Just when you thought we couldn’t have done it better… We went ahead and tipped the scales. Some of our most exciting and useful enhancements from the April 2019 update of VStitcher and Lotta, are the upgraded features we incorporated into our Group, Lock and Hide tools. It’s everything you’ve known and loved about grouping, locking and hiding…plus a little more oomph!

All Together Now, 1-2-3

The April 2019 edition added new capabilities and a robust Group feature. Now, you can group internal elements together and perform actions on all the elements together as a group. The following objects can be grouped for easy manipulation: artwork, trims, internal lines, and pieces that are all attached to one base piece. Read more about Grouping Elements in the Support section.

Lock it up!

It’s now easier than ever to lock elements, protecting them from accidental changes. Once locked, the elements cannot be selected or stitched, which protects the element from being accidentally edited or changed. There are several ways to lock elements, and you can read more about it in the Support section.

I Can See Clearly Now

With enhanced “Hide” options, see your garments more easily by seamlessly hiding elements in the 2D window or the 3D window or both. Group all your measurement rulers, lock them and then hide them so you can continue designing freely without any clutter, and confident that your measurement rulers are safe from unintentional edits.  For more detailed information on the updated features, check out the Support section.

New update brings enhancements and improvements to VStitcher and Lotta 2019 April Edition.

We hope you’ve enjoyed working with and getting to know the new features in VStitcher and Lotta 2019 April Edition. We wanted to let you know that the latest software build is now available for download. The build includes enhancements and improvements as detailed in the Release Notes, and we have fixed some issues from the initial release.

Click here to read the full release notes and here to download.

If you have any questions about the update or any of our products, please contact your Browzwear representative.

We’re saying goodbye to winter and springing into fashion and warmer weather with brand new 3D clothing design tools and features for brands. We heard our customers and gathered feedback and input to create advanced features which make it easier for you to design your own clothes virtually.

Some of the new features include:

• Brand New Colorways Workspace provides the first and only advanced, comprehensive solution for professional apparel designers. The new workspace enables full control over all the different colors, fabrics and graphics as well as the ability to apply changes across all, some or one colorway. What used to take hours, now takes minutes with the new highly intuitive colorways workspace that  provides everything for quick decision making and includes advanced tools to make broad changes in a click of a button.
• Native Physical-Based Rendering (PBR) material system integration for state-of-the-art material renderings. PBR makes material renders more robust, enabling a realistic look of materials in real-time 3D including metallics, velvet, glitter and many more. PBR materials were originally developed by Disney and are used in professional pipelines for films and animation. We are proud to be the first apparel-focused software integrate this advanced and robust material system.
• New 3D Styling Properties including retouch, flatten and erase make it easier to make adjustments and communicate issues to pattern makers by showing them exactly where to make pattern modifications while keeping the integrity of the pattern pieces.
• Group/Lock/Hide enable designers to quickly group multiple elements and move them around together (e.g. a graphic and lines or trims), lock a specific element so it doesn’t move when others move, or hide a specific element’s type (e.g. all the measurement lines from the pattern maker) enabling a multidisciplinary team to work on a single garment together.
• U3M File Format Support enables brands to add a local/custom library and directly manage the brand materials. Now all the material information – from high end visual information to the physics properties of the fabric – is packaged in one single file, making it easier to share. In addition to the standard Browzwear library, everyone at the organization can access the local library as well.
• Other improvements including reduce points, auto-save and 3D measurements.

Want to hear more? Check out our on-demand webinars for an in-depth look at VStitcher and Lotta – April 2019 editions, or visit our online Help Center.

Let us know what you think…

We were ready to say “goodbye” to 2018 and welcome the new year with open arms. While 2018 saw a lot of advancements in the fashion industry, we know the next year or two will see even more and we’re excited to get to work. So what do we think are the biggest trends to hit the fashion industry as we head towards 2020?

Sustainability. And personalization powered by AI.

After so many decades of wastefulness and over-production, we are excited to see the move towards sustainable and scalable solutions. Consumers are becoming more environmentally aware, rightfully, they are demanding a higher level of commitment to the environment from the brands and companies they know. And brands? We are proud to see the efforts to streamline production and know that sustainable and scalable solutions are possible and worth the investment in the long run.

Sustainability

A recent article in EcoWatch examined just how much pollution and waste is created from clothing production, calling it the second largest polluter behind the oil industry!

According to the EcoWatch: “While cotton, especially organic cotton, might seem like a smart choice, it can still take more than 5,000 gallons of water to manufacture just a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Synthetic, man-made fibers, while not as water-intensive, often have issues with manufacturing pollution and sustainability. And across all textiles, the manufacturing and dyeing of fabrics is chemically intensive.”

The Denim Footprint

Let’s look more closely at jeans as an example of a garment that has undergone serious adjustments to achieve more sustainable production. Nearly 3000 gallons of water are needed to produce a single pair of traditional denim jeans. Much of that is needed to grow the cotton, but water is also used in the dyeing process.

