[TC]² Bi-Weekly Technology Communicator
Fast Fashion vs. Speed to Market Seminar
February 27, 2008
Hear how fast fashion retailers like Zara, American Apparel and Chico’s, utilizing a continuous flow of new styles, entice customers to visit the stores more often and purchase more frequently, resulting in impressive financial results.
The seminar highlights include:
• An overview of ultra-fast supply chain cycles employed by several companies
• Challenges incurred in current product development
• Speed to market initiatives with lean manufacturing and lean product development
• New challenges facing clothing retailers
Grading for Fit – March 4-6
Proper grading ensures good fit of a manufactured garment. Learn basic principles of fit and grading. Hands-on projects include deriving grade rules and manual grading of three basic garments.
For additional information or to register for these programs, contact Elizabeth Salisbury at 919.653.3507, or use this contact form.
To download or print a copy of [TC]²’s 2008 Course Catalog, click here (pdf).
Implementing Sustainable Building Practices
By Kim Anderson, [TC]²
Green building refers to the shift from standard building practices, which are typically guided by short-term economic considerations, to "best practices." Green building emphasizes quality construction, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, conservation of water and other natural resources, and thoughtful planning and design for human productivity and health. As textile and apparel companies open offshore facilities, green building practices offer a way to reduce costs and promote a sustainable image.
There are numerous strategies that can be implemented either by remodeling an existing building or designing a building from the ground up. Either way the benefits can be immense.
Some of the methods that are being used to produce green buildings are:
• Designing durable and adaptable buildings to reduce the energy costs of demolition and new construction.
• Using non-toxic paints, glues and building materials to prevent additional environmental impact and high waste treatment / disposal costs during demolition.
• Using energy efficient appliances to create energy savings while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Strategic building design such as site placement to maximize natural lighting and ventilation to reduce energy needs and improve indoor air quality.
• Utilizing dual plumbing systems that can utilize recycled water (not suitable for drinking) for flushing toilets.
Some textile and apparel companies are implementing green building strategies. One of the world’s first eco-friendly textile and apparel manufacturing zones, called MAS Fabric Park (MFP), is underway in Sri Lanka. One of the first projects is being undertaken by MAS Intimates Thurulie, a “green” intimate apparel manufacturing facility that produces bras exclusively for Marks & Spencer.
The factory, scheduled to open in March 2008, is expected to deliver more than 50% and 40% savings on water and electricity respectively compared to a traditional plant. The savings will be accomplished through the use of renewable energy sources on site, including solar-electric, solar-thermal and methane through-sewage treatment. Light emitting diode (LED) based task lights will be utilized to minimize energy consumption. Rainwater harvesting is also planned for the full roof area. Eco-friendly construction materials including Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood and cement-stabilized earth bricks, will be used for construction.
The facility will be surrounded by green belts with native or adapted flora and endemic plants as part of a comprehensive bio-diversity plan. The zero emission factory will also implement lean methodologies, making it one of the first lean and green apparel manufacturing facilities.
Smaller apparel companies are also realizing the benefits of sustainable building practices. Nau, a company founded in 2005, is quickly becoming recognized for its sustainable approach. Nau makes technical outdoor clothing and casual sportswear constructed with organic cotton and recycled polyester. Nau is also taking environmental consciousness further.
Their offices and studios in Portland, Oregon are Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ certified. Like their offices, their retail stores, coined “Webfronts” are designed to be as green as possible. Nau is also implementing a new retail strategy designed to decrease costs and reduce their carbon imprint. Each “Webfront” displays one sample of every piece in the collection and in every available size for customers to try on. Nau encourages customers to think of “Webfronts” as testing platforms. To persuade customers to make their purchase on-line, Nau offers free shipping and a 10 percent discount for clothes ordered from in-store kiosks. Nau has dramatically decreased inventory which has reduced the impacts of freight and lengthy supply chains. Nau also encourages customers to buy fewer, more versatile and longer-lasting clothes.
Target is improving the quality of their buildings and reducing their impact on the environment through the Corporate Responsibility program. Target is certifying new stores using The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The McKinley Park Store in Chicago (pictured below) opened in March 2006 and was the first LEED certified Target store. Since then Target has built two more LEED certified stores and plans to integrate sustainable principles into numerous existing stores with features like green roofs, continuous monitoring systems for optimum energy and water performance and high-efficiency irrigation for landscape watering. Target’s new stores are designed to last 50+ years with scheduled maintenance.
Green is clearly fashionable, but many believe there is much more to the trend. Developers and other business people are realizing that green concepts have the potential to offer new opportunities and are critical from a bottom-line perspective. The rate and extent of transition into green strategies will differ between countries depending on regional logistical constraints, willingness to change, available investment capital and the ability to think creatively.
There are obstacles that may hinder the growth of the green trend. Knowledge of the long-term social, economic and environmental benefits is generally lacking among key business people. There is also a lack of official government policies and incentives to encourage green thinking. However, in light of rising energy costs, increasingly scarce natural resources and the continued necessity to cut costs it is not surprising that the global green market is growing rapidly.
