Founded in 1948, PUMA has become one of the largest sportswear manufacturers in the world. The multinational company designs and manufactures a wide range of lifestyle and professional athletic gear such as footwear, apparel, and accessories.
Being one of the world’s leading sportswear brands, the production teams are constantly working at full speed. Much of the challenges faced stemmed from the complex approval process that took place between the design and manufacturing teams when it came to making decisions or carrying out sample iterations. As PUMA is a multinational company, internal stakeholders are located all over the world, so there is naturally a pause between different parts of the design cycle. For instance, when designers are waiting for approval from the factories or vice versa. The manufacturing team soon realized that a more practical approach was needed to improve both coordination and communication between departments, which would ultimately speed up time to market.
In 2017 PUMA collaborated with Browzwear to utilize the capabilities of its technology for a more efficient workflow. Browzwear’s 3D design solution would work to optimize PUMA’s product development workflow, providing a systematic and streamlined solution.
Browzwear began by working closely with PUMA’s Hong Kong-based Development department, with some Developers selected and trained in VStitcher. With VStitcher, everything from patterns, stitches to virtual fittings could be created, enabling the team to translate 2D sketches into virtual, true-to-life prototypes. That way, any changes or alterations could be made in a few clicks and the Developer can share digital samples to and from the stakeholders involved and receive feedback instantly. This enabled a significant portion of physical sample iterations to be replaced. The success of 3D implementation within the Hong Kong team inspired the design department in Germany, who soon got on board, building their own team of 3D designers. The Germany-based design team focused on the Sportstyle category. With both teams utilizing Browzwear’s software, a digital workflow was essentially established, paving the way for enhanced communication and collaboration between overseas departments. Information from one department to another could be passed back and forth effortlessly, which worked to significantly decrease the typical number of iterations needed throughout the approval process.
As part of Browzwear’s open platform, Metail , in partnership with Browzwear, offered design teams visualization solutions like EcoShot® to help PUMA’s design team in Germany. Metail enables users to simulate 3D garments on real people, helping to further the trust in 3D garments. It works to assist designers in getting a quick sense of what their garments will look like when worn by consumers. By combining a photorealistic digital garment with a real person, a more engaging internal pitch is established, and decisions can be made over a true-to-life result before anything is manufactured. As the influence of 3D prototyping within the company continues to grow, more vendors across the world have already adopted the software or have begun the onboarding process, building a digital foundation for the company.
With the digitization of the product development process, different departments could now seamlessly share information at a much faster pace. With improved communication, there is less room for errors and uncertainty, significantly accelerating time to market. The brand’s motorsport department also got on board subsequently. PUMA Motorsport designs teamwear for different motorsport teams and offers teamwear replica products as well as a street style range. This often involves placing and updating graphics onto the gear. With Browzwear, a vector workflow was established which enabled faster and more efficient product creation. As the influence of 3D prototyping within the company continues to grow, more vendors across the world have already adopted the software or have begun the onboarding process, building a digital foundation for the company.
PUMA 3D outfit designed with Browzwear & Metail’s EcoShot® software