3D visualisation in fashion to be focused around AR & VR
The Puerto Rico-headquartered Embodee is geared toward creating 3D solutions that help the apparel industry adapt to the ever-growing digital transformation, while simultaneously cutting waste and inefficiencies. In a chat with Paulami Chatterjee, Embodee's VP sales, Yoram Burg, discusses existing problems and opportunities in the 3D world.
Approximately how many fashion companies exist within your ambit till date? List some biggies in the list.
We feel that regardless of how many there currently are, there should be more companies in the 3D space; after all, it is an area that is yet to be explored for scalability, ease of use, sharing, and collaboration. Realising the void that exists in the space, Embodee, as mentioned above, introduced the Orchids web platform as an agnostic innovative approach to 3D that helps many of those who are already in the space quite surprised by how it all makes sense now.
Although the textile/fashion/apparel industry has fast forwarded its adoption of technology since the pandemic struck all, it will be a while before it takes on blockchain, 3D etc. What is your estimate? By when do you expect it to become as common as the iPhone!?
It's a great question! While we hear of increased demand for 3D, we are yet to see brands and retailers adopting an approach to 3D, not just purchasing 3D licenses. Given that in-person meetings are limited at the moment, it is just natural that 3D demand is on the rise, but how to make it a mainstay and a process that delivers at scale remains something that brands are struggling with. Being in the 3D Digital Product Creation (DPC) space for over 18 years now, we have only praises to sing about 3D; each of the authoring solutions is designed to deliver an answer to a problem, but at the same time few things are missing to make it scale. To name a few, how to make 3D available anywhere, accessed and worked by a user with little to no 3D skillset, allow brands to benefit from the best-of-breed approach their suppliers have taken, easily carry the product from a desktop license to a website and more. Once we get through such stages we will see higher acceptance and adoption.
At what rate is the global market for 3D visualisation growing? Which countries are at the forefront to adopt the 3D technology?
At Embodee, we have been speaking to prospects and leads from all over -- India, Sri Lanka, China, EU, the US, and other regions. The good news is we keep hearing that the supply chain is onboarding 3D, in many cases more than one solution. This is a good approach as a combination of solutions can be better than one solution depending upon the products in question, for example, footwear vs apparel. In general, we see 3D more widely used in the western hemisphere, for the most part for design purposes, and nicely adopted in the Asian markets where there is a mixed-use of design and fit.
Problems with size and fit is always a cause of worry in the virtual fitting environment. How does Embodee take care of this?
Drape and fit are handled upstream by authoring tools that specialise in this area. With the Orchids web platform, we help in this area by offering visualisations of the different fits and drapes to the masses and by providing integrations for buyers through the means of web-based sell-in tools, market testing tools, and e-commerce.
How can brands cut back on costs and speed time to market by utilising 3D? How much time can be saved in comparison to physical samples?
Current 3D authoring solutions already provide ways of reducing the number of physical samples needed. Depending on the product category, sampling can be reduced by anywhere between ~15-50 per cent; with the introduction of Orchids web platform the ROI equation changes even more. When looking at the 3D content creation process, it is typical for the same person to create the model and all its variant creation, a process that can collectively take considerable additional time which is not being spent creating a new model. Our Orchids web platform has introduced a new way of creating in 3D in which the 3D designer focuses on the model creation and any other users in the product development process, skilled in 3D or not, can create variants in any web browser without taking any additional time from the 3D designer. Working this way improves productivity, dramatically increasing the ROI of the overall 3D investment.
What is required of the end-users of your Orchids platform to use it with ease?
The Orchids platform is entirely web-based so all that is needed is a browser and an internet connection. Our Orchids platform was designed with all user types, from designers to marketing, merchandising, and sales in mind. This is why it is easy to use with very little if any training. Once a 3D model is uploaded into the platform, anyone within the product creation pipeline can change materials, create different colourways, add prints or graphics and generate collections or high-quality renderings from anywhere at any time.
What are the skills, technology, and content gap - which stand in between manufacturers/ retailers/ brands and a 3D-centric future? How difficult is it to convince fashion brands and retailers to adopt 3D technology?
One of the issues we raised is the skill set required to work with 3D; if it was hard to come by before Covid-19, it will surely be a bigger issue as we transform to a new reality of more remote work. Add capex requirements on top of that and 3D becomes a challenge for SMB's and those brands reeling from the loss of business due to the pandemic. While everyone loves the final result 3D delivers, many struggle with the journey of getting there. One of the main goals for 3D is to enhance communication, collaboration, and extend the use of 3D in one location to benefit in another location. This is, in our opinion, where the biggest gap exists and where solutions should focus on.
In our observation 3D needs to be around us, available to everyone, with little skill set required to operate it which is why we created the new Orchids web platform. This way, a small business or a brand with limited investment in 3D will still be able to benefit from 3D.
What are the new innovations Embodee is coming up with?
