Tuesday, April 28, 2009

IMB trade fair and Vstitcher

Last week I was at the IMB trade fair in Cologne, Germany – the world's leading clothing technology fair. In spite of the challenging economic situation some 20,000 visitors from 100 countries attended the fair -much less than in previous IMB's but still quite impressive for such times. 


Browzwear had a small table with chairs at the Leapfrog stand. Leapfrog organised a very successful showcase of project activities and results. Leapfrog's large 224m2 booth was a great eye-catcher in the centre of hall 7 and many interesting meetings and contacts occurred throughout the 4 days of the fair.





Even when the fair looked quiet, we had our tables full and people waiting for meetings - quite amazing and unexpected these days!


Many visitors at our stand were interested in hearing more about the Leapfrog platform but mainly understood the value that Vstitcher presents to the industry. Fashion and technology schools, potential customers and distributors were all fully aware that Vstitcher is the market leader of 3D prototyping product. It seems that both our large customers and PLM and body scanning partners recommended Browzwear as the leading 3D solution for fashion development, design and merchandizing. I was very excited to see this!


It is now clear that the fashion and textile world is ready for 3d prototyping. It was unambiguous to all visitors that virtual 3D prototyping ensures the quality of a garment and its look and fit, reduces the number of physical prototypes, and makes communication between product development sites clearer, easier and faster. As a result, both brands, and retailers understand that Browzwear's 


Vstitcher accelerates the collection development cycle and enables users to overcome the "Fast Fashion" challenges of an greater than ever number of collections and alternative products. We heard from Universities that they are now researching how much 3D virtual prototyping helps to reduce development costs and, as such, is a real competitive advantage for apparel companies. Vstitcher is obviously looked at as the most advanced solution in this field! 


For me it was a very energizing trade fair and made me believe even more in Browzwear's future opportunities! 



Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Learning from the past for the future

Very often these days I think of the past and what it taught me for the future.

When I started working for Tefron in the late 80's we were targeting the European market only. It was in my first days there that the USA was looked at as a potential good market for the future. In those days, the company was always hoping to have enough money to pay the employees each month, and was constantly looking for new opportunities. It was a big challenge.

Throughout the years we became the global leader in engineered seamless apparel. We integrated function and fashion. We created a sophisticated system integrating advanced knitting machines, innovative cut and sew procedures, and refined yarns. The result was a virtually unlimited range of fabrics and engineered seamless garments.

The Research and Development team continually pushed for cutting edge technologies - constantly one step ahead of the competition.

By using the most advanced machines available, we virtually eliminated human error, reduced waste and costs.

The technology constantly evolved with the development of new patents. All of this had turned us into a major global player and enabled us to extend our leadership position within the apparel industry.

Today after so many years, with the world in another crisis I am heading Browzwear. I am still with the same vision of being the world leader in the apparel industry, but now in the software technology needed to cut down costs and increase sales. That is the main reason I joined Browzwear: to develop and lead the virtual apparel prototyping market and "build" the 3D virtual fitting room of the future.

Browzwear is not only the pioneer of 3D virtual prototyping, and has not only developed Vstitcher, the market leading tool for 3D fashion designing and merchandizing, and has the largest install base, but it is looked at as the 3D specialist for the fashion industry.

Browzwear's VStitcher is the preferred tool in the industry even for customers using competitors' 2D tools.

In the past I always found it was excellent to have competition, especially when I knew I had a better product in hand. Every time competitors were closed or bought into other larger companies, or had any trouble I was worried. This is happening to me again these days. I hear of many difficulties and dangers in the market and I know that in order to sell I need to have competition – if not how can I show off what I have that others do not… a new challenge to cope with these days…