Category: mass-customization

Mastering Sublimated Uniform Challenges: Innovative Solutions for Success

Posted on by vPersonalize

In the world of sublimation sportswear, the journey from concept to creation can be a complex and time-consuming endeavor. The challenges faced by manufacturers and brands are unique, demanding solutions that streamline processes and enhance efficiency. In this blog post, we’ll explore the significant role that automation plays in addressing these industry-specific challenges. 

Whether you’re dealing with design complexities, roster creation, or product selection, automation offers a practical path to greater efficiency and smoother operations. Let’s dive into how automation can transform your sublimation sportswear workflow.

1. The Challenge: Turning Customer Ideas into Reality 

One of the most prevalent issues in the industry arises early in the sales process. Customers often bring a wealth of ideas but struggle to express their vision clearly. This initiates a lengthy and sometimes frustrating back-and-forth between your designer and the customer, resulting in numerous design iterations before approval—often days or even weeks after a sales lead is initiated.

The Solution: Allowing customers to design themselves, modify from pre-made templates you provide, or collaborate with your designer in real time. This not only ensures customer satisfaction, but also boosts order volumes and saves countless hours that would have otherwise been spent attempting to understand your customer’s vision.

2. The Challenge: Collecting Roster Orders 

Collecting and managing roster data can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. Some customers email, some send Excel sheet, but you often find yourself responsible for data verification and error correction. The wrong size or a typo in name or number can result in you having to remake the garment.

The Solution:  Allowing your customers to do the roster data entry with an intuitive interface, either line by line or upload Excel spreadsheets with size and team data, ensures data accuracy. Adding automation to turn that Excel intro print files would further save a significant amount of time for your production team.

3. The Challenge: Maintaining design accuracy

Sports team and leagues have strict rules on font size, spacing and how they should grade across apparel sizes. The rules are even more complex when you use different fonts (e.g: 2-stroke fonts), with or without miter, etc. Maintaining quality control over these can often take days of review after an order is initiated.

The Solution: Use a technology platform that can automatically grade your design across sizes, while ensuring design accuracy and alignment across multiple text & logo placement rules. The solution should support multiple grading methodologies to suit your club/league/association regulations, while being customizable.

4. The Challenge: Tedious Conversion of Mock-ups 

Translating approved mockups into production files often requires manual labor, resulting in potential delays and human error, leading to discrepancies between the approved design and the final product.

The Solution: Use technology to reduce manual work. Once a design is approved, use automation to generate the corresponding print files, add barcodes, nest to save fabric, add laser markers and annotations to greatly reduce lead times and costly errors.

5. The Challenge: Adding Names & Numbers to Print Layout Eats Away Your Time

When manufacturing team uniforms, the task of adding roster data can quickly become a time-consuming endeavor. Designers can get bogged down for hours switching out names and numbers to the appropriate sizes, often causing more room for human error. 

The Solution: Use a manufacturing-aware design and production automation platform offering full print-ready variable data automation. If you can simply upload a spreadsheet with team information or use customer-entered data, generating production-ready files with roster data accurately placed, scaled, and print-ready, you can save days or even weeks of manual work.

6. The Challenge: Color Matching

Sublimation manufacturing often involves various image rendering devices, each with distinct color management methods and ranges. Some customers may not grasp that computer monitors display in RGB mode while printers operate in CMYK mode, leading them to select colors solely based on screen values. Even sophisticated customers who have an understanding of PMS and Custom Spot Colors, have trouble communicating their color profile correctly. Add to that the possibility of designer error and the potential to remake an entire batch of uniforms looms large!

The Solution: Use advanced technology that supports color matching from design all the way to print. Invest in color detection and correction platforms that can detect and autocorrect color errors made by your customers or designers. Ensure that the solution you choose supports multiple output formats to suit your print workflow: from device matched CMYK, CMYK TIFF to native AI or  PDF file with PMS pantone or Custom Spot Color support. 

The right partner changes what’s possible!

If you are in the custom apparel or team wear business, vPersonalize can help. From design personalization, print-on-demand, bespoke fashion to custom sportswear and sublimated teamwear, we can help with technology for a digital future. 

We are the industry leading provider of software for mass customization and on-demand manufacturing at scale. With our platform, your customers can design themselves, modify templates you provide, or collaborate with your designer in real time, saving you countless hours attempting to decipher your customer’s vision.

Add our intuitive roster collection interface to your existing e-commerce, so your customers can enter the details line by line or upload Excel spreadsheets. Our system even allows you to rectify design errors that customers might overlook before production begins.

Easily set up password-protected pages, ensuring customers only see and order approved products. With predefined product options and sizes, there’s never any confusion about availability.