Companies like Browzwear partner, Jeanologia, have recognized the need for more sustainable and environmentally-friendly production methods. In fact, Jeanologia has stated that their objective for 2025 is “to achieve the total dehydration and detoxification of the jeans’ industry.” According to their website, a few years ago they developed and released a tool that assesses the environmental impact of the garment finishing processes “by measuring key factors like water and energy consumption, the use of chemicals and the health and safety of workers; giving brands and laundries the tools they need to set goals and monitor their progress on the road to sustainability.”

Smart Factories for Smart Production

According to a recent McKinsey Apparel Go-to-Market Process Survey, 98 percent of executives said it was a priority to improve go-to-market processes and disciplines, and 59 percent said they had already appointed a dedicated team to manage these processes. So how are they doing it?

With 3D digital workflows and smart factories. By implementing a 3D digital workflow, it won’t take two years to produce a new collection. With 3D digitization, in fact, the entire workflow will be shortened to mere weeks, cutting out the infinite waste produced by constant revisions to physical samples. That’s not even to mention the weeks and months (and petrol) spent sending samples back and forth from the studios for revisions.

With the move towards 3D digital workflows, we also predict a real shift towards smart factories over the next few years. We are already starting to see the use of True-to-life 3D digital garments on websites and in catalogs, and we expect that they will only become more and more accurate. The digital garments are becoming more and more detailed and accurate to the point that consumers may not even realize they are purchasing garments that haven’t yet been produced. With smart factories and 3D garments, each order will be filled as it is placed, significantly reducing waste from excess inventory.

Personalization

According to boldmetrics.com, sites like Amazon.com enjoy a 35% conversion rate, while average eCommerce apparel sites only see a conversion rate of 2.5%. Sadly, these conversion rates haven’t changed in the last 20 years. But why? Why is there this glass ceiling that seemingly can’t be broken?

One of the main reasons is because we haven’t yet mastered the art of personalization yet.

So finally, things are changing. With the help of 3D digitalization, we predict a wave of personalization opportunities that will shatter the 2.5% conversion rates.

Predictive Analytics

McKinsey says, “The next-generation model should be based on anticipating what the consumer wants. Powered by predictive analytics and artificial intelligence, this model would proceed from design to delivery in close to real time.” The engine driving this is a digital process enabling brands to keep the momentum by quickly move from the design stage to manufacturing, while integrating customer feedback along the way.

But with those advancements comes the need to make the buying experience more personal too.

Personalized Shopping Experience

In pilot programs, McKinsey says that virtual dressing rooms brought more than a 50% increase in conversion rates for first time buyers and a 30% to 50% reduction in product return rates.

We will start to see a movement towards taking the physical experience of designing, manufacturing and selling clothing straight into the virtual world. By combining digitized 3D pre-production with customized and innovative online storefronts, brands can provide an authentic online experience. Virtual garments and virtual fitting rooms will soon be so realistic that shoppers won’t be able to tell that their avatars are actually trying on digital garments.

The next step will be customized avatars that remember each customer’s personal measurements and past purchases for a truly personalized online shopping experience.

The Future of Design Looks Bright

With the proper digital tools, brands will be able to reduce waste and increase their bottom line. By leveraging speed factories to produce garments after they are purchased, we will see a real shift in the way customer orders are processed. Keeping a finger on the pulse of the market, brands can adapt designs in real time and bring new designs to customers in a fraction of the time. The entire process will be streamlined and the amount of waste – from wasted water to dye to fabric and more – will decrease dramatically. The future of the fashion industry is environmentally sustainable and highly customized.

Feature

• Integrated ray trace engine by V-Ray

Benefits

• Out-of-the-box integration
• Quickly preview photorealistic renders and high quality production renders
• Visualize complex materials such as fur, fleece and velvet

In our last post, we introduced you to our new Smart Buttons and Smart Zippers. We hope you’ve had time to enjoy them by now and that you’re ready to hear about more exciting new features available in VStitcher 8.0 and Lotta 4.0 like the integrated ray trace engine.

Rendering, Straight Out of the Box

We’ve streamlined the V-Ray rendering process by including its ray trace engine out of the box. This integrated configuration enables you to see – almost instantly – the effects of fur and other complex materials like fleece and raw edges of jeans. It also enables you to visualize the background IBL, ( image based lighting) . Want your avatar to be walking through a jungle? No problem. Changed your mind and want it strolling the avenue? The integrated composition capabilities make this easier than ever before.

No More Waiting

Because we’ve integrated the ray trace rendering into VStitcher, you can render using V-Ray while simultaneously working on your garment. And better yet…you can make and see adjustments and changes as you make them. The days of waiting for renders to complete are over… this integration means your creations will render as you work. Simply hit “refresh” and see the updates appear before your eyes.

Let us know what you think!