Established in 1982 by cyclist John Harrison and his wife Dorothy, Lusso has become a favoured clothing brand for professional and amateur cyclists globally for its quality, price, sustainability and longevity.
In 2021, Jake Wright, a 23-year-old professional cyclist and former national Time Trial champion, took over the business, keeping on John as part of the succession strategy.
However, the cutting process has been manual throughout its 40 year history, limiting production capacity and relying on the skill and expertise of John, who is looking to retire.
After a rebrand, which included a new website, product restructure and increased marketing activity, orders increased. But the manual processes could not keep up with the demand.
Jake said: “The cutting process has always been manual for the last 40 years, and included manually laying up the cloth, placing cardboard patterns over the material, chalking around it, cutting manually with a tower knife and then bundling it up and giving it to the sewing machinists.
“I knew if I was to make a success of the business I would have to digitalise the cutting process.”