Our platform automatically grades your designs across sizes, while ensuring design accuracy and alignment across multiple text & logo placement rules. Our solution supports dozens of grading methodologies to suit your club/league/association regulations. Once a design is approved, generate the corresponding production file automatically in minutes—and with 100% accuracy.

vPersonalize stands out as the only manufacturing-aware design and production automation platform offering full print-ready variable data automation. You can simply upload a spreadsheet with team information or use customer-entered data. Our technology takes it from there, generating production-ready files with roster data accurately placed, scaled, and print-ready. 

We also feature the industry’s best print automation solution that precisely takes a color from design all the way print, matched to your color profile. Our automated color correction platform even auto-corrects color errors made by your customers or designers. We support multiple output formats: from device matched CMYK, CMYK TIFF to native AI or PDF with PMS Pantone and Custom Spot color support. 

We are here to help

In conclusion, vPersonalize is your ideal partner for print-on-demand. We understand the intricacies of the sublimation sportswear industry like no other, and we’re here to empower you with efficient industry-tested solutions. Your success is our priority, and together, we can shape a better and more productive future.

Visit www.vpersonalize.com or email us at hello@vpersonalize.com to schedule a call.

Enabling custom sportswear & team wear brands to leverage their existing e-commerce and supply chains to go from design to production in minutes!

Posted on by vPersonalize

As demand for customization continues to permeate numerous industries, from automotive to furniture, it isn’t surprising that the custom sportswear market will require new tools to meet consumers’ growing expectations for ‘design your own’ or ‘build your own’ functionality.  

Due to the immense uptick in online shopping, customers have become increasingly accustomed to a very personalized shopping experience. They use online search engines to sift through options from all corners of the internet, then personalize everything from their childrens’ books to meal kit subscriptions. 

Consumers have and expect a level of control never seen before. In this day and age, the former model of ordering custom team uniforms and sports apparel probably won’t align with consumers’ quickly-evolving needs. Before, a coach might have been satisfied working with a sales representative that played telephone with a designer to create and purchase teamwear. Now, they often want a more hands-on approach to both designing and ordering uniforms. The dilemma many custom teamwear brands now face is how to evolve with the needs of their customers without having to start from scratch…

Enter vPersonalize. We’re enabling businesses all over the world to increase efficiency, sales, and customer satisfaction while maintaining their existing ecommerce and supply chains. Our 3D product designer integrates with most ecommerce platforms, making it easy to publish customizable designs to a consumer-facing portal quickly and efficiently. Your customers can then choose a product, change colors, add logos or team lettering, customize in real 3D and place their orders. Once a custom order is placed, our patented technology automatically generates the size-graded, nested, print ready files with the roster name and numbers, ready for production in minutes!  

We’ve built upon our deep knowledge of customization and on-demand manufacturing to develop an industry-specific, comprehensive solution for custom teamwear brands that includes everything from automated catalog design, team stores, and order management to roster automation.

We continuously add new technology to our platform based on the expanding needs of our clients. With our newest feature, you can also seamlessly add our team commerce to your Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce. Our team commerce enables you to create dynamic storefronts, set automatic launch and expiration dates, provide secure access to your coaches for review, manage affiliate revenue share, track production times and more!  

At vPersonalize, we understand manufacturing and technology like no other. We are passionate about on-demand manufacturing and are actively building a future where supply chains work without any friction. 

For more information, email us at hello@vpersonalize.com

4 Ways to optimize your sublimated sportswear & teamwear business

Posted on by vPersonalize
Automating sublimated sportswear and teamwear

The global sportswear market was worth USD $239.78 billion in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of 10.4% between 2019 to 2025. Although there was a dip in sports participation due to the covid-19 pandemic, as schools and leagues open back up and outdoor activities are encouraged, the custom team uniform segment is expected to make a healthy rebound. With more and more brands and manufacturers offering the service either directly to consumers or through other businesses, it is time to explore effective ways of optimizing the custom sublimated sportswear and teamwear business. 

Put Some of the Design Work in the Hands of Your Customers

Typically a customer works with a sales representative who works with a designer to create an initial design that then goes through rounds of telephone or email iterations before the design is finalized, accepted and ready to go to production.

Understandably, this back and forth process is time consuming and expensive. It may also be frustrating for your customer when your designer don’t get it “right” the first time.  By offering templates and giving your customer the ability to design themselves or collaborating directly with them in real time, you ensure customer satisfaction and higher order volumes. 

Grow Your Business with Team Stores

If chasing down customers for payment and tracking complex orders for the same team isn’t your idea of a good time, consider expanding your reach and customer satisfaction with personalized team stores. 

By offering customized goods through a personalized storefront, you simultaneously drive sales and upsell opportunities while simplifying your order collection process and eliminating the need for manual or paper order forms. 

With vPersonalize, you only have to design once to automatically generate a team storefront with team designs across your product line. Orders can be placed and fulfilled individually, collected over a selected period of time and then made all at once, or ordered in bulk. Create team catalogs available for purchase directly from your existing e-commerce.

