Independents business case

TCBL BUSINESS CASES

INDEPENDENTS

Co-funded by Horizon 2020

ANNEX 5 TO TCBL D 3.2, 15 JULY 2017

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CONTENTS Contents..................................................................................................................................... 2 introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 1.

Independents: a Profile ..................................................................................................... 4 Who are we talking about?..................................................................................................... 4 How do they work? ................................................................................................................. 4 What makes today’s Independents different? ........................................................................ 5 What potential do we see in TCBL? ....................................................................................... 6

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Work to Date...................................................................................................................... 8

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Results to Date ................................................................................................................ 10 Independents vs Fast Fashion ............................................................................................. 10 Hidden Knowledge in Pattern Making .................................................................................. 11 Innovation in the Garment Production Process ................................................................... 13

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The Way Forward ............................................................................................................ 15

Document Information .............................................................................................................. 16

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INTRODUCTION

This photo, adopted as an emblem of our case study, shows a dancer in an independent atelier.

Thanks to Elisabetta De Terlizzi, it communicates independence and freedom, inspiring the description of an independent designer. There is also to be said that the dancer wears a striped t-shirt that since 1928 has been a hallmark of Coco Chanel, an independent designer able to draw from real life and reinterpret work, military and sportswear, understand the origin of functional details, capturing essential forms as a synthesis process deriving from its own use over time.

In addition, Coco Chanel was a true artist, able to contaminate contemporary art and become contaminated by it.

The main inspiration of each independent.

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1.

INDEPENDENTS: A PROFILE

W HO ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? • • • • • • • •

Fashion workshops Young people from fashion schools who want to embark on an autonomous journey, disengaged from the mainstream fashion Small manufacturing companies struggling to have market visibility Companies and laboratories that do not have access to sophisticated tools and large quantities of raw materials Companies and laboratories that cannot afford to participate in industry fairs Companies and laboratories that because of their decentralization do not have the opportunity to know and experiment with technological innovations in the textile field Companies and laboratories that have linguistic and digital gaps in applying in ecommerce platforms All those little fashion enterprices interested in the manufacturing quality rather than in the price competition.

HOW DO THEY WORK ?

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First, there is a personal design of collections: Independents do not sew clothing designed by someone else, although they can make use of outside manufactures for the realization of their products.

Then, the size of the enterprise is generally from one to twenty people.

Garments are produced as unique pieces or in small series.

Those who draw the models have direct control over the value chain.

Production can be and usually is adapted to local customer demands.

A more personal creativity emerges, less dictated by business trends.

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Independents TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs

W HAT MAKES TODAY’S I NDEPENDENTS DIFFERENT? Independent designers have a lot in common with fashion ateliers existing in Europe before the advent of ready-made fashion, but with greater awareness and knowledge. The reason for this return to the past (and to small-scale production) could have many explanations. Perhaps independent designers consider their activities as a temporary phase, while waiting to be absorbed by a “Big brand”; perhaps instead they just escaped from a “Big brand”. Maybe some are simply homesick and prefer a familiar clientèle in the same town where they were born. The fact is that Europe is full of small workshops, run by young graduates from fashion schools, alone or in small groups. Each one carries out more or less each of the steps in clothing manufacturing: design, pattern making, prototyping, sourcing raw materials, manufacturing, and promotion.

Some feel they haven’t made it just because they wanted to walk in a catwalk, and maybe are struggling to survive. Others have found their niche and prefer to stay as they are. In any event, the fashion world is currently not made for them, design tools aspire to be bought by big brands, fabrics are only available at a decent price in large lots, price competition is fierce, and the market seems to not take them seriously.

They usually come from fashion schools, so they know about the history of clothing, they know how to choose fabrics and accessories, and they have cutting and sewing skills (at least they know the basics). Often, they have worked in big clothing companies and have gained first-hand knowledge about their complicated production and marketing mechanisms. Many have also travelled, getting to know and compare other realities and seeing their own world with different eyes.

These are not therefore the old-fashioned, scarcely-educated dressmakers of the past, who spent their lives trying to capture the knowledge of a couturière from whom they were employed and then aspire to their own business, who saw the world through a storefront window. Today’s independent designers have curiosity, knowledge and the ability to experiment, keep up with technology and confront the market.

