The world is experiencing disruption, with customers becoming increasingly discerning, price-conscious, and seeking personalised omni-shopping experiences. They desire a broad assortment of clothing options that reflect their personality, offer the latest trends, excellent value, and uncompromising quality. Impeccable service is essential to make customers feel special, whether shopping online or in-store. This behaviour is rapidly transitioning from a want to a need, expected consistently from brands or retailers every day. This, in fact, is the new normal in the rapidly evolving fashion business.

To understand these new challenges and come up with agile and sustainable solutions, brands and retailers are investing in technology and digital tools to improve and enhance customer experience, especially at the front end. However, most organisations are abysmally behind in deploying technology or data integration in their sourcing function. That is a not so surprising trend as most organisations fail to create the sourcing roles as a customer-centric function. Sourcing is often thought of as a bridge to the manufacturer to deliver the required product assortment but not as a conduit to create seamless integration of customer requirements into the manufacturing pipeline. The enabler of this thought process is incorporation of data, technology and digitisation tools into sourcing operations. Technology has the potential to significantly transform the apparel sourcing process, making it more efficient, transparent, and sustainable. Organisations that effectively navigate industry challenges and adopt new ways of working from an end-to-end perspective will be in a better position to seize consumer trends.

In this constantly evolving apparel industry, the role of technology in streamlining the apparel sourcing process cannot be overstated. From design and production to distribution and retail, innovative technologies offer tremendous potential to optimise processes, enhance collaboration, and improve overall efficiency.

Globally, the adoption of technology in apparel sourcing is far below the desired levels. In India, technology adoption in many apparel companies is limited to working on spreadsheets. Having spent over three decades in apparel sourcing, I firmly believe that harnessing the power of technology can address the industry pain points and transform how sourcing teams operate and offer business solutions to meet customer expectations. Some of the key areas where adoption of technology can drive this transformation are mentioned below.

Demand Forecasting Accuracy

AI and Machine Learning algorithms have enabled more accurate demand forecasting in the apparel industry. By analysing multi-channel historical sales data and market trends, brands can better predict customer preferences and adjust sourcing and production capacities accordingly. This is a critical piece to ensure factories get visibility on the desired weekly, monthly, and quarterly production outputs and therefore optimally plan to utilise their capacities and thereby increase their operational efficiency. As a result, overstocking and understocking issues for brands can be minimised, leading to reduced inventory costs and improved inventory turnover.

Range Engineering to Meet Minimum Order Quantities and Reducing Lead Times

Consumers are asking for more choice on product. Consequently, brands need smaller quantity batches of more products so that they can offer a wider range assortment and yet not overstock their inventory. Manufacturers, on the other hand, need depth of quantity at a style level to drive factory efficiency and offer competitive costs. This is a conundrum that is solved by using technology and integrating data into the range design, development, and ordering process. Technology can help brands to identify their best-sellers based on historical sales data. Going deeper into the attributes of these bestsellers can give insights on fabrics, colours and silhouettes that have worked. Predictive analytics tools can analyse social media trends, online shopping behaviour and integrate historical sales data to predict emerging trends. Armed with this technological and data-driven knowledge, the brand design teams can create/develop/engineer a product range in such a manner as to ensure fabric and production minimums are met. Adoption of technology can consequently configure organisations to always keep a bank of their best-selling fabrics ready. This can help companies to react much faster and meet consumer demands with greater accuracy. An organisation armed with a design team which can co-create product ranges with the assistance of technology will be miles ahead of the competition.

Data Analytics to Drive Cost Efficiency

Sourcing data on product open cost formulations usually resides in multiple spreadsheets. Spreadsheets that have been created season-on-season, year-on-year by different sourcing merchandisers across various factories. Open cost excel sheets are useful to understand how product costs are emerging in the season. However, the usage of the same is de-centralised, is mostly single user-focused and since there is negligible adoption of any analytical tools, it fails to guide the user to answer if the cost agreed with a vendor is accurate or not. For example, one sourcing merchandiser may get an ‘x’ cost with a particular vendor, whereas a similar product with another merchandiser in the same organisation may be able to drive a cost which is lower. Creating a centralised cost sheet, powered by AI and predictive analytics, can forecast costs based on historical data, commodity prices, demand patterns etc. Predictive analytics can drive sourcing teams to understand which factory/mill/trim supplier is most competitive. More importantly, it throws up solutions including driving the most optimal fabric consumptions for a combination of fabric/style to ensure costs are optimised. Data analytics tools can process vast amounts of data to identify inefficiencies in the sourcing process. Brands can use this information to optimise sourcing decisions, minimise lead times and reduce costs.

Technology to Upgrade Quality

Remote auditing tools such as virtual factory inspections can enhance transparency and compliance in the supply chain. This is particularly important for ensuring fair labour practices and ethical production. AI-powered visual inspection systems can detect defects and inconsistencies in apparel products during production, ensuring higher quality and reducing the need for manual inspection. Technology such as RFID can help digitise the entire in-factory process flow thereby enabling real-time visibility into the movement of raw materials, components and finished products. This transparency can help identify potential bottlenecks and disruptions, allowing sourcing and quality teams to understand root causes of quality issues which can be fixed with precise corrective action plans for improving quality, better planning, and informed decision-making.

Supply Chain Digitisation

Technological advancements, especially in supply chain management (SCM) software, offer solutions such as supplier management platforms that centralise information, communications, and performance metrics. These platforms foster greater collaboration, facilitate seamless communication, and allow for more efficient evaluation and selection of suppliers, optimising the sourcing process. Adoption of technology can help apparel brands to track the movement of goods through the supply chain, from the sourcing of materials to the delivery of finished products. This can help to improve efficiency and reduce costs. It offers brands the ability to gain valuable insights into their sourcing processes. From raw material procurement to manufacturing, transportation, and distribution, companies can use data-driven platforms to optimise workflows, identify bottlenecks and improve overall transparency. Additionally, enhanced traceability ensures compliance with ethical and sustainability standards, providing consumers with the assurance that their clothing is sourced responsibly.

Blockchain for Transparency and Authentication

Blockchain technology is gaining traction in the apparel industry as a means of ensuring product authenticity and supply chain transparency. By recording every step of the apparel journey on an immutable ledger, consumers can verify the origins and authenticity of their purchases. Additionally, blockchain enhances the traceability of raw materials, making it easier to identify and address issues related to counterfeit products and unethical sourcing practices.

Digital Prototyping

The traditional process of physical sampling and fittings can be costly and time-consuming. However, virtual sampling and fit technologies have emerged as viable alternatives. Using 3D body scanning and visualisation tools, brands and manufacturers can create virtual prototypes, enabling designers and buyers to assess fit, fabric drape, and overall aesthetics remotely. This streamlines the sampling process, reduces waste, and accelerates time-to-market for new apparel collections.

It is time for organisations to re-look their technology adoption and deployment strategy in sourcing. One must develop a futuristic mindset and not accept mediocrity. Technology adoption will result in faster inventory and cash turns and by leveraging these technological advancements, apparel companies can optimise their sourcing processes, reduce costs, improve efficiency, and better meet customer demands. While technology has the potential to revolutionise apparel sourcing, its successful implementation requires investments in infrastructure, data security, and training. Brands and manufacturers must also be open to adopting innovative approaches and embracing the cultural shifts that come with technological transformations.