Don’t Get Bogged Down with Rosters and Variable Data

The task of collecting roster information, or team variable data (like names and numbers) and translating that information in to actual print files can be a time-consuming process. Designers have to go through lists of names and numbers and the corresponding sizes ordered to first manually enter the correct information and then grade it to the appropriate size. Even the quickest of designers likely take a considerable amount of time to do this, which especially adds up when doing large team orders. 

vPersonalize is the only manufacturing-aware design and production automation platform that offers full print-ready variable data automation: Simply upload a spreadsheet with team information to have it automatically generated into production-ready files, graded to size and ready for print, cut and sew using our advanced Artificial Intelligence based grading system. Don’t take our word for it: before committing to any solution, do a test run to make sure everything works as intended and you can go directly to print!

Avoid Re-designing Mock-ups into Print Files & Take Directly to Production 

The back and forth associated with creating mock-ups can be an expensive and time-consuming. This snowballs further when, post-approval, mockups need to be converted into actual production files, with nesting, markers, fabric optimization, yield management, laser cutter, barcodes, etc. 

Design and production automation allows you to go straight from purchase to the production line in minutes without any manual work. When you purchase a solution, do a test run of multiple sizes and rosters, test end-end for print colors, fabric yield, cutter compatibility and make sure everything works as intended.

We are here to help

Key technology decisions can affect your business for many years to come and it is important to take a long term view and choose the right technology that can keep you ahead of your competition. Equally important, choose a partner that truly understands your business – both manufacturing and technology.

We are the industry leading provider of software for mass customization and on-demand manufacturing at scale. Our technology helps apparel brands and their manufacturers bring designs to market significantly faster, expand product lines and make those products on demand.

For more information, visit www.vPersonalize.com or email us at hello@vpersonalize.com

The road to sustainability goes through customization and on-demand manufacturing

Posted on by vPersonalize

According to a McKinsey report, the fashion sector was responsible for 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in 2018, about 4 percent of the global total— that’s more than France, Germany and the UK combined that year—making it the second largest polluter in the world. The fashion industry is also the second largest consumer of the world’s water supply, accounting for 20 percent of industrial water pollution globally and 79 billion cubic meters of water in 2017 alone. That figure is expected to increase 50% by 2030. 

In addition to the significant monetary motivation to reduce waste, there is the sheer consumer perception as well: The majority (54%) of US adult shoppers agree (43%) or strongly agree (11%) that they are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products says a report by The Integer Group. Furthermore, according to The Business Research Company, the sustainable fashion market is expected to grow to $9.81 billion in 2025 and $15.17 billion in 2030 at a CAGR of 9.1%, potentially tripling in less than a decade from the $6.35 billion it’s currently worth. 

There are several ways the fashion industry can reduce emissions, water waste and align with a growing voice for sustainability: 

1. Shorten supply chains with mass-customization 

When we say mass-customization, typically what comes to mind is the consumer level, bespoke customization. Although this is a fast growing niche, what we are referring to here is a different application of mass-customization. Think of this as product development by a brand for a small group: targeted demography at the store, city or event level. This does three things: firstly, brands can now experiment with a large variety of new designs and sizes without carrying much physical inventory. Second, use targeted small batch manufacturing to stock store-specific designs and sizes (inventory  targeting). Third, switch to faster production cycles, with shorter supply chains, run with local manufacturing, thus bringing new styles to market significantly faster

Traditionally, what you see as the latest trend for the season has been on someone’s drawing board 60 to 90 days prior! The long production cycles meant making assumptions before all the data was in. A compressed supply chain removes the guesswork, enabling a brand to defer production till it has the needed data, thus capturing the market when and where it matters most, while significantly cutting down on wasted resources. 

When corporations lengthen their supply chains, transporting the product across the world (from countries with fewer fossil fuel restrictions) to end-consumers releases greenhouse gasses at a distressing scale. Ships alone were responsible for emitting more than one billion tons of CO2 and greenhouse gases a year, an estimate which is projected to increase by 50% to 250% by the year 2050.

Re-shoring efforts have been increasingly popular throughout the world for a number of reasons, but the immediate reduction in emissions and the ability to shorten supply chains and make products on-demand has even driven large traditional brands to rethink their mass-produce-overseas strategy in favor of producing small batches locally. 

In addition, mass-customization makes bespoke fashion possible. Research indicates that consumers perceive their customized goods to be more valuable, likely leading to a longer usage of the product. Several studies have shown that customized goods are far less likely to be returned. A reduction in returns alone has the potential to cut emissions significantly, seeing as each return can effectively double the transporting of goods, and is currently more likely to end up in a landfill than back on shelves. 

2. Reduce wastage through on-demand manufacturing 

Dead inventory is costing the US retail industry as much as $50 billion a year, being passed through a chain of discount stores and liquidators before the remaining portion ends up in landfills. 