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Independents TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs

Independents produce a limited number of items for each model. This leads to a decrease in business risk, but at the same time increases the cost of non-series manufacturing. The biggest problem for independents is, in fact, to establish a price for their products that will not discourage the customer, but at the same time guarantee a fair pay for all who contribute to its realization. Nowadays, customers spend very little on each garment and think that fast fashion prices are right, as if someone had found a system to extrude clothes from a machine in one shot.

People know very little – or they prefer not to ask – about the exploitation behind low-cost production. Independents must therefore work hard to gain the trust of their customers, because only in this way can they can impose the right price. In return, they give flexibility and greater accuracy in assembly and finishing garments. Moreover, the contact with the clientele allows them to capture trends, needs and changes in taste.

Another feature of independents is that they contribute – knowingly or not – to a circular economy. In fact, they throw away little or nothing because they produce by taking their ability to sell into account; they generally use natural fibres, are fond of materials they choose, and recycle them. Some independents, such as men's tailors who follow traditional methods, contribute to the survival of craftmanship (actually a kind of art) that otherwise would be lost.

W HAT POTENTIAL DO WE SEE IN TCBL? Independent designers suffer from being small, but they can join forces to build a big network.

This is mainly what TCBL proposes, as well as supporting their innovation capacity with experimental laboratories, access to innovative though frugal tools, and shared platforms and knowledge spaces. Because TCBL sees a huge potential in independents’ ability to lead the way towards sustainable fashion.

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Independents TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs

The message to independent designer/producers across Europe is thus: join the TCBL community and embrace the principles that inspire the project. This will be your starting point for being part of a broader movement, strengthened by the TCBL brand as a guarantee of values and quality. Don’t look at your fellow independents as competitors but rather as peers with whom to build a communion of experiences, strategies, collaboration, and mutual support.

Overcome a proprietary vision and adhere to an open-source vision where you can exchange patterns and tutorials, get involved in collective purchasing, participate together in events and fairs, and go to market under the common TCBL umbrella.

We are aware that independents alone cannot reach TCBL’s ultimate goals of a 5% return of production capacity and 20% reduction in environmental impact by 2020. However, it is their research and resilience capability that interests us, their flexibility and dialogue with consumer needs, their courage in imposing a creativity unleashed by the market rules. In this way, Independents can lead the way in exploring the kind of new business models that will be able to transform the industry through broader uptake.

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2.

WORK TO DATE

Having identified the potential to develop a network of Independents within the TCBL community of T&C enterprises, this topic was identified as one of six Business Cases on which to focus the activities in the first half of 2017. Work started with a census of the independent designers and producers among the 78 TCBL Associate Enterprises. These were contacted by their local Labs to understand their business development needs. This preliminary analysis led to the identification of a series of aspects with a potential to improve their competitiveness and market potential:

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Accessible digital pattern making software, using platforms such as PatternMaker or Valentina Project, particularly helpful to re-design the ID value chain, made to measure o short runs.

Experimenting together with body scanners for capturing measurements or with VR/AR visualisation of new models Using the Sqetch platform both to find manufacturers for designers as well as those able to for production capabilities.

Using Thela, the supply chain platform of Cleviria, to help certify their adherence to environmental and social standards.

Assistance in learning to sell their products and services on ecommerce platforms such as Etsy or Amazon.

Helping to partner with other Enterprises or TCBL partners to expand their production capabilities.

Using the Zine or other TCBL communication tools to spotlight the work of our most promising members.

A survey was then defined and distributed to the smaller businesses in the TCBL community, asking to prioritize the most important areas for TCBL support. Pattern making emerged as an important issue 4 webinars were held in both Italian and English to introduce digital pattern making and, in particular, the MacroGen-PatternMaker software suite. In parallel, an agreement was then reached with the software provider PatternMaker (a TCBL Associate Service Provider) to obtain four-month trial licenses for the entire suite for interested TCBL Design and Place Labs. Currently the software is installed at the Palermo Place Lab, FabLab Venezia, Lottozero

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Design Lab, and the REDU Place Lab in Romania. TCBL Associate Advisor Eugenie Naber is providing further training and support.

Following these activities, initial hypotheses for possible new business models based on the uptake of digital patternmaking software were formulated, including: •

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Made-to-measure as an option: the possibility for an independent designer to easily offer a made-to-measure version of a current model with a marginal price increase, made possible if the collection is designed with digital pattern making software.

Pattern-making as a Service: the professionalisation of external pattern makers working remotely and exchanging digital files with designers and producers.

