IT Makes You Look Good

Talk about fashion and what comes to mind are lithe, stylish models and the
perennial debate between prt and haute couture. Next to come to mind are the
wares or displays in the showrooms of large global brands present in most Indian
malls today. Even this glitzy world of fashion has not been able to escape the
influence of IT.

There are, of course, specific links between clothing and technology, like
the Calvin Klein menswear collection in which the designer Italo Zucchelli
created patterns using a fabric that responded to body heat; or Zegnas iPod
jacket that powers the unit via the sun. But we are talking about something
different: the influence of the virtual world on creativity. It is not just
about smart fashion brands creating hip websites or getting their clothes on the
virtual world site Second Life or use widgets in Facebook, but about a designer
understanding the modern mind-set and undergoing the experience. Or, more
importantly, look at optimally using IT to tackle issues like inventory
management, supply chain automation and the likes.

Influencing Fashion

Like many other sectors that embraced IT a little late in the day, having a
portal in place seems to be the most popular activity among players in the
fashion domain. However, the fashion industry doesnt look like restricting
itself merely to having general portals with static information; many of them
have packed in information that is not just interactive, but also help in
proactively fostering their business. In fact many of them, both fashion
designers as well as fashion houses, are looking at incorporating e-commerce
engines into their portals.

Fashion designer Rohit Kumar points out that his website has now become one
of his main business vehicles. My website is not just an update about my
collection, it is being increasingly used for cataloguing it. Creating an
online catalog of styles, the concepts behind them, texture and fiber seem to be
the preferred activities. The portal gives a single platform for all this
information that is then shared with merchandisers, production people and retail
stockists. This helps make your business interactions easy, handy and much less
stressful, says Kumar.

Its not just portals but social networking sites too that seem to have
become a popular vehicle for successful business propositionsat least for
individual fashion designers. Kumar, for example, has started selling in
significant quantity through widgets in his Facebook profile.

Chictopia.com is exactly like Facebook, but for fashionistas. It is an
online community where fashion savvy consumers can upload photos of themselves
or others they have styled as well as browse others cool collections and
styles. There is so much more available at Chictopiauser reviews of
stores, comments to photos, forums discussing designers and trends, and you can
even learn about notable fashion events around the world.

Closetcouture.com is the place where style seekers can find style advice
online from the experts. Do you want to find a personal stylist? How
about wardrobe tips? Its all at Closet Couture. And, you can get
peer advice on personal style just by a click of the mouse. The twist and
differentiator for this site is how it helps you organize your closet, all with
an e-commerce twist. You get to try on clothes, make purchases, get advice
all while filling your closet virtually. Opportunities abound as retailers
can have a presence on this site for members to purchase items for their closet
from retailers closets.

Supply and Distribution Chain

Many fashion houses today work with design and manufacturing teams spread
across dispersed locations; this necessitates the need for a robust supply chain
automation solution. The supply chain should be designed such that the goods
flow seamlessly from the producer to consumer and vice versa. This frees capital
tied-up in returned and obsolete products. Today global collaboration is needed
to develop an optimal supply chain with business partners in a symbiotic manner,
rather than focusing entirely on strategies that deliver individual success.

Technologies like PLM offer smart solutions to address most of the supply
chain concerns. If implemented properly, PLM tools can completely optimize the
manner in which products are developed, believes Atul Dhakappa, head, fashion
practice, Geometric. PLM is now widely used by manufacturing companies globally
to develop, describe, manage and communicate information about products
internally as well as externally among the supply chain partners, he adds.

Owning the distribution channel is increasingly becoming another crucial
issue for fashion houses. The challenge is to improve internal processes to gain
tighter control of the entire production and distribution process, ensuring that
each step is managed to maximum efficiency. One way in which companies are
trying to do this is by buying and running their own retail shops.

Luxury companies increasingly want to own the whole distribution chain. If
they have greater control over the final sale to the customer, they can better
understand what they need to produce in the first place. And they can build
customer loyalty through the service they provide in their outlets.

In IT terms, this trend requires companies to build tighter links between
point-of-sale information about what the customer is buying and the processes
further up the supply chain. Such information helps companies better anticipate
consumer demand and organize production to meet that demand.

Emerging Trends

Forecasting and planning tools are also becoming more sophisticated in order
to maximize the efficiency of procurement and production. One of the problems
for fashion companies is that they often need to buy fabrics before they know
what quantities of products they need to manufacture, says Paul Deuman,
business analyst with Gurgaon-based fashion garment exporter, Maestro
Engineering. The risk is that they produce too much and end up with a lot of
unsold stock. They are trying to create simulation models, based on historical
data of what they have sold in particular markets, to better understand their
requirements for fabrics and other raw materials. Traditionally, this was an
informal, paper-based process, based on the individuals knowledge of buyers.

Another factor affecting IT requirements is the increasingly global nature of
the industry. Although luxury brands tend to keep production operations within
primarily Italy or France, because of the high value of the made in
Italy/France hallmarks, mainstream players like Diesel and Benetton and others
found in every Indian mall today are increasingly outsourcing production to
low-cost economies in Eastern Europe and Asia. Their challenge is to build
organizational processes to optimize a highly distributed and often complex
value chain.

Such companies need solutions that can manage intercompany processes and
information flows. For example, the production house in China might deliver its
goods to a distribution house in Australia that is responsible for distribution
to outlets in the entire Asia-Pacific region. The technology solutions that
support this model are increasingly Web-based, because they allow companies to
maintain centralized control of their distribution, while allowing systems
access to entities all over the world.

The need of the hour, most agree, is to have an end-to-end integrated
solution that would help the clients resolve the growing business challenges.
Moreover, with multiple systems, critical data was not available online for
making informed decisions. We could not ascertain whether our stores were making
profit or not; which of the brands were a best-seller and which were simply
occupying shelf space, adds Kamal Kotak, MD, Major Brands, franchisee for
brands like Mango, Nine West, Bally, Promod, La Senza, Charles & Keith, Inglot,
Okaidi among others.

Stuti Das

stutid@cybermedia.co.in