[TC]² Technology Communicator

[TC]² Seminar Offering

Why is it so hard to find a well-fitting pair of pants?  Have you noticed that some pants styles fit certain people better than others?  Is it true that higher priced pants fit better than lower priced pants?  Is it necessary to sacrifice comfort for fit?

These questions and more will be studied with examples of patterns, bodies, and garments.  We will explore why good fit can be subjective, demonstrate approaches to resolve fit issues, and teach methods for achieving good fit.

Topics:
Difficulties of fit
Definitions and terminology
Common fit problems
Identification and quantification of fit issues
Variables and barriers to achieving good fit
Communication of changes
Basic correction techniques  
Validation of results

Seminar participants will work collaboratively on practical exercises for learning and practicing steps of managing fit issues.  The seminar’s small size and flexible format encourage ample opportunities for participant interaction. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?  The seminar is specifically designed for technical designers and product developers working in retail environments. Attendees should understand apparel terminology and patternmaking.

COURSE SCHEDULE: The seminar will be held at [TC]², 5651 Dillard Dr., Cary, NC, and will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. each day.

For additional information or to register, use our contact form.

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[TC]² Activity
Exintex 2012
Puebla, Mexico
March 13 – 16, 2012

By Arturo Rodriguez , [TC]² Industry Services, Latin America

Puebla is the city capital of the Mexican state of Puebla. It is famous for its cuisine, its art, the 5 de Mayo battle AND its Textiles. Even before the city was founded by Spaniards in the 16th century, in the pre-hispanic Mexico, spinning and weaving formed an integral of family life among the natives. Cloth was not only used to make garments but also to cover walls, canopies, carpets, etc. In the dry caves in the state of Puebla, fragments of cords, nets and mats of different manmade materials have been found and dated back to around 2500 B.C. The arrival of the Spanish “conquistadores” with their costumes, way of life, religion and clothing came to modify the horizon. In the early 16th century, manmade cloth from Spain was scarce and costly. Very soon, primitive textile mills (and tailors) started to spring up in the colony. Puebla was such a place.

Exintex 2012, in its 18th edition, took place in the new Puebla Expo convention center in the area that surrounds the 5 de Mayo battlefield and is it impressive. For 3 days, the textile / apparel manufacturing supplier capital of Mexico was Puebla. Over the years, this show had declined, but now with the support of the local chapters of CANAIVE (apparel manufacturing) and CITEX/CANINTEX (textile manufacturing), this is THE supplier show in the Mexican market. It is programmed to be a bi-annual  event, the next to held in early 2014. While mostly centered on textile suppliers, the garment manufacturing supplier part was also present. I firmly believe that Exintex has risen from the ashes to be an integral part of the textile/apparel shows of Mexico (and Latin America).

Over the course of the 3 day event,  some 18 conferences were delivered. [TC]² was invited to attend the show and to deliver a conference, as part of the “Be Green” day. I delivered a presentation entitled “How Green is your Wardrobe?” The room was full with about 200 persons and afterward there was a Q&A session that had to be cut short to allow time for the next speaker.

We hope to continue our participation in Exintex at the 2014 edition.

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[TC]² Activity
Annual Meeting of the Members
and [TC]² Board of Directors
April 13, 2012

By Karen Davis, [TC]²

Chairman of the Board Chuck Nesbit welcomed all meeting attendees including guests Dr. Marie-Eve Faust of Philadelphia University; Sebastian Nevado of Body Pal; Mike Brown and Teri Ross of Fision; Serge Vigoroux of Invista; Lawrence Webb of Genisys; Willie Royal of Royal Park; Kathy Kierce of Guttermann Thread; Elias Saucedo of Edgenet; and Keith Crisco, NC Secretary of Commerce. Secretary Crisco spoke briefly and reinforced the importance of the sewn products industry in North Carolina.  There is a manufacturing revival going on in the Southeast.  He stressed that these are tough times financially; however, we will excel through technology and R&D.

Dr. Mike Fralix provided a review of [TC]²’s performance against budget for the year, and then presented on the topic of additive and subtractive manufacturing.  Additive manufacturing is raw materials to finished product.  Subtractive manufacturing is drilling holes, machining parts, subtracting from the original product.  Finding technology is critical. 

