of pattern makers and technicians. The workload is intense, and the pace is fast just think, over 1,000 styles are developed every year. But thanks to the digital organization, every step flows smoothly.
A key element in this system is Create CAD by Crea Solution, a tool that has revolutionized pattern making within the company. Pattern makers can work on new garments or edit existing ones by accessing a centralized database shared across all departments. The ability to import any CAD format directly including proprietary ones without intermediate steps has drastically accelerated the workflow.
Even daily work at the computer has become more streamlined: each team member can customize their toolbar, selecting the most useful functions, allowing them to work with speed and precision. And then there’s Expander, the module dedicated to size grading, which automates many operations: it’s possible to grade sizes in batches, modify multiple points at once, and check alignment with just a few clicks. The best part? When the base model is updated, all sizes are automatically updated too. A huge time saver freeing up space for creativity and attention to detail.
Of course, none of this would be possible without a truly open platform, one that can communicate with other software and enable easy collaboration with external service providers. And it’s precisely this integration capability that allows Elisabetta Franchi to be so responsive and well-organized, without ever losing control over quality and process.
However, the technological approach has not diminished the brand’s sartorial soul. On the contrary, it has enhanced it. Automating what can be automated has allowed human touch to be preserved where it truly matters: in finishing, material selection, and quality control.
In a sector where time moves quickly and competition is fierce, Elisabetta Franchi shows that it is absolutely possible to maintain tailoring excellence in a digital environment using technology to further strengthen her vision of fashion.