Over the past several years, we’ve all read articles and reports discussing the fashion industry’s digital transformation imperative. In addition to inefficient processes and long times to market, there’s a perpetual “hope to sell” approach where orders are frequently 30% to 50% higher than market demand. This constant overproduction is a major reason for markdowns, which eat into already low profit margins, and a contributor to the industry’s track record of wastefulness. As we have witnessed during the COVID-19 crisis, overproduction also puts businesses and their supply chain partners at risk.
When I was growing up, I was taught that businesses have the potential to bring tremendous benefits to the world. Most people are probably unaware of the fact that the Chinese characters for business also translate to “birth of purpose.” It is this connection between business and purpose that led me to my current journey, one for which I am partnering with stakeholders throughout the apparel industry to lead us on the path of digital transformation.
Technology is the pillar that will enable the industry to support greater sustainability, transparency and connectivity. The more widespread we can make its implementation, the more we can reinvent our practices and re-order the “end to end” process of design, make and sell. When we successfully align supply with demand, we can realize a positive impact as opposed to the catastrophic one that many witnessed over the last year.
There are numerous companies that have already successfully transformed their workflows. Tommy Hilfiger pledged to go all-digital for design by 2022, while its parent company PVH created its Stitch Accelerator Program to ensure there was enough trained talent to expand the initiative across — and beyond — its own brands. Still, there are many more companies that haven’t yet adopted 3D, for a myriad of reasons ranging from “change is scary” to “we don’t have the resources.”
With that in mind, and as we head into the second year of the pandemic, we spoke to many in the industry about the state of digital transformation. What we found was that although there’s a general consensus around the need for change, the perception of disruption to existing workflows is an uphill climb we must still overcome. For that reason, it’s imperative that we, as an industry, work together to share our digital transformation experiences, knowledge and best practices across the whole apparel and fashion ecosystem and everywhere in the world.
To support needed change, Browzwear launched an online university last year, and this year we have partnered in a progressive initiative with Otto International. Through the company’s innovation arm, Featuring Limited, we established knowledge centers called Digi-Hubs, where digital veterans and the local apparel network can join for peer-to-peer sharing and training across digital skills for 3D product development and workflows.
Throughout the program, attendees will gain hands-on experience working with Browzwear’s VStitcher, a leading 3D platform used throughout the industry. In addition to building 3D prototyping skills, the hubs will also feature fabric digitization that includes Browzwear’s fabric analyzer and Vizoo’s scanning system, which translate the physical properties and textures of textiles, enabling true-to-life 3D simulation and rendering.
Otto is one of the world’s largest fashion companies, so this partnership is one we know will bring significant impact on digital transformation throughout the industry. The first Digi-Hubs are in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Dongguan, China, and additional hubs may be established in manufacturing-dominant areas of Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia. We expect the launch of Digi-Hubs in some of the world’s largest centers for garment manufacturing to serve as a catalyst for acceleration of 3D digital upskilling and transformation. Furthermore, they will ensure access to a trained labor pool who can support technology adoption and work within the industry to develop workflow changes.
These centers should also have a profoundly positive impact on the people who live and work in these areas. In Bangladesh alone, the industry employs 4.4 million people — mostly women — and contributes more than 11% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). During the first year of the pandemic, exports fell by 17%, representing revenue losses of up to $5.6 billion. Of course, that loss trickles down to the workers. At least 63 garment factories across Bangladesh were closed last year due to the pandemic, leaving 32,582 workers unemployed.
The pandemic’s impact in Dongguan was less severe — but, the “factory of the world” has been fighting to retain its title amidst increasing competition from other manufacturing regions of the world. It may seem that a decline in manufacturing is in line with China’s overall shift to more service and technology-based industries, but the pace of the decline is too fast for new businesses to mitigate, putting the entire country’s economy at risk.
Browzwear continues to seek partnerships with additional fashion companies to establish more hubs around the world, which will enable more employees of manufacturers and suppliers as well as individual designers, pattern-makers, technical designers and others to become proficient in the latest 3D technology and its application to product design, development and workflow.
While COVID-19 brought some of our industry’s issues to the forefront, the issues were not new. Even before the crisis, we were in the midst of a reckoning. Decades of overproduction, poor labor practices and pollution caught up to us, and it’s up to the entire industry to help fix the mess that unsustainable processes produced.
We’ve witnessed the importance of technology to the survival of our industry overall, and we’ve seen how the weaknesses of some become weaknesses for all. Now it’s time to make the strengths of some strengths of all. Through collaboration and cooperation, we can drive the change the industry needs. It’s time for all of us to work together to get our industry to adopt technology on a massive scale. With widespread digital transformation, we can streamline processes from concept to commerce and continue to become the efficient and sustainable industry we should be.