Grading as a Service: a corollary to this for which grading (with a more personalised fit than industrial methods) could be carried out remotely using digital pattern making software.

Networked local production: the possibility to more easily manage distributed production in different localities, with peer-to-peer agreements allowing to expand a designer’s operations.

Open source patterns: building an open, shared library of digital patterns and pattern resources.

Body measurement services: similar to those under development in the H2020 Morpheus project, including a) an online service keeping an individual’s body measurements and matching to sizes, b) 3D body scanning, and c) analytics based on on-line photos to capture trends in fashion and body types.

To validate the real potential of these approaches, two specific case studies were initiated with two independent designer/producers to exploring their design and production process close-up and see what barriers and opportunities emerged. These cases are still in progress, but have allowed to identify some important insights on the way forward.

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RESULTS TO DATE

The work to date in the Independents Business Case, and the feedback and interactions with those participating, have led to important insights in three areas: 1. Independents as a response to the fast fashion business model.

2. The complexity of the knowledge represented in pattern making 3. The need to innovate the garment production workplace.

INDEPENDENTS VS FAST FASHION Over the last few years, there has been a mass appeal of customers to fast fashion. The act of purchasing has in fact become a satisfaction of needs in itself, rather than the supply of necessary goods. People tend to buy too many garments that only will be worn a few times, just for the pleasure of changing, seeing oneself in a new skin. The fast fashion system has invested heavily to ensure that customers are prompted to a quick-fix purchase, and that speed is facilitated by the low cost of the merchandise, that lowers the level of guilt for fringe buying. The fact that fast fashion goods are of low quality is then not a side effect, but part of the strategy, because the obsolescence of clothing induces users to buy again, and again.

Price competition has lowered quality and pushed companies to look for cheap labour where available. The two most disastrous consequences of this attitude are the exploitation of workers and the environmental impact generated by two main factors: 1) Cheap and toxic chemical agents at the production stage 2) The accumulation in landfill of clothes worn only once or a few times The answer seems to be the production of quality clothes designed to last, but the fact is that producing in Europe, respecting environmental standards and workers’ rights, is expensive. It is often said that there is no alternative if it cannot compete on price.

And yet the Independents that TCBL has enlisted are there, they are all selling clothes at a higher price than fast fashion, and, despite the problems they face, they are all surviving. In this context, what they are offering is an alternative to fast fashion that substitutes the excitement of purchase with other forms of satisfaction: the tactile pleasure of quality textiles, the physical and visual pleasure of a garment that fits and enhances the body, and the human and social experience of engaging with an independent designer.

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Independents TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs

HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE IN PATTERN MAKING Interacting with MAD (by Marzia Donzelli), one of the two case studies, we used MacroGen / PatternMaking software to create a macro from a manually drafted sewing pattern.

However, we encountered a gap that at first caused a halt, but eventually contributed to understanding a decisive problem in the pattern making transferability.

In that case, in fact, we could not interpret the sequence in the insertion of line, points and curves that had determined that specific sewing pattern, as we did not know which method was used at the basis.

Usually, a sewing pattern is drafted following tailoring manual instructions, or remembering by heart rules learned during a cutting course.

Here is the problem: each cutting tailor, beginner or expert, uses a own "method" (thinking that it is the only possible one), that consists on an instruction sheet, often written by someone else and then modified to a personal taste during years of profession.

It is not possible to identify a "single" cutting method for each kind of garment, universal or at least European.

It is not only a tailor taste matter, but an ensemble of differences in geographical body proportion, clientele historical background, as well as the habit of dressing more or less adherent clothes, or, simply, the emphasis on some body parts.

The personal art in cutting (tracing sewing patterns) is something that tailors are less willing to share; it represents their professional heritage, to the point that in ateliers of ancient tradition they prefer to sketch the contour directly on the fabric (with a piece of plaster) rather than leaving traces on paper of their constructive process.

The problem of pattern making sharing is therefore a very delicate issue, and moving from a close source to an open source means overcoming linguistic, geographic and personal barriers.

Currently, within the same production chain, are shared sewing patterns that are only the visible part of a constructive process, but that don’t allow us to understand the essence, although they contain indications of the various parts, grainline direction, assembly anchors, seam allowances and grading sizes. This is what is currently happening using systems based on 2D CADs such

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as Lectra or Gerber. In this case you have to accept for good the method used, without being able to intervene with variations and adjustments. This is also a close source vision.

