Apparel Design & Manufacturing
Virtual worlds and apparel, footwear, and accessories designers: a
natural fit.
Through its subsidiaries, Black Dress Technology and Fashion Research,
Inc. the Fashion Research Institute is currently developing a virtual
worlds-based design and development product lifecycle management solution
for the apparel industry.
By leveraging the deep collaborative power of virtual worlds, apparel
industry designers and developers can save 60% of their sample costs,
reduce their overall carbon footprint by as much as 35%, and cut their
time to market by as much as 6 weeks - per collection!
Additionally, because of the greater data fidelity which is achieved by
using the Black Dress solution, a higher quality garment can be produced,
which in turn reduces waste.
The Fashion Research Institute is focused on bringing this
IBM-backed and IBM-developed solution to the apparel industry to support
the real work of real fashion designers charged with developing on-trend,
saleable, and properly fitted physical garments, footwear, and
accessories. While virtual fashion is a developing industry, there
are a very great many differences between the real world apparel industry
and virtual fashion. Not least of these, of course, are the
financial and ecological costs attendant in developing and manufacturing
clothing for sale around the world, and the overall scope of the $1.7
trillion apparel industry.
