Manufacturing in a post-COVID world: A case for digital showrooms
How a digital showroom can act as the digital and interactive sales tool that allows mills to present fabrics to buyers, all without travel and in-person meetings
I think we can all agree that something needs to be done to the sample requesting and sales process within the denim industry.
During the B2B process of a fabric mill, 70-80% of the supply chain effectiveness is lost along the way due to poor communication, where stakeholders are not getting the right information when and where they need it. (You can read the full article on how we break down the supply chain effectiveness in the article here)
Alongside the changes to social circumstances, huge adjustments have to be made to how the denim industry conducts business. With most supply chains curbing in-person meetings and travel, business offerings and products have to adapt and go digital.
How can mills still present their fabrics to buyers and drive sales without in-person trade shows and sales meetings?
This is why we are launching our own digital showroom solution.
What is a digital showroom?
It is an interactive sales tool that acts as the flagship store front of a brand, to present fabrics to buyers without having to travel. Not only does it help to streamline the fabric discovery process for clients from a distance, buyers can also filter and sort through the fabric catalog as needed.
The system will also keep a record of a client’s ordering and purchasing history, making it easy to reference the buyer’s journey, streamlining the order-taking process, and hugely reduce the need for physical samples, and preventing duplicate sample orders.
This tool is built to benefit both suppliers and buyers
Not only will it help mills to ensure that the right materials are being prepared for the buyers, it will also inspire brands to adapt to fabrics in a new way. With room for creativity in terms of branding and sales experiences, these digital showrooms can utilise videos and detailed images of the products to provide an in-depth presentation of the fabrics and garments.
If you’re interested to hear more about the possibilities of building your own digital showroom, write an email to us or reach out for a consultation call, and we’d be happy to talk to you.
Have you heard of INDIKON 3D?
INDIKON is created in collaboration between Bandicoot Image Sciences, Sydney based tech startup that specialises in digitising materials, and INQOVA, a digital consultancy for the denim industry based in Hong Kong.
Together they are bringing fabric digitisation into the mill. You are looking at the ability to sample digital fabrics immediately from mills worldwide and get materials straight into your favourite 3D software.
Now, mills can share their fabric creations with designers and buyers instantly. And they can make adjustments to countless fabrics digitally at a moment's notice — getting rid of an enormous amount of material waste and logistical pollution.
The solution outputs 4K 3D fabric files that are compatible with Swatchbook, Material Exchange, and other distribution platforms; CLO3D, Browzwear, Optitex, and other 3D fashion design solutions.
In collaboration with Jeanologia and other players in the denim laundry space, they are looking to develop better digital fabrics for better digital laundry.
INDIKON enables denim mills to build a better digital product development lifecycle to ultimately reduce waste, time, and logistical pollution that come with physical sampling.
See it for yourself – head over to indikon.co to download a sample set of 3D fabrics to see the potential this has to bring designers closer to suppliers with accurate, high-quality 3D materials.