We have been focused on developing the Orchids web platform that has a completely new approach to the creation, production, and selling of apparel products, online and in 3D. For the last three years, our efforts have been geared toward creating this solution that helps the apparel industry adapt to the ever-growing digital transformation in the space, while simultaneously cutting waste and inefficiencies.
Our unique and innovative Orchids platform helps the fashion industry develop 3D products online more efficiently and collaboratively. It brings every participant of the product's lifecycle together: designers, 3D artists, product managers, supply chain partners, external buyers, and others into one easy-to-use web platform. Now teams can collectively help the product development process and get the most out of their 3D by collaborating online regardless of their location.
Its on-demand renderings of 3D products are unsurpassed in visual quality and interactivity and can be showcased in vibrant online shopping experiences, used to gather instant consumer feedback, as an internal sell-in tool, and others.
What sort of skill sets and backgrounds do your employees have? What is your current team size?
Our team is a tight-knit group of dedicated and passionate individuals that exceed limits and expectations in everything that they do. Led by our founder Andre Wolper, an engineer with over 25 years of experience as an innovator (originally a microprocessor architect turned patent holder in design and apparel digitisation methods) the rest of our team has deep knowledge and experience in the areas of software scalable web applications, 3D rendering, shader development, and user-friendly experience design all with a great knack for innovation. Our small team of software experts is distributed across San Juan, Puerto Rico, Portland, Oregon, and Sofia, Bulgaria.
How do you map companies according to their 3D requirements and propose solutions on the first hand? Please share some examples.
We divide this into the following two scenarios:
1) In scenario one, we will discuss a use case by SMB that wants to enjoy 3D, most likely can afford the purchase of desktop software but is unable to justify the investment due to the cost of the required skill set (and maybe hardware). In this scenario, the Orchids web platform helps everyone along the equation as we connect the SMB with an external content creation partner who prepares the core 3D model, the content creation partner then uploads the model(s) into the Orchids web platform, enabling anyone at the SMB to continue with variant creation using a web browser, resulting in having a collection of 3D products that is ready to be shared and sold.
2) In the use case of a company that has invested in 3D, we introduce the logical path of scaling the use of desktop software licenses. In this scenario, the desktop license will be used by the business' (or their suppliers') 3D modeler to its full extent creating all the necessary models. Once completed, the model is then uploaded into the Orchids platform from where any designer, product manager, merchandiser, sourcing manager, and all other stakeholders internal or external to the company can design variants and assortments whether they know 3D or not. This is truly the scaling of 3D.
What are the future possibilities of 3D visualisation in fashion? Which are the areas which require more refinement?
We believe that the future possibilities of 3D visualisation in fashion are mainly around: artificial and virtual reality, virtual dressing rooms, and other consumer experiences in 3D.
As for refinement -- we think current 3D solutions are becoming increasingly complex for the average person and require specific hardware or personnel to operate. We believe the refinement can be done by solutions that live via the web, through a browser with less technical or specialised users in mind.
For instance, a solution in which a less technically savvy audience has the ability to create compelling scenes to place their products and generate high-quality assets or renders from their browser allows for much more utility across the organisation than what is typical in today's rendering pipeline. In addition, the ability to share these outputs in more universal formats so they can be leveraged by other tools is the icing on the cake.
What should be the textile industry's top priority going forward?
Sustainability plays a big role in how this industry moves forward. Focusing on what sells and on having fewer inventories will subsequently support on-demand manufacturing and factories that will reposition to fulfill needs accordingly. The industry should also focus on technologies such as blockchain and cleaner ways of developing textile and sewn goods. There is also the need to develop a skill set to drive the next generation of those entering the design and development segments of the market, as well as working in conjunction with the education community to develop programmes to support present and future technologies.
How are people reacting to concepts like virtual fitting rooms and digital fashion shows in the present situation?
We think that the reactions are positive, as the common goal is to achieve a digital workflow from start to finish, from digital product development all the way to digital showrooms and online stores. Tommy Hilfiger was one of the pioneers in this regard, when he first launched it in 2015, the trend has continued since then. Brands and retailers have further pushed 3D providers on their quest to deliver virtual dressing rooms which require much more than simply presenting digital variant options on a website, but there still is a need for full interactivity with body measurements and real-time draping. Solutions for these challenges are hard to come by given where the internet infrastructure is and considering where 3D solutions are at this time.
Going ahead, will e-commerce and digital fashion walk hand in hand or replace one other?
In our view, they go hand-in-hand, when you hear the words e-commerce and digital they click as the same, therefore consumer expectation is that anything digital will find its 'endpoint' in some form of an e-commerce experience. Currently, there's the initiation of a tighter relationship between the two and it's just going to grow from this point on. Digital is here to stay and be an integral part of our lives even after the world achieves a hold over Covid-19.
We are too deep into the change process to back up and go back to how life was prior to the pandemic. In that sense, good lessons were learned in many areas where we thought change was not possible, Covid-19 has proven we can do better as a world.
