As Smart as It Gets
What do you get when an active sailor with an IT background puts all his knowhow to resolve the issues faced by a sports seafaring community? An innovative fashion-tech brand! The challenges in terms of smart sailing apparel drove István Papp to rove as many textile conferences and at the same time work on product development and designing. The entire process took about two years before he could go on to launch 878Co, the world's first professional sailing apparel. Hungarian Papp talks to Paulami Chatterjee about how his range of smart clothing also enhances athletes' performance by combining technology and material innovation.
How do you keep the cost of your smart apparels reasonable as compared to non-smart clothing?
We use extremely innovative fabrics and lots of unique technology solutions in our products. Our intention is to serve a customer segment that requires features and services that non-smart clothes can't provide. Therefore, comparison does not make too much sense. If your smart sailing jacket replaces 2-3 separate devices and solves major problems, why would you compare the price of it to a basic sailing jacket?
What was the story behind founding of the company? Why this unique name?
I came from an IT background, and then became an entrepreneur. Being also an active sailor myself, I personally participated in several international conferences, fabric shows, and sectoral negotiations during the past two years. All these experiences and learnings encouraged me to create my own brand that provides solutions to the shortage that the sailing sector faces and which stands out in terms of design too. 878Co is not a classic fashion brand. It is more of an innovative fashion-tech brand, with a dedicated team of experts behind the name. Not only the product, but also the brand's name is special: 878 is a tribute to Leó Goldberger, one of the most important Central European clothing innovators, whose inspiring life started in 1878.
What was the seed money like when you decided to set this up? How did the funding come about?
The total value of the investment so far is around one million dollars. The procurement and preparation of the physical equipment was completed in September 2020, and the factory started its operation at the end of October. The funding is a mixture of EU funds, venture capital and private investment.
What is the entire workflow of your manufacturing process? How much time is required to produce the garments?
The production capacity is product dependent with about 3-5 full garments per day being produced by 6-8 people currently working at the 878co factory. Product development and technological development takes place in Hungary, here the final prototypes, small series and custom-made products are made. Our state-of-the-art software and hardware infrastructure, as well as our highly trained specialists, ensure that we offer a timeless, unique, top-quality workmanship in all areas of the textile industry. We use the most modern/innovative equipment available in our factory, and we are preparing for a continuous increase in production and, based on the results of the first year and depending on the need, we consider it possible to expand it.
Are these kinds of clothing washable as normal apparel? For how many washes can the 'smartness' be retained?
Yes, they are washable and what's more: the materials we use are wearable even for decades. The special feature of our materials is durability, which also determines the service life of the product. For all our products, we aim for "eternal" wearability.
Smart apparels… how 'smart' is the product portfolio at 878?
Our ProRacing jacket comes with a built-in digital solution that is based on our in-house developed digital innovation, the so-called On-Board- Unit (OBU), which can be connected to the boat's navigation system, as well as a digital display built into the jacket, to which the OBU can forward preselected data via bluetooth. To set up the system, a mobile application needs to be downloaded that allows the athlete or the coach to choose which data series they want to set for the team's foldable display on their jackets. Team members fulfilling different tasks can access different data series, and with the display connecting to the OBU, it provides data during the race or training automatically. We needed an extremely durable, low-power display to meet the most challenging conditions at sea, so we were looking for suppliers in Europe and picked the best: Plastic Logic's digital, foldable display met the criteria we set. Thanks to its UV-protected, glare-free surface, the display stays light and visible in all conditions, which means sailors can easily navigate even the stormiest of waters.
What is the kind of R&D going into each 'smart' product?
Smart apparel is a new and emerging category, therefore players in this industry need lots of curiosity and persistence. Our intention is to create meaningful products that serve a real purpose. First, we identify and analyse a problem to the greatest details and only then focus on the solution. We have tested hundreds of commercially available sensors, batteries, cables, conductive fabrics and printed electronics. R&D at 878 is all about building competitive products by using the most innovative components.
What is the USP of your smart apparels?