Kerry King next presented on Technology Trends for 2012. Mobile technology uses are increasing, such as tablets and the ultra book introduction. Technology is improving with improved battery life, permitting multi-tasking.  Windows 8 will introduce touch technology.  Software-as-a-service enables lower-cost entry into solutions. Digital textile printing is expanding to more production oriented products. Crowd-sourcing is harnessing the power of a group to design products of the future, with the ability to create designs and share on-line.  Continuing work in 3D product development, [TC]²’s measurement extraction software can import avatars into CAD packages such as Lectra and OptiTex. 

Will Duncan discussed the work performed in the Industry Services group. Through USAID for the Republic of Georgia [TC]² is a sub-contractor to Deloitte Consulting for work at 4 vocational centers in Tblisi, Batumi, Ozurgeti and Kutaisi.  We are conducting train the trainer programs for operators and mechanics. 

Colombiatex was a vibrant, upbeat industry event due to the passage of the trade agreement, and we have many leads to follow-up for projects such as a lean implementation, product development, supervisor development, factory assessment, scanner sale, and potential national sizing survey.  Other ongoing projects include operator training, compensation, quality, engineer development, lean manufacturing, and supervisor development programs.  We are conducting a lean manufacturing implementation, and a business process alignment and cutting room assessment.

Kevin Burke discussed navigating US trade policies.  In an election year any bill passage is very difficult.  AAFA is rebranding to wewear.org, which supports 4 million US jobs. 

Auggie Tantillo and Mike Fralix are meeting with government agencies to try to match expertise with research agendas.  The image of the sewn products industry is a sunset industry, but after meetings it is recognized that amazing things are going on.  We need to show there are tangible ideas that translate to increased productivity and competitiveness.

Dr. Marie-Eve Faust of Philadelphia University is working on international size labeling.  Fifty-three percent of women try more than one size on, and store returns are over 40%.  Dr. Faust is putting together an international consortium on sizing with the objective to develop a standard way to communicate size. 

Dr. David Bruner discussed the technology group’s mission to enable full body digitization, scan with Kinect devices, and create avatars.  We are working on a second generation virtual fashion program with increased speed. The KX-16 portable configuration is $10,000, with a booth size of 3.75 x 5.5’. 

Sebastian Nevado launched bodypal.com in February 2012.  He covered ten companies in a survey of online shopping resources, and provided an overview of each site’s features. 

Mike Brown of Fision has developed a marketing automation platform.  Many companies’ messaging is not aligned with their brand and only 17% of brands operate e-stores to get their message out to consumers.  Fision offers a centralized online marketing repository and integrates with CRM or point of sale. 

Roman Frillarte of Bing joined the meeting via Skype.  The fastest growing Bing demographic is the 11-17 year olds, which is up 19% on inquiries.  Bing has apps for i-Phone, i-Pad, and other mobile devices. Sponsored offers come from shopping.com, an eBay company, and product partners like pricegrabber.com and Edgenet appear on Bing. 

Chuck Nesbit encouraged attendees to bring people to [TC]² to be educated and stimulated. 

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[TC]² Activity
Texprocess Americas - Atlanta GA
April 24-26, 2012

By Karen Davis, [TC]²

Messe Frankfurt USA and SPESA co-produced and launched Texprocess Americas in Atlanta for the first time this year. Texprocess Americas incorporated SPESA EXPO to provide the largest and best US sewn products and equipment trade show of its kind, with 161 exhibitors from 11 countries. Over 6800 people from 61 countries attended over the course of Texprocess Americas. In addition to Texprocess Americas, Techtextil North America housed exhibitors for technical textiles and nonwovens, and incorporated ATME-I, the textile machinery suppliers. The symposium featured nine sessions with more than 40 presentations including a session chaired by [TC]²’s Kerry King on product development technology, and Dr. Mike Fralix lead two sessions focusing on the global market outlook and manufacturing technologies.

[TC]²’s booth at the entrance to the Exhibit Hall, which featured the KX-16 3D body scanner.

[TC]²’s newest scanner offering, the KX-16, was viewed by many attendees, who were able to view their full body image following a six second scan. The ability to scan, extract measurements, and create an avatar for virtual fashion applications was demonstrated throughout the 3 day show. [TC]² also showcased its single depth sensor scanning technology, which provides a size prediction from sizing charts for ready-to-wear garments. The popularity of the new scanner was evident with interest from US and international companies for custom apparel or best fit solutions.