The worst aspect of this method is that sewing patterns are still transferred without a proper control, probably containing imperfections, postponing the solution of the same to the sewing stage.

That is why, in the world of clothing production, there is a need for adequate training for cut tailors, a well-paid profession that unfortunately has lost attractiveness among young people.

In fact, the latter prefer the impetuous obstacles of the catwalk world, rather than engaging in a safe profession such as the pattern making.

It is worthless to explain that now this profession can be done comfortably with a personal computer, in a fun process as 3D modeling.

Part of this prejudice starts from a “feminine” vision of the whole fashion world, although traditionally the most talented patternmakers were men. And, unfortunately, in the contemporary world “feminine” means B-series, less professional: ask in a teenager group what they think is the most specialized job between mechanic and tailor and they quickly will answer the first one.

Introducing an open source vision in the patternmaking world is a quid and difficult bet, but if we observe what has happened in the cooking world of or in 3D printing one, it seems that the sharing pleasure is taking space. Social networks are crowded of cookie recipes, while there are networks where people share STL files for 3d printing, whose project has cost hours of work. It seems that the pleasure of sharing and the convenience of catching from other experiences, takes over the risk of losing sovereignty over own creations, even because in a global world you can be copied by someone who lives far away from you, and therefore does not represent a direct competitor of your business. And no one copies a cooking recipe as well as a STL file without adding something “personal”, giving an own interpretation, thus contributing to a sharing creative process.

That is why the TCBL ecosystem, meant as European network, can act as a stimulus in a sharing perspective.

What we have learned from our experience is that we have to identify the language of our sharing, which in the patternmaking case is represented by the method behind each sewing pattern shape. We will therefore activate in creating a sharing space for patternmaking methods both for basic ones than for their transformations. Sharing spaces where one can comment, judge, add and transform.

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There is a gap that consists in the fact that every designer / designer / model has its own cutting method. The cutting method for a basic garment consists of an instruction sheet for sequentially designing stitches and lines that trace the contours of the parts of a template in relation to the proportions of the human body (an attachment is an image that helps to understand what I mean).

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There are several handwriting handbooks that have been produced in various periods, in which the method for the same garment varies considerably, in addition each designer adds own rules (a little as in cooking recipes).

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This causes a MacroGen or Valentina Project file not to be understood by a second designer if you do not know the instruction sheet behind us. This variety of methods also involves sewing sequences of the same type of garment. This variety of cutting and manufacturing methods is a reality to which we have to face and its simplification would be a great advantage.

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The solution might be to suggest designers preparing cutting and manufacturing instruction sheets, but it would be difficult because a creative person often improvise and/or are jealous of their own methods.

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However, the two programs, MacroGen and Valentina project, allow buggers to follow the actions taken in each file and we may ask developers of the two software to make this readable to everyone (behind designer's consent).

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Additionally, templates could be created to help designers in listing the steps taken during the design phase. This method can also be exported to identify the sewing step passages.

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In short, I believe that working cooperatively in this direction can speed up and make the entire workflow interoperable, so it could make production more efficient by avoiding all the problems created by Taylorist standardization.

INNOVATION IN THE GARMENT PRODUCTION P ROCESS Innovation in the Textile and Clothing industry has focused mainly on materials technologies, weaving and knitting machinery, and process innovations related to production control, logistics, marketing, etc. Whatever innovation has occurred in clothing production has mainly addressed pattern design, cutting, placement, ironing, embroidery, and quilting. However, sewing itself – at the core of garment production – has undergone little innovation since the invention of the sewing machine. Sewing is in fact highly knowledge intensive: the process is driven by the sewer’s touch and ability to make many micro-decisions on the spot. The sewing workflow, and with it the organisation of the garment production process, therefore represents a significant innovation opportunity for TCBL, and Independents can play an important role in driving new developments in this area.

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Fast fashion business models are also studying more flexible and local production methods, though they are achieving this mainly by putting increasing pressure on suppliers to produce in shorter runs at the same cost. Increasingly, the investments in assembly line machinery suited for mass production are proving outdated and the garment producers caught in a bind (see as a reference the Short Runs Business Case). Independent designers adopting new business models could fill this gap, on the condition that they can scale up their production with increased efficiency, either by expanding operations individually or finding new ways to network production. This in turn requires a new organisation of their working environment, capable of maintaining the aspects of quality production and socialisation while increasing productivity, recovering some of the features of the ateliers of a time: flexibility, more humane workstations and timing, and greater communication among workers, to collaborate for the best work success, feel gratified and avoid alienation.