References
World Resource Institute, http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/232
[TC]² Activity - Hoops for Hope
By Karen Davis and Kerry Maguire King, [TC]²
North Carolina State University’s women’s basketball program helped promote breast cancer awareness during its February 10th game against Boston College. To support the Hoops for Hope event, The NC State College of Textiles, Cotton Incorporated, MJ Soffe, and [TC]² joined forces to create commemorative warm-up suits with the help of Broadway costume designer William Ivey Long.
Cotton Incorporated donated a 100% high-tech cotton fabric made with TransDRY™, for moisture management. [TC]² digitally printed the new logo onto the fabric for twelve warm-up suits. MJ Soffe’s Intensity Athletic Team division in Fayetteville, NC, assembled the garments.
NC State’s customary red attire was replaced by pink outfits designed by Nike which were worn by coaches, staff, and players, all with “Yow” on the jersey, to honor Coach Kay Yow’s struggle with breast cancer.
[TC]² Activity - SolidWorks World 2008 Users’ Conference
By Michelle Demers, [TC]²
At the SolidWorks World 2008 Users’ Conference in San Diego, CA, last month, Demers, a senior design engineer at [TC]², presented a session entitled “3D Modeling and Applications in the Apparel Industry.” SolidWorks is a 3D Mechanical Modeling CAD Software tool.
[TC]² used SolidWorks exclusively in the mechanical development of the NX16 3D Body Scanner for 3D mechanical modeling, data management, design validation, and product documentation. In addition, SolidWorks has been used to import real 3D body scan data and develop follow-on applications such as mannequin development, garment manufacturing inspection tools, 3D to 2D pattern development, bra cups, torso and leg shapes. Some of this work was presented to other SolidWorks users around the world at the conference and through a podcast interview following the session. Click on this link to hear the SolidWorks podcast and read a summary of the work below.
Brief Summary of 3D Modeling and Applications in the Apparel Industry
3D Modeling in Scanner Development
The development of the NX16 3D body scanner was expedited by the employment of the SolidWorks 3D modeling software. All of the mechanical, optical and electrical components were modeled to promote the scanner from concept to production. The optics, such as lenses, lighting and cameras, were modeled to determine adequate body scan coverage. Individual sensors as well as overall system coverage were modeled as shown in the image below.
The individual sensor head was modeled to develop tooling for injection molding and drawings for machined parts and assemblies. The image below is a fully rendered sensor head model from PhotoWorks, a SolidWorks Add-In.
A pattern is projected on the body for the 3D point generation.
A frame was designed using the structural member and weldment features of SolidWorks. This frame supports the internal sensors and electrical hardware as well as the exterior panels.
The whole scanner was modeled as shown below including actual 3D body scan data.
3D Shapes for Apparel Development
[TC]² has imported 3D body scan data into SolidWorks and created mannequin shapes for various uses in the apparel industry. As shown below, a custom bra cup shape was extracted from a body torso.
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The leg shape shown below was created for the Hosiery Council for the final inspection of hosiery. The volume and circumferential measurements of this model represent a cross-section of body data extracted from the SizeUSA database.
[TC]² is available for 3D modeling and development work under contract for various uses in the apparel industry. Please use this contact form for more information.
[TC]² Activity - Morocco Supply Chain Seminar
By Jim Lovejoy, [TC]²
On a U.S. Department of Commerce-sponsored project, Mike Fralix and Jim Lovejoy presented a three day seminar entitled “Technologies, Processes, and Systems for the Apparel Supply Chain.” The attendees were professors of the Ecole Superieure des Industries du Textile et de L’habillement (ESITH) in Casablanca.
The seminar was lively in both English and French with several hands-on exercises including the Textile Game, the Penville Plant and the Penny Factory. The group was particularly interested in teaching tools and several demonstrations were included to show Teammate, a line balancing simulation, and the simulation of sourcing alternatives using the Sourcing Simulator.
After the seminar Mike and Jim were invited to visit an apparel manufacturing plant in Casablanca. Pantex, a pants factory with customers such as Zara and Marks and Spencer, was very impressive in the product flow, cleanliness, and outstanding organization of parts and raw materials.
In the Pantex plant, Mustapha Moutawakil, one of the professors, Abdelkhalek Chraibi, the general manager of Pantex, Mike and Jim discussed the current business climate in Morocco. Mr. Chraibi indicated that after going through the process to get ISO and Marks and Spencer-certified, new business comes to the company with less sales effort.
The visit to Casablanca was very enjoyable, the people were very friendly, and the taxi rides as exciting as in most large cities.