That is right – a significant percentage of produced apparel, that has used up natural resources and water by the ton, is never even purchased or worn! Although one report puts the wastage anywhere from 20-30% of produced goods, the actual figures are thought to be much higher. 

Brands won’t reveal this number, but some studies have put the production to purchase ratio at 2.4:1 among brands that better manage their inventory to 5.6:1 or higher, among those that don’t. That is 40% to 60% of manufactured products, never being sold and making their way through a chain of discount stores and liquidators before ending up in a landfill or destroyed to protect the brand’s prestige and exclusivity, like in the famous case of Burberry. 

One obvious solution to tackle fashion’s overproduction problem is by only making what is needed. Although this objective would have once been deemed impossible due to demand volatility and the high minimum order quantities associated with traditional supply chains, on-demand manufacturing is enabling firms to do just that: produce products when there is a demand and without minimum order quantities. 

Made-to-order or on-demand manufacturing ensures that the materials, energy and resources that go into producing a garment will only be deployed if and when there is a demand for it. This has the clear potential to significantly reduce emissions and waste associated with warehouse inventory and overproduction. 

3. Improved machines, processes and responsible materials

Using processes and machines that waste less water and materials is an obvious way for the fashion industry to significantly reduce its impact on the environment. A Bloomberg news article,  explored the use of lasers and software to produce distressed and faded looks on jeans, without using chemicals and water entirely. This, coupled with mass-customization opens the door for bespoke fashion on a jean, while reducing the environmental impact! 

As in the case of Levis, manufacturers can also reuse processed water and explore digital printing on textiles rather than dyeing. In addition, adopting technologies that reduce the need for physical samples and shipping, like virtual product samples, will enable more sustainable product development.

Around 70 million barrels of oil a year are used to make polyester fibres for our clothes. A simple shift to recycled polyester can help reduce carbon emissions by 50% to 75%. Organic cotton and linen are naturally biodegradable fibers which produce 50% less greenhouse emissions compared to synthetic fibers. Till a decade back, retail quality bespoke products with these fabrics were not thought possible. New manufacturing and printing technologies now make it possible to use these fabrics for garment printing, bespoke fashion and on-demand production.

We are here to help

Fashion and the demand for new apparel and accessories is not going anywhere, but we can make the industry more efficient and sustainable.

From mass-customization, print-on-demand, sportswear production optimization, design-to-manufacturing automation to bespoke fashion, we can help with digital technologies for a sustainable future.

We are the industry leading provider of software for mass customization and on-demand manufacturing at scale. Our technology helps apparel brands and their manufacturers bring designs to market significantly faster, expand product lines and make those products on demand.

For more information, visit www.vPersonalize.com or email us at hello@vpersonalize.com

What exactly is mass-customization?

Posted on by vPersonalize

Excerpts from Ankita Chowdhary’s interview with Bala Selvarajan and Robert Johnson, published in StitchWorld:

What is mass-customization and on-demand manufacturing?

When we say mass-customization or on-demand manufacturing, typically what comes to mind is the consumer level customization – a consumer designs a product from scratch and has it custom made. This, however, is just one niche use of mass-customization and its applications are quite broader. 

Take for example the sudden demand for face masks during the pandemic. You see an endless variety of them being made, but due to the difficulty involved in anticipating how long the need for masks will continue, or at what rate, the traditional model of producing and keeping inventory does not work.

The same is true if a brand wants to experiment with new styles, color or sizes, but doesn’t know what the demand is going to be, or wants to iterate faster with new designs rapidly. All of these fall under the broad umbrella of mass-customization, even though there is no consumer level customization involved at all.

What is real-time commerce?

What we mean by “Real Time Commerce” is the ability for brands to create thousands of SKUs virtually and instantly get those products in front of their customers and start selling. The products are made on-demand, after a purchase is actually made! Brands will manage all of their products and designs digitally and sell through e-commerce.

The key here, is the use of technology to produce high quality products on-demand and ship them to customers in 2 to 3 days. For the customer, this feels no different from ordering a product on say, Amazon, except the product may not have existed until it was ordered!

What is the relevance of mass-customization to brands and retailers?

Traditionally, retailers had to rely on long and expensive design-to-production cycles. What you see as the latest trend for the season has been on someone’s drawing board 60 to 90 days prior! All these costs add up as “Minimum Order Quantities”, creating large inventories, discounts and end-of-season sale!

The on-demand business model removes these inefficiencies and opens a new world of small batch manufacturing. The ability to a) create designs and get them to market in real-time b) produce the latest trends in small batches and bring them to market in as little as 2 weeks c) restock after it sells!

This provides two disruptive opportunities that traditional brands and retailers can tap into: Firstly, adapt to rapidly changing needs and consumer preferences by introducing new products, designs and styles. Second, use targeted small batch manufacturing to minimize inventory by stocking store-specific designs, sizes and styles. 

