TW Special Report
Technological advances have always driven fashion forward. Today digitalization is helping the fashion industry to address concerns over sustainability and rapidly changing consumer demands.
With sustainability a major concern in all industries, including fashion, designers and manufacturers are looking for innovative solutions that allow the delivery of products that consumers want but with a reduced impact on the environment
In a post-pandemic world, the process of designing new garments has not always kept pace with the shifting demands of a global market. Designers, buyers and manufacturers need to work collaboratively, but may live and operate in different countries. This has always slowed down the process of design and delivery but with sustainability now a central concern it has become untenable.
The fashion industry needs a more efficient way to design and prototype garments. The solution must reduce costs, be effective at enabling remote collaboration on a global scale and, to be of true value, fast, accurate and sustainable.
Digitalization in the fashion industry
Digitalization is the new technological paradigm. Industries working with rigid body materials, such as metal and plastic, have been using simulation programs to enhance the design process for several years. However, it was only in around 2020 that advances in computer simulation power began to make it possible for simulation software programs to render non-rigid body materials like leather and cloth.
This has opened up a world of possibilities for the fashion industry. Designers, manufacturers and buyers can now work virtually, collaborating without the need for travel. It reduces disruption, costs and environmental impact while also expediting the process of designing and delivering more efficient and sustainable products.
Fabric digitization
Fabric digitization eliminates the need for physical samples by allowing the creation of true-to-life 3D simulations of a textile or leather object. These high definition ‘digital twins’ exactly mirror the physical sample, including appearance, textures, draping behaviors and physical properties. They accurately describe the physical sample in a digital way that can be shared through the cloud with stakeholders working around the world.
Digital fabric samples have multiple advantages. By removing the need to manufacture and share physical samples, the process of designing, prototyping and approving products is cheaper, faster and more sustainable. Stakeholders can review, comment and feedback instantly and in parallel, re-adjusting designs and reaching agreement far quicker than traditional methods.
Fabric digitization software using a digital twin also allows interested parties to see how a garment will actually fit on various avatars engaged in different activities, creating a virtual fashion show and allowing accurate representations of tension and pressure feel. Designers can also build a digital library of fabric, thereby enhancing all future design projects and improving market outcomes.
SGS solution
SGS’s Softlines Digital Laboratory has developed services to streamline and expedite the textile design process. Its one-stop solution comprises:
Fabric scanning: 3D fabric scanning captures the various appearance and texture aspects of the textile material, including color or print pattern, transparency, toughness, displacement, etc.
Fabric physics: determines the essential physical properties of the textile material for the physical base rendering, including weight, thickness, bending and elongation
A digital fabric file with common format, such as u3ma, etc. is then created. This contains all the essential texture maps and physical properties data needed for common 3D digitalized platforms. Special formatted CVS files for fabric physics are also available for several common software programs, such as Browzwear, CLO 3D and Gerber. These can directly transfer physical properties data to the program.
Files can easily be shared with participating stakeholders via a cloud-based platform.
Benefits of SGS Fabric Digitization
- Quicker design process;
- Substantiable design process;
- Reduces costs and environmental impact from elimination of actual prototype sample;
- Enable client to build their own textile material library for future applications;
- Compatible CSV file format for direct transfer of physical properties data to several popular simulation programs
April 13, 2023
