At the Re’aD Summit of the German Fashion Institute, everything revolved around how digital solutions can prevent overproduction and waste in the fashion industry under the motto “Digital x less”. Starting with the creation of digital fabric samples, through 3D programs for simulating visual merchandising, to virtual fittings intended to reduce return rates – the innovations presented last week show the technology’s inherent potential for a better fashion industry.
Digital fabrics for a clean supply chain
A central theme at the Re’aD Summit was the flexibility and adaptability of the supply chain. The digitization of fabric samples and prototypes is essential for this – and can reduce delivery times, costs for collection development and environmental impact.
Various software and hardware is required for the digitization of materials. The Cologne-based company DMIx has developed software for color standards with which the colors of physical fabrics can be uniformly implemented digitally. This can avoid mistakes and misunderstandings between fabric manufacturers, clothing producers and creative management, who are already working with partly digitalized processes.
Italian fabric manufacturer Marzotto Group uses DMIx software to create digital fabric samples. In combination with other services, the Marzotto Group has so far been able to digitize more than 20 percent of the fabric samples.
Marzotto, for example, uses fabric scanners that convert the properties of the fabrics into a “digital twin”. The data is processed using special software in such a way that it can be used in pattern programs such as Clo. This bridge creates the opportunity to work digitally at the product development level – a stage in the textile production chain that usually has a huge environmental impact.
Luca Bicego, IT specialist at the Marzotto Group, explains that he can initially simulate the versions in his 3D software. By simulating the movement of the digital prototypes, freedom of movement and wearing comfort can even be tested. Through this digital and material consumption would entail. There is also the time factor: 3D sampling saves working hours and possibly also employees. Test runs are reduced production errors, the unnecessary transport costs
This is also observed by Gary Plunkett, Chief Commercial Officer at PixelPool, a company that offers similar tools. He reports that it takes a customer just a few hours to create and approve new product offerings instead of weeks.
“Every millimeter of fabric saved makes a difference.”
Technology company Lectra cited one McKinsey study from 2022: Just over a third of fashion companies surveyed cited digitization as one of the industry’s top opportunities, while supply chains, logistics and inventory management were cited by a third as the top challenges. The latter could be simplified by digitization.
Lectra develops software for a wide range of processes: from planning and sourcing, through design, development and production to sales. Lectra’s computer programs allow companies to digitize their processes and thus become more agile. “By digitizing their processes, fashion companies can more easily respond to market demand, select fabrics based on sustainable criteria, optimize material costs and quality, and adapt their designs to the latest trends,” says Phillip Muehlenkord, Marketing Director for Northern and Eastern Europe at Lectra.
The ‘Modaris’ program digitizes model creation and speeds up the production process, another called ‘Quick- und Flex Offer’ avoids cutting waste – Muehlenkord says: “Every millimeter of saved fabric makes a difference if you want to minimize your carbon footprint”.
Companies that previously worked mostly with manual processes can save up to 10 percent of their expenses with Lectra’s programs, reports Karin Schiller, Presales Consultant at Lectra. Schiller still sees potential for cost savings of between 1 and 5 percent in companies where digitization is already well advanced. While that doesn’t sound like much, given the millions that are common in production, it’s a significant proportion, she adds.
The technology company PixelPool based in the Netherlands presented 3D-based solutions for retail. Using the customer as an example, Chief Commercial Officer Gary Plunkett explains how 3D technologies can also be advantageous for retail: an international outdoor label uses the software program Dtail from PixelPool, with which visual merchandising standards and store layouts can be tested. The tool allows buyers to preview new collections in the store. In this way, they can better assess how the collections will behave visually on the sales floor.
Digitization needs perseverance
But what are the hurdles that companies should be prepared for when converting to digital processes?
Plunkett touches on a topic that is often neglected in the discussion about digitization: digitization is only worthwhile above a certain degree. That means companies have a long way to go before the restructuring bears fruit. When switching from physical to digitized working methods, complications arise in the workflow, because the introduction of the first digital items requires expertise as well as equipment.
“Getting to a fully three-dimensional workflow isn’t easy,” says Plunkett. For him the key is a realistic starting point, a ‘game plan’ broken down into smaller steps and decisions based on sound information and knowledge.
According to Plunkett, fashion suppliers in particular can implement a 3D-centric working model as quickly as possible, with their share of cross-seasonal styles being between 30 and 60 percent. With these companies, a 3D library can be created in which recurring styles can be provided with new colors, sizes and details without requiring a great deal of effort or technical know-how. The work step of developing the collection is thus redefined and shifted from production halls, sample rounds and transport routes to screens. In the case of fashion companies with frequently changing, complicated styles, on the other hand, the changeover takes longer because the styles have to be entered into the 3D programs anew each time.
“The nice thing about the whole thing is that you become significantly more efficient, significantly faster, and at the end of the day you can do significantly more,” Plunkett summarizes the advantages of digitization.
Can the Metaverse satisfy the urge to consume?
Even if the awareness of sustainability among consumers has risen sharply in recent years, this is not yet reflected in consumer behavior. There is an ‘attitude-behaviour gap’ that needs to be resolved. Carl Tillessen, chief analyst at DMI, has high hopes for the topic of digital fashion. The enormous interest of younger generations in presenting themselves fashionably in a certain way on the internet could be served by virtual clothing. If the need for consumption is satisfied in a digital way, slow fashion could be used in the real world. Consumption will not stop – but digitization can create a new form of fashion that has less impact on the environment.
Simone Morlock, Head of the Hohenstein Digital Fitting Lab, and Verena Ziegler, Managing Director of Beawear, presented what this brave new world could look like when trying on clothes. Virtual fitting helps to optimize fits, which can reduce production errors and return rates.
Morlock reports that currently 70 percent of end users cannot find their size on the market. This has an impact on consumer behavior: end consumers order several sizes, but in case of doubt they don’t keep any of the items at all – sending and returning them creates high emissions. With Virtual Fitting, this impact can be reduced. With Beaware, Ziegler has created a tool that allows consumers to make a 3D scan of their body via smartphone. In this way, users experience an improved shopping experience thanks to size advice, while at the same time well-founded data sets on body shapes are opened up, which help the industry to tailor more precisely.
Conclusion: People are the key to digitization
The participants of the Re’aD Summit seem to agree on one thing: no matter how good the technologies are, they are only useful if people participate.
In this context Morlock asks the question: “Are the new tools serious solutions or gimmicks?”. For her, the sticking point is the willingness of the industry to deal with the tools – because “technology requires technical processes” and these processes are initiated by people.
Rouette takes a similar view: “Companies are so busy hiring CROs (Corporate Responsibility Officers), owners and managers say they want digitization and sustainability,” but words must be followed by actions. Christian and Andreas Büdel, managing directors at PB Accessoires, also see this change of perspective as essential: “We have everything under control, we have the technology – why shouldn’t we use it?”
Gerd Müller-Thomkins, Managing Director at DMI, summarizes the summit. “Less must be more in the future!”. That means: ‘Less’ waste from the fashion industry must be achieved through ‘more’ efforts and concrete action by the people working in it.