California Apparel News

Technology companies are reevaluating their ways of doing business since world events and a slowing economy have changed the picture for the apparel industry in recent months.

While advances are coming along in the fields of design, pattern making, supply-chain management and cutting-room equipment, in the next year, tech companies will be strategizing as much in marketing as they will be in research and development.

“More companies will focus on short paybacks based on revenue and margin increases rather than ROI [return on investment] with longtime horizons,” said Bob Harrington, marketing vice president for Los Angeles-based operations network provider Fasturn. “Chief information officers are telling us, ’If you want to partner with us, you don’t win until we both cross the finish line.’”

So along with bells and whistles, tech companies will be throwing lots of incentives and value-oriented propositions toward apparel manufacturers in the coming months. For example, Aria Systems, a New York-based provider of apparel industry software solutions, is offering rental programs to lure budget-minded firms to use its multi-faceted programs, while Los Angeles-based Tukatech is providing strong warranties for its new line of cutter systems.

“We’re guaranteeing maintenance costs of $5,000 or less for our new Tukacut 8.0,” said Tukatech chief executive officer Ram Sareen. “We’re so confident in its performance that we’re offering three-year warranties.”

Internet Use Soars

While the repercussions from the events of Sept. 11 have complicated global travel and general logistics, many tech firms have seen an emphasis on more virtual, Internet-based business.

“File swapping is where our market is now,” said Kristin Gloviak, director of sales and implementation for Los Angeles-based PAD System Technologies, which markets CAD/CAM software to the apparel industry. Gloviak has seen a rise in interest from Chinese garment makers who exchange sketches and designs with U.S.-based designers using PAD’s software and then import and export them into Gerber and other systems.

Market leaders, including Gerber, also see an upside to this new business environment with more demand for its new Internet-based tools. Gerber recently introduced e-NESTER, a Web-based program that allows marker makers to send unmade markers to the company via e-mail on a pay-per-use basis for processing. The aim is to capture smaller producers who make fewer than 50 markers per week and those that find it difficult to find skilled marker makers.

Tukatech is attempting similar services via its TukaWeb site, which recently launched a program for free CAD/CAM training over the Web. Prospective students download files from the Internet and get immediate training on automated pattern making using Tukatech’s proprietary software.

On the B2B side, such companies as Fasturn are promoting their supply-chain solutions as an answer to the glitches that can upset production. Fasturn’s recently launched OPN program helps importers tackle every step of the production process from orders to deliveries via the Internet. The aim is to eliminate the delays, setbacks and obstacles that eat into margins.

“It’s too large a task for humans to do without automation,” said Fasturn’s Harrington. “Every style, every season, executing the plan is the real challenge right now. CEOs want to follow the process from cradle to grave.”

The 3-D Effect

As the apparel business becomes more Web-savvy, tech firms have been investing in such components as 3-D technology. The result has more or less been a work in progress for B2B, but it’s starting to make an impact on the production side.

Glendale, Calif.-based CyberDressForms has been using 3-D body scanners to produce repeatable dress forms made from PVC to produce more accurate and lightweight forms for garment makers. Now it has teamed with a company called Clonare to create customized forms that have come into demand from Hollywood.

“When somebody like Cher is on tour and isn’t able to sit in for fittings for Richard Tyler, we can produce forms made to her body specifications and the forms do all the work during the sitting,” said Ilona Foyer, CEO of CyberDressForms.

“There are 27 points of measurement and even though you may have the same size, a Dillard’s form is going to be different from Nordstrom’s,” she explained. “Each body is shaped differently and this technology aims for symmetry.”

Foyer has done clones of Tom Hanks, Madonna and others. Next up, she’s working on a possible deal with Neiman Marcus to do a cloned form of the Prince of Wales.

Three-dimensional technology is advancing in CAD/CAM technology too, with such companies as PAD integrating 3-D imaging into their pattern making and design software to help save money in sample production. PAD’s software offers 3-D views for designers and pattern makers that allow them to make immediate virtual alterations rather than having to carry on with cutting a physical sample.

Non-apparel-related firms, including Pixar Animation Studios, which produces animated features in conjunction with Walt Disney Studios, are also picking up on this technology. Pixar picked up PAD’s program to integrate within its own 3-D programs to make its animated characters more lifelike.

“In the past, animated characters would be all one form, but now you’re seeing Pixar adding clothes that flap around during movement, as well as other effects,” said PAD’s Gloviak.

The advent of online showrooms powered by such companies as QRS (MagicOnline.com) and Los Angeles-based RTW is also placing more demand on 3-D technology. Retailers have had so-so luck in recent years because the technology requires plug-ins and other tools on the consumer side. Lectra is trying to perfect this with its Visual Merchant software, which it recently launched to enhance visuals for merchandising.

Lectra’s 3.0 version of its 3DVM technology takes a step closer to making 3-D more user-friendly for merchandisers, allowing them to create virtual selling floors and test ideas before they make the actual physical changes on the selling floor. The latest enhancements allow for faster simulation of an apparel collection in any virtual 3-D retail environment with real-world dimensions. The 3.0 version also has simplified display directives for use by various retail channels, key accounts or store categories and allows for early tests of conceptual plans.

Resistance Remains

Despite these new advances, tech leaders anticipate plenty of resistance to new technologies next year.

“When the economy slows down, companies are less inclined to invest in technology, but that’s when they should invest,” said Marty Silveira, sales manager for digital printing firm DigiFab Systems in Los Angeles.

“It’s back to basics,” said Fasturn’s Harrington. “It’s so difficult to be profitable in the apparel industry. [Chief information officers] have to justify company purchases with a new set of criteria now. We’re all pursuing win-win philosophy.”

Such heavy technology users as Karen Kane, however, are using technology to help during tougher times.

“We’re still positive,” said the company’s CEO, Lonnie Kane. “We’re coming off a year in which we’ve invested a lot into technology, so we won’t have much planned in the next year. But because we’ve done that, we expect to operate well during a slower economy. Our expectations are high.”