What’s in a t-shirt? That which we call a t-shirt by any other name would smell as sweet? Decoration of garments, accessories and home furnishing has the power to reflect our personalities, emotions, hopes and dreams. Decoration can express our unique style and individualization as one piece in a greater whole. Personalization is all around us. Online sources like Zazzle, Vera Bradley, Taylor Made Golf, Quvel, and Nike recognize our needs to express and enable us to select and customize products with designs, patterns and embroidery to our liking. Have you ever wondered how it happens?
The textile supply chain is a long one. The time from new design concept to the time that design hits the retail shelves in the form of a t-shirt or throw pillow has traditionally taken months to even years. There’s a lot of back and forth, prototyping and waiting. Advancements in digitization has enabled the shortening in a number of processes including how consumers place orders, how designers modify patterns for correct sizing and how textiles are printed and decorated. Digital print and cut and sew processes have been game changing technologies for the textile industry and have the potential to unleash a new and more sustainable business model of sell it and then make it. Executed correctly, this concept could eliminate unnecessary inventories and the ultimate waste of product that didn’t sell off the retail shelf.
Interestingly, The World Textile Innovation Network states that less than 7% of printed textiles utilize digital print processes that enable an on-demand business model. With such a demand to eliminate waste in the supply chain, we asked what is holding the textile fashion industry back from converting to a sell then make supply chain?
Mike Angel, business development manager for ColDesi OnDemand states that the major gaps are in the execution and awareness of technology and processes that have been developed, proven, and succeeding today by many first adopters.
“Brands want to be more sustainable but are not sure who they can trust to delight their customers with quality products. Ones that arrives on a consumer’s door within a few days of order.
One part of this challenge is helping brands create meaningful connections to the back-end of the supply change.
The other has to do with communication. The textile industry is very specialized and there are a lot of workflow nuances to be considered for how to manufacture the backpack you selected from Vera Bradley, for example.
Traditional software systems don’t account for these nuances. We found we can help brands change their supply chain models and deliver an amazing customer experience by understanding these very things.
Coldesi OnDemand enables both the back-end supply chain connections and communications that lets orders be seamlessly completed and billed within mere days,” says Angel.
