California Apparel News

As a new world order free of quotas approaches, apparel manufacturers and retailers are warming up to technology to gain an edge. Their interests were evident during a Nov. 11 technology conference at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, where top technology representatives discussed emerging technologies such as 3-D design, radio frequency identification (RFID) and automated supply-chain management—all aimed at speed to market.

The conference, which featured more than 25 seminars, drew top vendors, including Tolland, Conn.–based Gerber Technology Inc. and Atlanta-based Lectra North America, as well as BCBG Max Azria, Levi Strauss & Co., Gap Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co. and The Wet Seal Inc., among others. Local companies represented included Shapely Shadow Inc., Snap- Fashun, and Tukatech Inc. The event was organized by Apparel magazine.

As the World Trade Organization moves to end quotas on apparel and textiles for its member nations on Jan. 1, global competition is intensifying. Technology experts at the conference stressed that U.S. companies have to take advantage of their strengths—technology and design— to compete.

“Manufacturers have always chased cheap labor. That won’t change,” said Tim Copeland, Lectra’s vice president of marketing. “The future is in creativity.”

Copeland warned that China and other manufacturing nations are “not that far off” from becoming bigger players in design. “Mexico is investing in design schools; they want to innovate,” he said.

Copeland and other technology leaders said that while technology cannot always inspire designers to create, it can help them design more quickly.

Lectra recently introduced its Mikalis software, aimed at helping line builders make quick and easy spec sheets. The program plugs into Los Angeles–based SnapFashun’s vast library of silhouettes, enabling designers to draft instant sketches. The application also allows multiple users to collaborate by giving them access to a main database.

“You’re seeing more collections and variety more often,” Copeland said. “Some are even launching multiple collections in the same season.”

Gerber Sales Executive Malcolm Gullish said the pressure to develop quickly is at a high point.

“There’s more compression,” Gullish said. “People are treating garments like cottage cheese, in that they think there are expiration dates on apparel. But we’ve taught them that. Why should they buy something on Thursday when they know there’s going to be a sale on Saturday?”

Gullish discussed how product lifecycle management (PLM) and product data management (PDM) applications are allowing companies to pick up the pace. By utilizing database technology and the Internet, PLM and PDM help companies manage pre-production steps in order to eliminate errors and become more efficient. PLM is the watchdog of the production timeline, overseeing all fabrics and components as well as general work-flow actions. PDM stores all specs and data.

“Everybody sees the same thing,” Gullish explained. “If I can save half the current production time, that’s one or two more deliveries. That’s the way the supermarkets are doing it. That’s the way we can do it.”

As more companies use technology to manage business deep in the supply chain, some fear disconnects between different applications, said Porini USA’s Kirk Feldman, who spoke on enterprise resource planning (ERP) management.

ERP generally takes on the post-production process as well as prototype development, he said. But apparel companies have been buying “best of breed” applications that do not always act in concert with each other, forcing users to re-enter data.

“Disconnections cause delays and increase costs,” Feldman said. “What’s crucial is that you have to set your business goals.”

Feldman said researching and choosing integrated and end-to-end solutions is one way to make information technology work for rather than against a company.

On the design front, apparel companies looked to new 3- D technology to improve computer- aided design (CAD), production and merchandising operations. The latest 3-D feature is motion simulation. Companies including Tukatech Inc., PAD System Technologies Inc., Shapely Shadow Inc. and OptiTex USA Inc. presented new offerings.

Bringing computer-generated figures to life can help designers visualize their creations and reduce iterations during the sample-making process, according to 3-D technology vendors. Simulation technology, capable of detailing every wrinkle and crease in a garment, can also determine how certain fabrics will respond to movement.

Los Angeles–based CAD company Tukatech gave a demonstration of its new e-Fit Simulator tool, which allows users to generate a computerized fit model that can walk down a runway or do a somersault.

Julie Lefebvre of PAD said she is encouraging clients to take 3- D into areas such as merchandising, suggesting that they outfit virtual models with samples for retailers or conduct product placement in video games.

“Do something with it. It’s limitless. It’s easier to get the customer’s attention,” she said. “3-D will become a common part of making clothes.”

Lefebvre said consumers are becoming more demanding with technology. She cited recent data stating that 75 percent of Americans use the Internet—44 percent for shopping and 28 for games.

PAD recently integrated movement simulators by Syflex LLC into the Haute Couture 3-D application. Pixar Animation Studios used PAD’s pattern-making system to design clothes for the characters in its latest animated feature, “The Incredibles.”

PAD is also incorporating new features in its pattern-making software, aimed at speeding up the design process.

“If a patternmaker sizes and measures all his or her related patterns on top of each other—i.e., self [main fabric], lining, fusing, facing all the same shape—she can cut her work in half,” said PAD’s Kristine Gloviak, explaining the company’s Plan View feature.

OptiTex is expected to release an animation program during the fourth quarter of 2005. “It’s four years in the making,” said Chief Executive Officer Yoram Burg.

Tukatech and Malibu, Calif.–based Shapely Shadow are also using 3-D technology to develop dress forms that replicate a fit model’s measurements to almost exact standards. A live model is scanned with lasers, and the data—used to make a form for fittings— are captured digitally.

The participation level at FIDM dispelled notions that the apparel industry is far behind others in adopting technology.

“Every company strives to increase their profits. But some don’t take in consideration what it takes to run a company, and you need technology,” said Denise Goldstein of Los Angeles–based women’s apparel manufacturer Harari Inc.