This is the real promise of mass-customization. To be able to expand product lines, bring designs to market significantly faster, all without carrying additional inventory!

 On the different applications of the technology:

Mass-customization has broad applications. The customization aspect itself can be anywhere on the spectrum – 100% owned and controlled by the brand, to 100% bespoke, designed by the consumer or a collaborative design process in the middle.

A large part of the design to production process and the supply chain for the fashion & textile industry has been manual. When you have tens of people communicating using different tools and systems, things are bound to be lost in translation. 

With a “purchase to production line” solution, a lot of these uncertainties go away and what is designed and visualized is exactly what gets made, bringing speed and predictability to what has largely been a manual and time consuming process. 

mass customization, on-demand manufacturing, apparel on demand

What is the future of mass-customization?

Mass-customization is the future.

Consumers will increasingly shop online. Consumers will increasingly demand personalization. Rapidly changing business environment will make large inventories impossible to hold.

The future belongs to those brands that are able to bring designs to market considerably faster and to then manufacture those products on-demand or in small-batches.

5 things to include in your business plan to grow sales and revenue

Posted on by vPersonalize

Guide To Small Business Success - grow sales & revenue

This article is published as part of our “SMB Success”, a program designed to help small and medium sized brands succeed. For questions, comments or suggestions, please write to editor@vpersonalize.com

One of the most important things any business should do is create and update their business plan at least once a year. A lot of small businesses skip this step and lose out on growth. Just as you use a GPS to drive, an Annual Business Plan (ABP) provides a route map for your business for the next twelve months.

Once the previous year’s dust has settled and you can look to the year ahead, spend time in January to gain a clearer vision of where your business aims to be. Not only will an annual business plan define your objectives for the coming twelve months; it can also construct the roadmap for meeting those goals.

Using the strategic planning and performance measures we outline below, combined with a review of your expectations and results from the previous year, you’ll be able to create an annual plan that gives everyone in your organization a sense of where they’re headed and how they will get there.

Here are five things to get you started:

1. Create a Mission Statement

Although you know why your business exists and what you offer, it’s still important to craft a summary that can quickly and effectively communicate it to the rest of the world. Taking the time to build a clear mission statement, and annually reviewing it to make sure it’s still in line with your vision, will help you and your team stay focused on your core business.

It goes without saying that setting and pursuing goals is a critical part of growing your business and will play an important part in your annual plan. Goals will vary from business to business, ranging from reducing expenses, increasing operational efficiency to increasing your market share or bringing traffic to your website.

Although it can feel overwhelming, start by outlining the top 3 to 5 goals and a plan to meet those objectives. Initially outline broad, end-of-the-year goals, then work backwards to create quarterly objectives.

2. Do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis

A SWOT analysis is used internally to organize your top strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats into an organized list, which is usually presented in a simple two-by-two grid. A SWOT analysis will help outline the best opportunities to pursue and what you should highlight to achieve your business goals. It also assists in identifying areas in which you need to improve and can bring threats to light, where they might otherwise catch you off guard.

Understanding your customers’ needs and how your product fits them will help you establish effective strategies for marketing and sales, as well as future product development. Identify your most valuable markets, develop buyer personas, and track consumer behavior to ensure that you stay ahead of your competitors.

With so many alternatives existing today, it becomes increasingly important to stay ahead of your competition. Take the time to evaluate your industry, market size and competition. Identifying your major competitors, researching their products, marketing, and sales strategies.

This will not only help you stay aware of industry trends and consumer expectations, it will also help determine what sets you apart and what your unique competitive advantages are and what can be further developed.

3. Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 

if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it! Measuring performance regularly is a big part of scaling your business. Tracking and analyzing your performance across multiple key areas will help you gain a clear understanding of what is working and what needs improvement.

Some important KPIs to include in your annual plan are sales metrics, customer acquisition, revenue growth, operational metrics such as fulfillment time, returns and refunds. Some not so obvious KPIs are referral rate (word of mouth by an existing customer is the best sales tool you can get).

4. Discover Your Growth Engine

This is where you’ll put a lot of the previous analysis to good use. What marketing strategies should you focus on to increase traffic and time spent on your website, improve conversion rates, and directly reach people that are looking for your products and services?

Think through operational efficiencies you can drive to increase customer engagement and satisfaction (newer products, giving customers more control over product design, faster fulfillment, lower price, etc). Some common themes that work across industries are: what can I do to make my products better, faster, cheaper and put my customer in the driver’s seat.

These typically involve streamlining workflows, improving communication, automating processes or adding product personalization.

5. Plan For Success

Once you have discovered your growth engine, take that information and develop a plan on how to implement and manage it this year. Allocate budget for capital expenses and key areas that will drive growth and revenue for your business this year. Start your research and identify the best suppliers, ecosystem and partners that can help you implement your plan and reach your goals.