[TC]² Activity - Colombiatex de las Americas 2008
Medellin, Colombia January 22 – 24, 2008
By Arturo Rodríguez, [TC]² Industry Services Latin America
The COOL Zone goes to COOLOMBIA…
Pedro Medina, the founder of “Yo creo en Colombia”, an organization dedicated to promoting the good and COOL things about his country, states in his book “Puentes, Redes y Tranpolines” that in 1999 only 31% of his IE class answered that they would remain in their country after graduating. Pedro admitted that he also was short on reasons to convince them to stay. We at [TC]² have lots of reasons to go to Colombia. This was our fifth year as an active participant in Medellin’s premier supplier show for the sewn product sector.
[TC]² and SPESA partnered to coordinate a “Cool Zone” at Colombiatex de las Americas in Medellín, Colombia on January 22-24, 2008. With its approximately 80 square meters, Cool Zone exhibitors such as Audaces, Lectra, Shapely Shadow, Tukatech and [TC]² showed the latest digital technology aimed at helping the sewn product industry reduce or compress its cycle time…….thus making the industry in Latin America more competitive in the global arena. The anchor exhibitor of the Cool Zone was Shapely Shadow, a Los Angeles-based company that showcased its FastFit™ application. FastFit™ is a 3D imaging technology that facilitates a cost effective way of communicating product information throughout the supply chain The Cool Zone at Coolombiatex also included the support of American & Efird, Optitex, Schmetz Needle Corporation and WRAP.
Dr. Mike Fralix, President and CEO of [TC]² , stated that “the overriding principal driving the Cool Zone is the movement to totally digital product supply chains. Such supply chains recognize that products must be created digitally and not converted to physical products until they have been distributed as close as possible to where the ultimate consumption will take place.”
Dave Gardner, Managing Director of SPESA, added that “with SPESA working closely with [TC]², we are able to develop educational conferences and exhibit events that address the technological challenges of an ever-changing global marketplace. The Cool Zone offered attendees at Colombiatex the opportunity to witness the advantages that 3D product development can offer their companies.”
During the three day event, [TC]² staff met with a myriad of organizations including company representatives from Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico on subjects from plant assessments to setting up FPC (full package centers).
One very important part of the Cool Zone presence in Colombiatex was the keynote presentation by Mike Fralix titled “Can you imagine?” At the Metropolitan Theater, more that 300 enthusiastic attendees heard Mike discuss the future and its impact on the sewing industry.
During the show some 10,000 visitors came to the fairgrounds. Venezuela is Colombia’s Number One export market while the USA is a close second. Textile and apparel export sales in 2007 grew +30%, totaling 1.2 billion USD.
Colombia is proactively pushing the approval of its FTA with the USA so as to position itself as the premier South American apparel supplier to the world.
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The “Cool Zone” Goes to “Coolombia” with Lectra
By Karen Davis, [TC]²
Following its very successful May 2007 debut at SPESA Expo in Miami Beach, [TC]² and SPESA partnered to establish another Cool Zone during Colombiatex de las Americas in Medellín, Colombia on January 22-24, 2008.
Lectra provided an exhibit in The Cool Zone showcasing its Kaledo 3D trend product to animate 2D storyboards to 3D and optimize decision-making and information-sharing among supply chain partners. The system aids the designers in developing a product line and reducing the cycle time to create a collection. It provides a library of designs and automatic updates for style, coloration, and fabric in all relevant documents, and is directly linked to Lectra’s PLM solutions.
With 17,000 customers and 1,500 employees worldwide, Lectra is a world leader in software, CAD/CAM equipment and related services dedicated to large-scale users of textiles, leather and industrial fabrics. Lectra addresses a broad array of major global markets, including fashion (apparel, accessories, footwear), automotive, aeronautical, marine and furniture.
The Cool Zone concept was introduced by [TC]² to showcase leading edge technologies that are in support of a totally digital supply chain.
SPESA is a leading trade association devoted to the advancement of the suppliers of sewn products machinery, ancillary equipment, parts, services, technology, and supply chain solutions for the global sewn products industry.
Important Dates
February
27 |
Fast Fashion vs. Speed to Market, seminar at [TC]². For details, click here. |
March
4-6 |
Grading for Fit Seminar at [TC]². For information, click here. |
5-7 |
AAFA Annual Executive Summit. For details, visit www.apparelandfootwear.org. |
18 |
[TC]² Annual Meeting of Members and the Board of Directors, Cary, NC |
April
3-5 |
AAFA Supply Chain Leadership Committee , Lake Tahoe, visit www.apparelandfootwear.org |
8-10 |
Material World, Miami Beach Convention Center. For details or to register, click here. |
21-25 |
Introduction to Apparel Manufacturing, seminar at [TC]². For details, click here. |
25-27 |
SPESA & SEAMS Annual Meeting and Networking Conference. Marriott Grand Dunes Resort, Myrtle Beach, SC. For information or to register, visit www.spesa.org or www.seams.org. |
For detailed information about industry events, visit www.techexchange.com
Thanks to the techexchange site sponsors
Apparel Magazine, Gerber Technology, Lawson, Lectra, Methods Workshop and Reach Technologies.
A Look Ahead in the Newsletter
[TC]² Annual Meeting Summary
View previous editions of this newsletter
[TC]²
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