Suspicious and untrusting, the fashion industry has been quite reluctant to adopt the latest innovation as a tool for their business. Usually labeled as a ‘fad’, today’s technology has been mainly resisted by traditional companies unwilling to leave the days of hand-written orders to their suppliers and factories in the past. As time ticks on, companies are slowly beginning to realize that it is to their advantage to capitalize on emerging technology trends like cloud-based technology. By abandoning out-dated solutions, technology is allowing many businesses the opportunity to keep up with the ever-changing fashion industry, and one of those ‘must-have’ technologies is cloud-based technology.
How Cloud Technology is Digitizing Fashion Businesses
Described as an all-round solution, cloud-based technology has been around for a while, but it is only in the last few years that we have witnessed a rise in adoption by the fashion industry. Considered to be a valuable tool, it is a technology that is intended to help in design, sales, and managing even the most complicated supply chain. With the capability to transform management and logistics operations, cloud-based technology is playing an integral role in supply chain efficiency and has become the go-to technology for companies who want to streamline the running of their business.
P&S Research projected that the value of cloud-based SCM solutions will surpass $11B, by 2023, making cloud technology quite powerful when it comes to helping fashion businesses make smarter decisions. It also promises to increase proficiency and profitability when applied to supply chain strategies, which in turn empowers fashion businesses to stay ahead of their competition. So who should companies turn to if they want to invest in cloud-based solutions? Well, first you need to consider your needs and goals, and then you will be able to pick the right software to help you move to the Cloud.
Suuchi
Next-generation supply chain platform, Suuchi Inc. has been digitally transforming manufacturing with its proprietary technology, the Suuchi GRID. The technology company offers a cloud-based technology that delivers transparency from design to distribution while enabling apparel brands to manage execution risk across their supply chain through data analytics. Users can access real-time updates straight to their phones to make smarter, faster decisions.
Providing a seamless end-to-end view of the supply chain, the Suuchi GRID has been helping fashion brands double their margins and deliver the product to market up to 20 times faster. Committed to supporting sustainable fashion, the GRID has also been helping fashion brands, and retailers, reduce excess inventory, markdowns, and landfill waste.
On how the company is digitally transforming retail, founder and CEO Suuchi Ramesh said in Suuchi’s latest press release: “American fashion brands and Fortune 1000 companies already use Suuchi Inc. to improve profits and shorten production and delivery times. Amid tariff threats, they’re also looking to us to hedge the risk associated with overseas manufacturing.” Adding: “We’re helping them geographically diversify their supply chain, with a primarily US-based solution, and transform production in an incredibly cost-effective way.”
For brands that have already adopted cloud-based technology, such as the ones below, the GRID can plug into any software and strengthen the capabilities of the technology.
Itsperfect
Dutch fashion tech startup Itsperfect, launched in 2015, has come up with an advanced cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed to complement vertical fashion processes. A Fashion ERP system enables fashion businesses to control any process within their fashion company fully. On their ‘user-friendly’ solution, the startup stated on their website: “Launching a new software version is like designing a new collection; you have to make sure it is getting better and better.”
Using technology, Itsperfect is making a difference when it comes to predicting demand to avoid waste and excess stock. For the company, sustainability is a vital part of their business. Itsperfect told FashionUnited: “All the information in our system is in real-time so that we can manage the stock over multiple platforms. There is no need to make a stock reservation for a specific platform since they can check the stock real-time to meet sustainability goals, which in turn helps reduce usage, overproduction, and waste.”
Simplifying the process with their integrated PDM and PLM modules, ItsPerfect, which relaunched this month, continues to focus on both wholesalers and retailers. Their objective is to continually improve their solution by launching a new version every eight weeks with new features, modules, an enhanced user interface, and new connections. “We make sure our customers can organize all their item processes in one system. Integrated modules have the big advantage of having all the data available as they are already in the system. There are no connections, no loss of data and real-time insights”, founder Stefan Methorst explained to FashionUnited.
ShareCloth
Rethinking the fashion industry’s business model and helping businesses move towards on-demand production, ShareCloth has been successfully connecting retail and manufacturing with its digital fashion concept. Using a branded cloud-based solution for on-demand fashion retail business, the digital fashion solution company has made it possible for fashion retail to manufacturing units after the purchase is made. “ShareCloth helps you to produce and drop ship your apparel collection on-demand, managing your business online. It also helps retailers to start selling on-demand,” commented Sergey Moliavko, CEO, ShareCloth.
Aspiring to eliminate waste by transforming the supply chain, ShareCloth’s cloud-based on-demand manufacturing solution has been designed to power up the fashion brand’s with on-demand manufacturing while filling the gaps that exist in the apparel design and manufacturing ecosystem. It is a comprehensive solution that supports a quick and effective integration of state-of-the-art solutions into the fashion business and retail.
Learn more about how to implement a data driven supply chain.