We are here to help

One of the top growth engines in the apparel and fashion industry is product customization and automation. From consumer personalization, print-on-demand, bespoke fashion to custom sportswear and sublimated teamwear, we can help with technology for a digital future –  mass-customization, on-demand production and online commerce.

We are the industry leading provider of software for mass customization and on-demand manufacturing at scale. Our technology helps apparel brands and their manufacturers bring designs to market significantly faster, expand product lines and make those products on demand.

We are privileged to have been able to assist some of the best custom apparel and print-on-demand companies in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe scale on-demand production profitably.

For more information or to schedule a demo, visit www.vPersonalize.com or email us at hello@vpersonalize.com

Super Charge Your Custom Sportswear and Sublimated Teamwear Business

Posted on by vPersonalize

sublimated teamware automation software

Over the years, the market for custom sportswear and team uniforms has grown significantly. Participation in school sports has nearly doubled in the last decade. The market in the US alone was pegged at over $10 billion in 2019. This, alongside the growth in popularity of athleisure and sports apparel, has created a booming, albeit competitive, marketplace.

Two things stand out about this industry: first, almost every design is custom and made-to-order. Second, most of the brands use overseas production to keep their costs down, although it impacts their delivery time, sometimes by as much as 6 to 8 weeks from purchase. This is true even for the big name brands, with well-oiled supply chains.

Full custom, made-to-order teamwear in a week?

For many big brands that do custom sportswear, the business constitutes a small percentage of their overall revenue and some brands choose not to do custom products at all due to the cost, turnaround time and supply chain complexity involved.

Unsurprisingly though, customization significantly increases overall sales. Studies have shown that customized products offer a 3x-5x higher revenue per unit. One Deloitte study found that 71% of consumers were willing to pay a premium for personalized products. Customized products also have one of the lowest return rates in the industry, with a reported 60% decrease in product returns.

The big question then is, can anything be done to make the made-to-order business work without friction, where everything from design to production is predictable and repeatable? More importantly, can this be achieved with existing workflows and local supply chains?

 

End-end automation

For the custom sportswear and team apparel industry, creating artworks, taking orders and turning the designs and roster information into print ready files across sizes is the most complex and time consuming part of the operation and providing an easy way for teams to customize and place their order remains the single biggest obstacle to growing sales and revenues.

Although there is clear evidence that offering customization, smaller minimum order quantities and more self-serve options leads to increased sales and customer satisfaction, there currently aren’t many avenues for accomplishing it all at the same time. Customization usually means longer lead times and higher minimum order quantities, while team designs often require a significant amount of time and resources to create and much hand holding when working with coaches, managers and team players.

As the market landscape evolves, automation will be key to ensure that businesses can provide unique value to their customers in an efficient manner that is flexible enough for individual customization but maintains short lead times at unit costs comparable to that of mass production. Switching to local supply chains, without substantially increasing cost will be critical for faster delivery.

The brave new world of purchase-triggered manufacturing

Today, a typical workflow in the team uniform sales market involved a customer making an order inquiry, working with a sales person to conceptualize a design, which would then be sent off to a designer to create a mock-up. The sales rep, designer and customer would then play a game of telephone until the customer approves and places the order. After the sale, the design would then need to be converted into actual production patterns across each ordered size and roster names and numbers added, the final output color matched, the design verified and finally approved for production overseas.

However, more and more coaches, teams and players want a bigger say in the design, want instant feedback and faster delivery after purchase. Teams want the ability to design, share and purchase the product of their choice without having to coordinate a series of meetings with a representative. This goes against the long standing model for team uniform sales, but the ongoing shift in consumer behavior due to the pandemic and increasingly contact-less commerce has only accelerated this transformation.

This new paradigm will be key for brands, both big and small to scale revenue and sales in the years to come.

Customization is king, but cost and turnaround is key

The global sportswear market size was valued at USD $185.24 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to expand to USD $250 billion by 2025.

In order to  compete in a growing, but incredibly competitive marketplace, individually personalized, made to order products with fast delivery is key. Many of these may seem like a paradox – custom and fast, bespoke and inexpensive. Overcoming this paradox requires the right technology and an agile manufacturing process that can scale efficiently. Scalable customization requires processes that can adapt to increased variability in customers’ requirements without sacrificing production efficiencies or cost.

But, done right, full custom made-to-order apparel is not only possible, but a significant revenue opportunity.

Discover industry specific technology and automation from vPersonalize

vPersonalize is the only design-to-manufacturing technology platform that makes on-demand and custom manufacturing possible at time and price points similar to traditional mass production.

With vPersonalize’s patented technology and automation, go from purchase to a finished product in hours using your existing supply chain. That is full custom sportswear and sublimated teamwear, made-to-order locally, in just days, at unit costs comparable to that of mass production!

Some of the best sportswear and print-on-demand brands in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe are already leveraging vPersonalize to scale on-demand production profitably.

