Food for thought: Hi-tech garment futures

While the pressure is building for faster service, lower costs and better quality, some industry experts are advocating even bigger changes than productivity improvements and cost cutting measures. They point out that the garment industry future could be a hi-tech one where virtual reality could become reality. A future driven by information communication technology, where garment buyers don’t have inventory headaches and garment manufacturers convert emails into customised garments.

“The garment industry is stuck in a time warp,” says Ashroff Omar, the CEO of Brandix Lanka, Sri Lanka’s largest exporter. Omar was speaking at the Textile Institute World Conference held in Colombo. He points out that the garment industry has not kept pace with the tech-revolution.

“Every retailer has launched some kind of programme to increase speed of supply but sourcing calendars are still running into months and not days. A recent survey showed that only 30% of people buy the correct size clothes. The clothing styles are conceived 6 to 12 months ahead and the customer pays well over the cost of manufacture,” says Omar.

Omar says that these problems can be easily addressed through available software and communication technologies. “It is possible with today’s technology to customise your own design to fit your body shape and get the latest fashion,” says Omar. For a perfect fit a customer can be scanned and clothing can be made to the measurements obtained from the scan. The customer could also specify, using software tools, their own designs and colours to keep in step with the latest fashion trends. These orders can be sent to manufacturers in countries like Sri Lanka using electronic mail.

“This way retailers can have smaller stores with only some samples. There will be no need for distribution centres and inventories. So you can rip these costs out,” said Omar. How much of this vision can be converted into reality though is uncertain. But Omar quoting Thomas Friedman’s, The World is Flat, says that “If you want to flourish in this flattening world, you better understand that whatever can be done will be done - and much faster than you think. The only question is whether it will be done by you or to you. Will you drive the innovation or will one of your competitors use it to drive over you.”