The Industry Services staff met with several potential clients to discuss training needs, as well as factory assessments and other industrial engineering issues.

[TC]²’s President Dr. Mike Fralix comments, “ The show was outstanding, and the energy on the floor was extremely positive.  I heard many comments from others about the success of the show, that people were making meaningful connections with current and potential customers.”

Save the dates of May 6-8, 2014 for the next Texprocess Americas event in Atlanta.

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Member Profile
Wacoal America, Inc.

By Karen Davis, [TC]²

Wacoal America, Inc., of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, designs and manufactures intimate apparel in the United States, Japan, Asia, and Europe. Its product line includes bras, panties, underwear, shape wear, and day wear.   

Wacoal is a leader in designer intimate apparel made from exquisite laces, embroideries, and the finest fabrications, tailored to create the perfect fit. The company spends months developing every bra and panty design, guaranteeing perfection and customer satisfaction. Wacoal manufactures an extensive bra size range starting from a petite 32AA to a full size 44H which are sold in a number of upscale US retailers including Belks, Bloomingdales, Dillard's, Lord and Taylor, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as UK retailers such as Brown Thomas, Fenwicks, Harrods and Selfridges.

The explosive shapewear segment of the lingerie business has been revolutionized by Wacoal’s innovative products such as the Anti Cellulite iPant, Control Freak and Sensational Smoothing. Evolved from the latest technologies available, Wacoal’s shapewear is designed for the modern woman, continuing to offer a superior alternative to traditional shapewear brands.

In June of 1956 Wacoal’s founder, Koichi Tsukamoto, visited the United States to study the intimate apparel industry. He took all that he learned back to Japan and started his own resoundingly successful lingerie company: Wacoal.

In April 1985, the company built on its extraordinary success in Japan and throughout Asia by starting Wacoal America. Designing exceptional lingerie that really fits, providing exemplary service, and developing lasting customer confidence became its ideals and the blueprint for success.  Wacoal has been featured on numerous television programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, NBC’s TODAY, Entertainment Tonight, and the Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss the benefits of great fitting bras, shapewear, and other lingerie.

In 2009, Wacoal successfully launched b.tempt’d by Wacoal. This exciting lingerie brand was designed to entice the young-minded woman with sexy, sophisticated and flirty lingerie. b.tempt’d also offers Wacoal’s signature trademarks of exceptional quality, fit, and service.  To date, b.tempt’d has been enthusiastically received by women of all ages and continues to evolve to meet her lingerie needs and desires. Since its inception, b.tempt’d by Wacoal continues to be one of the fastest trending lingerie brands on the market.

Giving back to society is a major part of Wacoal’s philosophy. In 1999, the company began an initiative to fight breast cancer by raising awareness about the disease. The development of the Awareness Bra Program began with one simple bra. Its prevalent pink ribbon flag serves as a daily reminder that women should take care of themselves and an informative hangtag provides details on how to administer a self examination. Additionally, donations are made based on Awareness Bra sales during October Breast Cancer Awareness month to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Today there are 4 unique Awareness bras appealing to women of different figure types, each passing along a vital educational message. In 2001, Wacoal launched the next phase of this initiative with the Fit for the Cure® events. For every woman professionally fit by a Wacoal specialist at a Fit for the Cure® event a donation is made to Komen with no purchase necessary. To date, Wacoal has donated over $3 million to Komen for research and to fight in the eradication of breast cancer.

In 2012, Wacoal Holdings, Inc, acquired the Eveden Group, a UK based lingerie and swimwear company. Eveden is the supplier of the premium lingerie and swimwear brands: Fantasie, Freya, Huit, Fauve, Elomi and Goddess. This acquisition provides Wacoal the ability and technology to fit every body type in the world with high quality, great fitting lingerie and now swimwear.

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Important Dates

July

For detailed information about industry events, visit www.techexchange.com

View previous editions of this newsletter

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[TC]²
5651 Dillard Drive
Cary , NC 27518
www.tc2.com
Phone: 919-380-2156
Fax: 919-380-2181

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