Discover an end-end software platform and automation, specially built for the custom sportswear and sublimated teamwear industry. Go from purchase to a finished product in hours, with your existing supply chain.

To learn more, visit https://www.vpersonalize.com

What does it take to reshore manufacturing successfully?

Posted on by vPersonalize

Online sales have exploded during the coronavirus pandemic, as consumers try to stay home more. Online sales at Walmart, Target, and Best Buy in the first quarter increased by 74%, 141%, and 155%, respectively. Meanwhile, the 800-pound gorilla that is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) continued its steady march, growing global online sales by 24%.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a massive fallout for the world economy. Just in the US alone, over 36 million people have filed initial claims for unemployment benefits over the last seven weeks. The restrictions that were instated to stop the spread of the virus have devastated in-store businesses of all sizes and exposed the vulnerabilities of our global supply chains.

The supply chain disruptions have created longer delivery times. This increased delivery time amid political uncertainties and complicated national trade policies has fostered a strong renaissance towards reshoring, local manufacturing and fulfillment.

reshore-manufacturing

In an effort to to blunt recessions many governments are pushing businesses to reevaluate long established supply chains. A lot of energy appears to be focused on stimulus programs aimed at reshoring and strengthening local production and supply networks.

Last month alone, Japan earmarked over $2 billion of its economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers reshore production out of China. French President Macron, a former champion of globalization, has said that their supply chain will need to be focused more locally, while his Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, urged citizens to stock French products. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said that the pandemic required a level of sovereignty obtained through a “pillar of domestic production”.

The U.S. Government for some years has been strongly advocating corporations to bring offshored manufacturing back to the US. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of having access to not just essential goods, but even to seemingly simple products like masks and gloves locally.

Professor Beata Javorcik, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, recently told BBC, “They will re-shore activities that can be automated, because re-shoring brings certainty. You do not have to worry about your national trade policy, and it also gives you an opportunity to diversify your supplier base.”

Jonty Blum of the BBC added, “Although, some factors such as 3D printing, automation, the demand for customization, quick delivery, as well as protectionism were already driving this trend, it seems that Covid-19 has only accelerated that process.”

Many economists are echoing this sentiment: Automation will likely accelerate as companies look to reduce their reliance on low-skill, low-cost labor in other countries while supporting less contact among employees and consolidating steps along the value chain. According to a report published by analyst company Forrester, automation could become the key for businesses to survive the looming recession brought on by COVID-19.

On-demand manufacturing is a key area that has seen unprecedented growth amid demand uncertainty and scarcer resources. The recent demand for face masks is one example: Due to the difficulty involved in anticipating how long the need for masks will continue, or at what rate, the traditional model of producing and keeping stock does not work. With on-demand manufacturing, the products are made after purchase and that ensures the materials and resources aren’t wasted on inventory. Since the product is made bespoke and on-demand, it is possible to add customization. Customization, in turn, increases what consumers are willing to pay and reduces returns, giving companies the ability to sell more products at a higher price. The catch is to do this while maintaining the same operating expense, which is where automation and on-demand manufacturing technology make all the difference between success or failure.

In times of uncertainty, it is only natural to speculate on the future. The one sliver of a silver lining that can be viewed amid this tragic crisis, outside of our reduced contribution to ongoing climate change, is the potential way in which we can recover from this. Hopefully, we will emerge with a stronger industrial strategy and more sustainable, resilient supply chains.

vPersonalize focuses on technologies for mass-customization and on-demand manufacturing at scale. Our technology helps apparel brands and their manufacturers bring designs to market significantly faster and make those products on demand.

Discover real-time commerce. To find out more, Contact Us.

Technology for mass-customization and on-demand manufacturing

Posted on by vPersonalize
This article originally appeared on WTiN 17 April 2020 based on an interview by Joe Link. 
Technologies have emerged with the promise to streamline operations, but for a solution to be successful it must work at scale and be cost effective. To date, large swathes of the apparel industry accept that change is necessary but have been slow to adopt disruptive technologies. On-demand manufacturing is a term we hear a lot: the emerging business model is seen by many as the future of the apparel industry. Similarly, the print-on-demand and personalization trend has been gaining traction in the last decade as consumers show a weariness towards mass-produced, bulk fashion

vPersonalize duo Bala Selvarajan and Robert Johnson talk to Joseph Link about the importance of mass personalisation and on-demand manufacturing to the textile supply chain. Below are some excerpts.

vPersonalize’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Robert Johnson, believes that transforming the supply chain is a collective effort that ties together the technology providers, brands, direct-to-garment (DTG) sector, textile printers and consumers.

“On the supply side, we see a growing migration to dye sublimation and print on demand because it offers better margins and the ability to create retail quality products on-demand,” says Johnson. “This in turn creates a new pool of suppliers that brands and retailers can tap into. The real power of this disruption is that this new supply chain is local.”

