Lawson acquires Freeborders fashion IT business

Lawson Software, the business software vendor, has acquired the product lifecycle business of Freeborders, a specialist in software for the retail and fashion sectors.

Announced at Lawson's annual user conference in Las Vegas, the deal gives Lawson access to dedicated product lifecycle management (PLM) technology for the fashion industry, a growing vertical sector. The software aims to help companies manage and reduce the time it takes to take a garment from concept design to a physical product in-store.

"The Freeborders solution fills a gap we had in meeting our fashion customers' supply chain needs," said Bob McKee, industry strategy director for fashion at Lawson. "We now have a proven PLM solution that our customers can add easily and can work alongside our global fashion solutions."

Freeborders, which is based in California, has a heavy focus on China, using the country as a technology and outsourcing base. As China is a major producer of clothing, the deal will give Lawson first-hand access to the region as well as local development resources.

"This is good news for customers of both companies" said Dr Harry Lee, chief executive of Hong Kong-based TAL Group, a major producer in the region of men's and women's clothing, as well as a customer of both companies.

"Companies like ours can now turn to a single provider for enterprise software and tailored PLM technology".

No financial details of the deal were announced.

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