A pilot project with The Holt Co. and Snugabell shows how teams without 3D design skills can quickly create an array of 3D digital products — and vastly reduce the need for physical samples
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 14, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Two Canadian fashion companies have solved how small firms can affordably leverage 3D technology to significantly improve product creation — without specialized 3D skills. Central to the solution is Embodee's Orchids web platform. It delivers simple-to-use tools, virtual collaboration, and vivid 3D renderings of apparel and other products, all online.
The Holt Co., a fashion service provider, introduced the Orchids platform to Snugabell, well-known for specialty garments that make it easy for women to pump breast milk hands-free. Both firms are near Vancouver. Their work with the Orchids platform and the benefits they achieved are detailed in a newly published case study. The key takeaways:
-Assortment boards were created directly from 3D models by team members without 3D skills
-Physical samples were reduced sevenfold
-Faster review and revision process
-Significantly shortened production time
The findings come at a time when the fashion industry's adoption of leading 3D design tools is proving difficult. Millions of employees work mainly in 2D, and training them in 3D is hard. With a global shortage of 3D-capable designers, progress is slow and expensive.
Using the Orchids platform, the two firms found an affordable and fast way to move to 3D and streamline product creation — with minimal training and using existing staff.
The Holt Co., a one-person fashion service provider that works with small- to medium-size businesses, is run by veteran digital technologist Stacy Holt. In 2021, when Orchids was still in beta testing, Holt and Embodee agreed to conduct a pilot project with Snugabell.
Among the goals: help Snugabell achieve a more collaborative and streamlined development process, including making fewer expensive physical prototypes by relying instead on virtual 3D design renderings. Holt also wanted to see if Orchids could become an integral part of her work with other clients.
For Snugabell founder and CEO Wendy Armbruster, the pilot was a test: would her company benefit from working in 3D on a new web platform for the first time while producing a new line of specialty functional garments, as well as other pre-and post-natal foundation garments.
Both companies benefited from Orchids' short learning curve and simplicity: using the platform anyone can work with 3D apparel designs from any browser, creating variants and adjusting their look and feel. With only a few mouse clicks, materials and different colors from digital libraries are added. Uploaded prints and graphics are easily positioned and scaled.
A key part of the pilot project involved Holt using Optitex to create baseline 3D models and handing them off to Snugabell's freelance designer-technical developer, Eva Garcia Mockford. She created 10 different assortment boards in Orchids displaying designs with varying colors and prints that inspired unique marketing stories for the new product release.
The high quality of the 3D interactive visualizations enabled the Snugabell team to quickly decide what they liked and to filter out what they didn't.
How significant is it for Snugabell to work in 3D and with Orchids? Armbruster, an apparel designer and pattern maker with over 20 years of industry experience, said: "I think it's huge."
Holt said that because she works with clients "who are fairly limited budget-wise," she wanted to reduce the steps needed in the development cycle to finalize products. For that, the Orchids online platform "is a very helpful tool." She's now offering 3D collaboration using the Orchids web platform in her service offerings.
About Embodee
Founded in 2008, the company streamlines 3D apparel creation and makes it easy to collaborate, share, and publish digital products. Embodee's proprietary software is built to drive the fashion industry's digital transformation from creation to publishing by scaling the use of 3D. Headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the company has employees across the United States and Europe.
Media Contact
Wilitza Vazquez, Embodee, 787-424-5898, [email protected]
SOURCE Embodee
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