One outcome of this disruption, Johnson points out, is the re-shoring movement. It has become a viable prospect to use technology to manufacture locally, through which turnaround times can be slashed.

“The main driver of personalization is targeted small-batch manufacturing which allows a brand to create, and experiment with, thousands of designs and size variants. The benefits include lower inventory costs and the ability to only manufacture a product after it has been purchased. This is the real promise of personalisation and on-demand manufacturing: make what sells, when it sells and get it to the nearest store where it sells,” Johnson adds.

“Print-on-demand always held the promise of bespoke, made-to-order apparel,” Johnson says. “Large sections of the textile supply chain still rely on heavy manual labour and when you have a large workforce operating different machines, human error becomes an issue.

“With a purchase-to-production-line solution, a lot of these uncertainties go away and what is designed and visualised is exactly what gets made,” he continues. “This brings predictability and repeatability to what has largely been a manual and cumbersome process for decades.

“On-demand manufacturing reduces wastage. Our [vPersonalize] solution enables a design to be taken directly to a production line in minutes, which makes local manufacturing possible,” Johnson adds.” And with local manufacturing comes reduced reliance on international shipping and the resultant carbon emissions. We have just one planet to leave to future generations and we are getting to a point now where we need everything to be sustainable.”

Outlook

“As more customers start working remotely and with smaller teams, the move to virtual product development, sampling and small-batch production will accelerate. We are focusing on the existing pieces of our technology that can support our customers during a period of social distancing and beyond, using tools that reduce the need for in-person contact like virtual product development, design-to-manufacturing accuracy, automation and online commerce,” says Selvarajan.

“The impact of Covid-19 is unprecedented and there is little by way of data or experience that can help us navigate this. But, we are seeing significant changes to consumer purchasing behavior, perhaps permanently, accelerating towards e-commerce and abandoning physical spaces. While online commerce is recording historic numbers, brick and mortar companies are seeing unprecedented closure”

vPersonalize focuses on apparel brands and manufacturers, helping solve some of the key technical challenges that are specific to them, says Selvarajan. He continues: “In all of this, the common theme will be to help our customers bring designs to market considerably faster and to help them manufacture those products on-demand.”

Online commerce may now be a survival necessity

Posted on by vPersonalize

Brick & mortars across the country are amidst an unprecedented closure due to the coronavirus. With hundreds of thousands of employees furloughed, companies are facing vast decreases in revenues and are bracing for the impact that coronavirus will have on them. The harsh reality is that some might not make it to the other side. According to Coresight, an estimated 630,000 outlets have already been forced to close and the National Retail Federation estimates that $430 billion in revenues will disappear over the next three months.

During this time of mass social distancing, consumer purchasing behavior is changing rapidly, perhaps permanently, barreling towards e-commerce and abandoning physical spaces for fear of contagion. While Amazon and Nike are seeing historic numbers, other companies are seeing sharp drop in revenue and scrambling to pivot to digital commerce.

It is believed that covid-19 will have long lasting effects on consumer habits. “When a lot of people are self-quarantined or staying in their homes and being in a lot less public places, we’re going to see a shift in behavior,” says Shelley Kohan, founder of Shelmark Consulting. “We’ve talked about how e-commerce is supposed to grow over the next few years, but this is something that’s going to happen in our first quarter and that is going to change behavior in quarters two, three and four.”

Andrew Lipsman described this phenomenon in Kohan’s article for Forbes, calling it a “step-change,” a short-term change in reaction to a specific event that creates a new, higher plateau for a certain behavior. Lipsman continued, “during the holiday, a time with more concentrated buying activity, consumers spend more online, creating a step-change, meaning the consumer may not return to past behavior. We may see this type of similar behavior unfold over the future.”

Businesses big and small must act now to create a solid digital strategy and align their business models to this new normal.

 

Focus on online sales

If you don’t have a digital strategy, the time to act is now! Even if you already have a fairly sophisticated online presence, prepare to run a large part of your business digitally. Make it easy for customers to purchase your product and services online. Prepare for a low-touch future.

 

Foster good relationships with your customers

Make sure to communicate with your customers clearly and consistently. Let your customers know you are open for business online. Create rewards and incentives. Use your social media presence to keep your customers up to date and connected.

 

Retool key processes for virtualization and automation

As more companies start working remotely and with smaller teams, the move to virtual product development and small batch production will accelerate. Use this time effectively to retool your processes and make changes to facilitate remote communication and less on-site staff.

 

We are here to help

If you are in the apparel space, we can help. We continue to focus on technologies that can support our customers during a period of social distancing and beyond, using tools that reduce the need for in-person contact like virtual product development, design-to-manufacturing accuracy, automation and online commerce.

As you use this time to focus on making your business resilient, we’re here to serve you with technology for a digital future – mass customization, on-demand production and online commerce.

 

Connect with us to learn more: 

www.vPersonalize.com

hello@vpersonalize.com