Abstract
If mass production was about
making more, then mass customization is about producing the right product,
adapted to individual tastes at the right price. Driving this change is
technology that allows clothing manufacturers to manipulate designs quickly at
minimal cost, and produce in shorter and more cost-effective runs. In todays apparel market, consumers
desire to personalize the style, fit and color of the clothes they buy. This review article gives some
insight of the Mass Customization.
Introduction
Before the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late
1700s, products were hand made for each individual requirement. A tailor, for
example, would measure each customer, ask about the preferred style, fabric,
color, hang and fit and then make the garment as a 'one-off'. Inevitably,
though, the cost of goods was high. Industrialization changed all that. Mass
production became a cost effective method of manufacture, with long runs of
similar products made in the most efficient-most automated-manner possible.
Prices fell and people had more spending power. This led to an eventual circle
of market demand where consumers could afford what they wanted-and began to
want different things.
These changes coincided with technological developments that
enabled standard designs to be adapted at low cost. Products could be 'mass
customized'-individualized and adapted to different tastes at an affordable
price. So if mass production was about making more, mass customization is about
producing the right product. And if manufacturers can change designs quickly at
minimal cost, then shorter and shorter runs become cost effective to the point
where each customer can be provided with exactly what he or she wants.
In terms of clothing, mass customization does not mean a
return to the process where items are produced from scratch for each wearer as
in the couture industry or traditional bespoke tailoring. It means
manufacturing 'en mass' standard designs which have their sizes adapted to fit
the individual; designs that are adapted with different pockets, cuff shapes,
fabrics and colors; and standard products that are personally embellished in
some way.
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Full Article
About the Author
The author is a Senior Lecturer in Department of Textile
Technology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore
