Fashionware Offers Another Look at Online Product Development
New York–based Fashionware Solutions Inc. is joining the growing list of companies providing online collaboration resources for product development.
The company has released Fashionshare, software aimed at facilitating merchandising, design, sourcing and communication between vendors and suppliers.
The concept is popular and is being done by several other companies, including Gerber Technology Inc., Lectra and Freeborders Inc. It uses Internet and database technology to store and share storyboards, prototypes, specification data and other information via the Internet to approved trading partners.
Fashionshare was developed by Paul Friedman, the former executive vice president of outerwear company S. Rothschild & Co. in New York, who thought he could offer an improvement on the current state of software available to the apparel industry.
“As an executive, I was frustrated with the lack of practical and visual software tools for our industry,” Friedman said. “In today’s business model, where people issues and product are at center stage, our company’s mission is to provide the apparel industry with a software solution that covers all stages of the product lifecycle in a comfortable, highly visual and concise way.”
Friedman noted that Fashionshare is also easy to implement and does not require the customization that other applications do. “I believe that Fashionshare is an essential and effective tool that will help our clients maintain a competitive advantage by keeping employees focused on their company’s core competencies and business goals,” he added.
At S. Rothschild & Co., which was a family-run business, Friedman learned virtually every aspect of the product lifecycle, including design, pattern-making, product development, manufacturing, importing, distribution and information technology. He left the company two years ago to launch Fashionshare, using the insight he had gained as a manufacturing insider.
The product is aimed at giving visibility to merchandisers, designers, sourcing managers, vendors, suppliers and retailers to collaborate on merchandising, planning lines, creating color palettes, and managing fabric and trim.
Users can create storyboards, line sheets, line development calendars, fabric and trim cards, visual specs, or product catalogs. The product is run on Microsoft.NET technology and delivered in an on-demand, hosted environment. It can be used as either a standalone front-end solution or as a companion to traditional enterprise resource planning systems. For more information, call (866) 726-9697, e-mail info@fashionware.com or visit www.fashionware.com.
—Robert McAllister
