Sessions
Session 11
MCP in the Fashion Industries (II): Design and New Technologies
Monday Oct 5 2009
15:45-17:05
Larsson, Jonas (Swedish School of Textiles, Sweden)
Peterson, Joel (Swedish School of Textiles, Sweden)
One-piece fashion, summary of the Knit-on-Demand project
During the last three years the research project Knit-on-Demand has been running at the Swedish School of Textile. The aim of the project was to develop and test a solution for mass customised knittedwear. Together with two industrial partners, one producer of knitwear and one retailer of tailored fashion, a business concept was developed. To begin with, there is one retailer in Stockholm where the customer designs or configures the garment which is then produced locally in Sweden. Knit on Demand is the second project in the world to produce customised knitwear. The other company is Shima Seiki in Japan which have been selling customised knitwear for some years. Demand for customised fashion is increasing in Sweden as people want to be more diverse. As a research project it is now finalized and handed over to the project partners to make it a commercial success. The next step in the research is to analyse how a demand driven supply chain performs compared to a traditional supply chain and to see if the concept can be developed further. The purpose of the paper is to present how Knit-on-Demand has developed from idea to a fully functioning business. What are the benefits, what are the challenges and which is the best approach?
Olivato, Paolo (Delta R&S S.r.l., Italy)
Apparel Customization: Ergonomics, Style and Safety
The presentation introduces a system to physically customize wearable products, such as footwear, body protections for sport activities and orthopedic corsets as well. The process implies body parts digitalization, data elaboration and automatic identification of the most comfortable products. The best-matching algorithm is designed in order to take into consideration morphological, psycho-physiological as well as personal related information. To evaluate body-product interactions in terms of usability (efficiency, efficacy and user satisfaction) the process takes in account both quantitative and qualitative subjective data. All variables are also weighted as safety factors, while style constrains are managed by experts with both technical competencies and specific cultural background.
Ross, Frances (London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London UK, United Kingdom)
Jenkyn-Jones, Sue (London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London UK, United Kingdom)
Same-Sex Suits; Co-design, Style Advice and the identification of the Gay Aesthetic Experience
This is an exploratory study of the online gay market for same-sex suits/special occasion wear to assess potential for the SERVIVE 3-year research project for SMEs wishing to leverage their business through the application of new technology in mass-customisation new markets. The main objective is to test the notion of a ‘gay aesthetic’ product/web design experience to assess if this may be used in cross-over fashion sites. The second objective is to identify the importance of co-design and style advice in increasing consumer confidence to purchase apparel options. This is achieved through a theoretical review and a small qualitative study of in-depth interviews with gay fashion industry experts. The storyboard web-pages were created from the original online surveys, observations and interviews with a sample of gay/heterosexual market. The results from a small sample of experts show an indication of some differences in preference, attitude and behaviour from the heterosexual market but no identifiable ‘indicators’ of difference that would deter the incorporation of these style configurations into an existing fashion website with ‘cross-over appeals’. The practical implications are an insight into the potential of the gay market, their taste, lifestyle and attitudes to online consumption with relevance to mass-customisation and web-design.