Balancing your Brand to Meet Consumer Needs in a Hybrid Lifestyle

We always say, if a product doesn’t fit the body, it won’t be worn, no matter how cute the design. It ultimately plays in your subconscious when picking what to wear. As creatures of comfort, we will ultimately seek comfortable apparel and wearables.

In contrast, the apparel industry is rapidly accelerating in its adoption of new technologies and best practices from other industries. While outsourcing product development can be a best practice, a resource many other industries have successfully utilized, apparel brands still have a slow acceptance rate of this best practice. Why?

Working with an external design and development company can be a great way to expand your business and access new ideas and expertise. Defining your goals and expectations for a project before you start working with an external design and development company is important. This can include things like timelines, budget, and desired outcomes. Are you looking for help with product design, prototyping, manufacturing, or all the above?

Business development in the apparel industry today involves navigating a complex and highly competitive landscape. The industry is constantly evolving, driven by changing consumer preferences, technological advancements, and global economic shifts.

We often work with start-ups and companies new to fashion or who are new in creating wearables in medical or tech. When working with such clients there is an educational component involved. Often the product development process is the source of many questions, and some questions we often receive are around fit sessions. What are fit sessions? Why are they necessary? Can I develop a product without them?

The intersection of design and functional design in apparel refers to the balance between aesthetic apparel and practical functionality in clothing design. It aims to create clothing that not only looks good, but also performs well and serves the specific needs of the wearer.

We are often asked how we evolved into creating integrated wearable devices. This evolution is easily understood when you consider our depth of knowledge of the human body, fit, and biomechanics coupled with the decades of product knowledge of complex garments we have created. Stepping into the integration of technology such as displays, sensors, and processors into clothing to create smart garments that further enhance consumer's lives was a natural stepping stone.

As we all know, 3D technology has greatly impacted the field of garment design with an acceleration in the past few years, offering designers and technical designers a new level of flexibility and precision in their designs and product iterations.

The integration of Augmented Reality (AR) for textile design, garment design and marketing involves the integration of virtual elements, such as images and animations, into the real-world view of textiles and clothing. This technology enhances the visual representation of textiles and clothing and provides an immersive shopping experience for consumers.

Design is the process of identifying a problem or white space opportunity in the market and finding a solution. Through a series of phases in the process the problem is defined, information is collected, requirements are specified, analysis and brainstorming of ideas is performed, the best solution is chosen, development of the solution is carried through, feedback from organization and customer is completed, and the design is iteratively improved and tested until a final product is produced.

Competitive Research is crucial to understanding your brand’s competition in the market. As categories converge together and technology and innovation are making other industries and markets more easily accessible it is important to expand competitive research beyond just direct competitors to have a holistic view.

Technical Designers help turn a design into a tangible scalable product. Often working from a design sketch, the technical designer ensures construction, patterns, molds, material selection, cost, fit, function, support, aesthetics, and material usage are captured in a product and then properly graded to all sizes in the determined size range.

The term "innovation" gets thrown around quite frequently by people, companies, and brands. All vying for attention. But what is the definition? Our definition, is the process of taking an idea, applying it, scaling it, and communicating it in a way that resonates with the target consumer. It is the fundamental way a company adapts and evolves to stay relevant. The consumer must see, touch, or feel the innovation and perceive its added value or it is not a real solution.