Without having to come up with an approximate manufacturing, there are a number of steps that need to be optimized: the all pattern making process now can be digitized, the old system of marking with basting is now replaced by more modern tools or even with standard seam margins. Basting (at least in some seams) can be replaced by pins. But that is not enough: rather than standardizing each step as an assembly line does, it would be the case to ask for the collaboration of those who sew, to determine the best way to deal with each step.

People who sew have a brain, and a very good one, in fact not everyone can do this job. And this brain needs to be taken care of, because an alienated worker produces quickly but poorly.

Even the sewer from a most automatized assembly line makes silently his decisions. But at the moment, many fast fashion subcontractors, think that this is more convenient than collaborating together to identify the best way to deal with the assigned task.

First discussions among the TCBL Independents have not only verified the interest in exploring this issue, but also some first outlines of an approach. For example, the physical environment of a small atelier could be a replicable production module, capable of carrying out an entire process at a time. In Independents’ laboratories, each garment is made entirely by one operator or is assembled in a group (i.e. one worker makes collars, one makes cuffs, another sews hems, and so on). In most Independent laboratories, workers move freely between various work stations, talking to each other, taking responsibility for their work and having the satisfaction of being able to complete part or all of the production cycle.

A renewed garment manufacturing process could have the following features: •

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Workplace layout: four to five workers facing each other to be able to communicate, machines that do not produce noise, a pleasant environment, large windows, fashion and sewing texts and tutorials available to be consulted when necessary, relaxing music in the background.

Daily workflow planning meetings to discuss: shared work assignment, based on tasks and available skills, with failure analysis and workflow remodelling, coordinating groups that work on the same task, or even on the same garment Specifically designed tools and machineries that could be transformed or built from scratch.

New and efficient ways to store materials, making them simply available to everyone

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THE WAY FORWARD

The Independents Business Case approach and method has been validated by a significant demonstration of interest by new applicants to the 2017 Call for Associate Enterprises, with 61% indicating a “Very high interest” and an additional 20% “Quite interested”. This is a good sign for the further development of the initial cases, which have already begun to establish connections with Labs and Enterprises in other regions to being experimentation of networked design and production. This will in particular involve development of the investigation of pattern making processes and knowledge sharing about methods and styles.

The central role of pattern making – linked to the need to provide clothes that fit well as an alternative to the fast fashion approach – was also underlined by the Advisory Board’s discussion of the TCBL Business Cases at the #TCBL_2017 event in Athens in June, 2017.

As the Independents cases extend to other regions, the common activities of Business Labs supporting the new business models can be consolidated into service models. The first concepts to have emerged, to be developed further in the coming months, include: • • • • • •

Demonstration and support point for pattern-making software; start-up support for related services for pattern-making and grading. (Design and Place Labs) 3D and body scanning services Support centre for access to e-commerce platforms Aggregation point for group purchasing and access to samples of new technologies and materials. (Make and Place Labs) Clearing house for networked production arrangements and the development of remote collaboration. (Make and Place Labs) Experimentation of new ways to organise the garment production process (Place Labs).

The last point, in particular, is gaining increasing support among TCBL labs, in line with the considerations and suggestions discussed earlier. The combined progress along these fronts will enable the Business Labs to work in concert to empower TCBL Associate Enterprises that join the Independents Business Case to build a new configuration capable of having a lasting impact on the future of the industry.

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DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY This document is Annex III to TCBL Deliverable 3.2, “TCBL Business Labs: Internal Pilots”. Authors: Ista Boszhard, Cecilia Raspanti, Besnik Mehmeti, Maria Adele Cipolla. This Annex in particular is written by Maria Adele Cipolla.

REVISION

DATE

AUTHOR

ORGANISATION

DESCRIPTION Independents Business Case description Minor adjustments for publication

Version 1

04.07.2017

Maria Adele Cipolla

eZavod

Version 2

15.07.2017

Maria Adele Cipolla

eZavod

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise.

Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.

COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015-2016. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; The Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnológico (SANJO) Portugal; Clear Communication Associates Ltd (CCA) UK.

DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n.646133.

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