We were dedicated to developing unique smart apparel that provides real solutions to real problems of the sailing sport. So, we have also involved the sailing community into the entire development process to map out the most important needs of sailing athletes. Beyond the innovative Graphene material and the built-in digital solutions, sustainability is also our USP that is worth to mention. The criteria of sustainability also prevailed in the course of development: the pieces of clothing can be worn for decades, while the zippers and the packaging are made of recycled sailcloth. We only use chemical-free and environment-friendly materials to manufacture our clothes, we minimise water usage and in the framework of social responsibility, we dedicate a part of our profit to water and ocean clean-up initiatives. Thanks to our completely digitalised and computer-controlled manufacturing capacities, we operate as a zero-waste company. Based on the collaboration concluded in the past few days, we are also a partner of DHL GoGreen, which means that we deliver our products to customers in an environment-friendly way and bear all costs of the same. But beyond all these factors, we were also convinced that sailing apparel has to have an elegant look. So, every tiny detail of our sportswear items-including the pockets, zippers and the hoods-is custom designed. Our team worked several months on the hood, for example, which satisfies all needs of sailors, and which is the most iconic element of the garment. I'm very proud of my team of experts; they did a very good job.
Which are your biggest markets and what are your expansion plans?
In first two years Italy, France and UK are our key markets, and then we plan to enter into the Scandinavian market as well.
What raw materials do you use for your clothing, and where do you source it all from? What is the technology used?
The choice of material has become the most important challenge for 878Co during the product development process. We were looking for a material that meets all criteria important for sailing: resistance to water, ventilation, flexibility, while it also has new qualities like extreme durability and abrasion resistance. We didn't want to believe that the only solution was the 15-year old Gore-Tex. Graphene seemed much more innovative, and it is especially unique in the clothing market. It is an ultra-lightweight yet flexible, stretchy, perfectly waterproof and super-strong material. One of the main features of the 'super material', which won a Nobel Prize in Physics 10 years ago and is made of a carbon allotrope, is that, owing to the carbon molecules, it is supplied with automatic temperature compensation, and thus provides about the same feeling of heat at both five and twenty degrees Celsius.
How has the market for smart apparels grown through the years and at what rate is it growing?
We see three main use cases of smart apparels: professional sport, home healthcare and defense. We are developing in all three areas and see a huge potential. Since this industry is in a very early stage, growth is two-digits and we expect it to continue or even accelerate for the next 3-5 years.
What is your R&D team like? How much do you spend on R&D on a yearly basis?
Building meaningful smart apparel is all about combining different competencies in one team. A typical product development team consists of creative designers, textile experts, fashion designers, electric engineers, software developers and additional experts. Each product we complete requires an initial investment of around €100-150k from idea to prototype.
What are your revenue expectations from the company for the next two fiscals?
We aim to reach 1 per cent market share of the global sailing apparel market. Our goal is to become internationally acknowledged and a significant player in the five most progressive boat classes in two years.
Which factors contribute to the growth of your apparels, locally and internationally?
While the garments of most sports such as running or cycling underwent a significant development over the past five years, sailing apparels did not, though the sailing sport has developed tremendously over the past years. Just to name a couple of problems having come to surface: there is an increasing demand for the protection of athletes, the use of more durable materials, the provision of glare-free, undisturbed vision, ensuring the simple traceability of navigation data and reducing the risk of accidents. We came up with an answer and the right solution that nobody ever cared for or did.
What are the new cutting edge technology the R&D team is working on? Which new products are in the offing?
We cannot say too much about what is coming, but we have four development projects running at this moment and new products will be launched in 2-3 months. You will see us coming out with healthcare products, military solutions and additional innovation for professional sailors.
What are your future plans? Would you be getting into newer product categories?
We are more of a tech company than a fashion brand. We'll be there on every field where there is a need for innovative solutions to complex problems, including professional sports, healthcare and the defence industry: we have collaborations in all three fields, and we plan to implement further developments in these areas. We've had fantastic feedback on our apparels so far; numerous sailing teams globally have shown interest in using the smart jacket. We definitely see further potential for this technology in other apparel applications, including cycling and other sports.
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