To stay connected with consumers and to be competitive in a fast-paced industry, today’s garment makers as well as retailers are embracing technology across every aspect of their business.
According to industry representatives, hassle-free software which helps in omni-channel sales and distribution, create unique designs as well as speed to market will be in demand in the future in clothing industry.
In an interview with fibre2fashion, Mr. Bob Mckee, fashion industry strategy director of Infor Global, said, “The future trends in software for textile and clothing sector are going in several different directions. Beauty as a competence, our biggest focus is innovation of products as we think software needs to be designed to work as people work – enabling workers to interact with comfortable software solutions.”
Explaining about hassle-free software, he says, “Software has to support people the way they work and in the manner they want to work from anywhere as well as any device on which they want to work,” he explains.
Mr. Charles Benoualid, vice president of research and development at Visual 2000 International, a Montreal based software developer specializing in Apparel Specific Enterprise Management Software, says, “As the fast-paced and competitive nature of the fashion business accelerates, technology will continue to play a critical role in automating processes and enhancing sustainability throughout the industry.”
Talking about the importance of omni-channel sales and distribution, Mr. Mckee says, “Omni-channel sales and distribution will be the norm for everyone in the fashion value chain so ecommerce is a necessity.”
In a similar vein, Mr. Benoualid says, “We constantly endeavor to develop new and better ways to help companies to deliver products speedily to market, optimize internal and supply chain operations as well as manage the omni-channel interaction with consumers.”
When asked about the challenges faced by the industry, Mr. Mckee says, “We have worked to find efficiency in the fashion industry in making 100’s or even 1000’s pieces of a single product. Our new environment will require us to find ways to make as few as one at a time as the unit of measure for profitable performance.”
“We are leaving the days of ‘seduce the consumer and control the supply chain’ far behind. Today’s mantra will be ‘listen to the consumer and collaborate through the value chain’,” he concludes.
