SAN FRANCISCO — October 24, 2017 — In an effort to galvanize around collective action in the apparel and footwear industry, a group of industry leaders today launched the Apparel Impact Institute (AII), which is designed to work with brands and manufacturers to select, fund, and scale projects that dramatically improve the sustainability impact of the apparel and footwear industry.

Despite widespread awareness of the environmental hazards within the apparel and footwear industry, few of the pilot projects designed to reduce impacts are operating at the scale needed to meet the critical environmental and social outcomes brands and consumers are seeking. The AII will identify promising projects that are working in limited geography, for example, or are targeting a narrow problem yet show potential for broader application. By applying the appropriate resources, the AII will help bring them to scale more quickly.

“Through the Higg Index, we’ve seen incredible industry collaboration when it comes to standardizing sustainability measurements,” said Jason Kibbey, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. “It’s critical that we also take collective action to put that data to work. The Apparel Impact Institute allows us to act jointly on scaling practices that have a positive impact on people, planet, and the whole industry, while simultaneously helping brands and manufacturers improve their Higg Index scores.”

The AII’s first project will focus on Mill Improvement, one of the most environmentally impactful segments of clothing production. Specifically, the AII has selected the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Clean by Design program, which reduces energy, water and chemical use to scale mill improvement across the industry and across geographies. Later this year, the AII will focus on how to support and expand mill improvement initiatives globally.

“IDH strongly believes that the time has come for the apparel sector to join forces to have an impact at scale,” Ted van der Put, Executive Representative, IDH said. “By working as a sector initiative with a wide representation of leaders in the apparel sector, and by aligning with existing initiatives, we can accelerate implementation, and avoid fragmentation and duplication of similar initiatives. This will scale the impact on Sustainable Development Goals related to environment and social conditions.”

“At Target, we know that our decisions have the potential to impact millions of people around the globe, from the people who create our products to the families they support and the communities where they live, and we’re committed to leveraging Target’s scale for good,” said Ivanka Mamic, senior director of responsible sourcing, Target. “Industry collaboration is vital to driving change and ensuring a sustainable apparel industry. We support the Apparel Impact Institute’s analytical approach to collaboration and think it will provide a solid foundation for tracking progress and measuring outcomes, which will help propel the apparel industry forward.”

The AII came together using seed funding from the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and Target, and with additional financial support from PVH Corp., Gap Inc. and HSBC Holdings plc. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is providing industry support and access to Higg Index data. The parties have engaged San Francisco management consultancy Schaffer&Combs for project management support of the Apparel Impact Institute’s early stage activities.

Future projects will include closed-loop recycling and worker well-being, for example, and will expand to include additional brands and manufacturers in the apparel and footwear industry.

Posted October 24, 2017

Source: Apparel Impact Institute

TOLLAND, Conn. — October 24, 2017 — In every aspect of the fashion world, digitalization is driving the demand to bring new styles to market faster. This is also true for the world of film and costume creation. Costume replicas are costly and, in the past, they were all done by hand. But recently Gerber Technology combined forces with Global Garment Engineering and 20th Century Fox to replicate costumes worn by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya in the upcoming film The Greatest Showman in theaters around the world starting Christmas Day. By leveraging Gerber’s integrated digital solutions, they can now be done in a fraction of the time and at a much lower cost.

The challenge 20^th Century Fox presented was to produce 50 sets of replicas of beautiful and complicated costumes in a very short time frame to support the film’s release. The product experts at Gerber, working closely with their partner Pat Trautman at Global Garment Engineering, accepted the challenge and leveraged Gerber’s industry leading products and team expertise to digitally deconstruct each costume garment without having to take them apart. The job started by digitizing each garment on the Gerber Silhouette^TM table, where pattern files were instantaneously created in AccuMark® – the pattern design, grading, marker making and production planning software. The patterns were simultaneously passed into AccuMark 3D, where they were draped on avatars to validate pattern pieces and review virtual samples. The digital sampling process allowed the team to ensure the patterns would accurately and precisely be sewn together to create perfect replicas.

“Precision as we digitized the original costumes into the patterns was key to achieve the speed and quality we needed to accurately replicate these beautiful garments in such a short time frame.” stated Mary McFadden, executive director of CAD, Gerber Technology.

Prior to project kickoff, photographs, technical sketches, measurements, component details and assembly instructions were compiled within YuniquePLM® to ensure planning, management and tracking of each essential step was executed properly and timelines were met.

After the patterns were validated in AccuMark 3D, data was passed to AccuNest™ to create markers ensuring the optimum yield was achieved from the beautiful and expensive fabrics needed to produce the costumes. Over 22 diverse fabrics were spread and cut. “By using AccuNest, we were able to achieve a 3 to 6-percent improvement on fabric yield which was a substantial cost savings for the project” said Mary McFadden. A cut ticket was then generated for each of the garments to pass data from technical design through to production. The barcode on the cut ticket transfers all the fabric and marker data essential to efficiently spread and cut each costume.

In the cut room at Gerber’s headquarters in Tolland, Connecticut, product experts loaded the fabric, scanned the cut ticket on the GERBERspreader™ XLs125 where the spread details were automatically transferred without manual re-entry of any of the information. After monitoring the spread, the material was passed on to be cut using the Gerber Paragon® HX. At the Gerber Paragon, the cut ticket was scanned again to pull up the marker for each garment. After carefully managing the process and labeling the bundles of cut parts, they were packed and shipped to New York for assembly.

Pat Trautman and her team from Global Garment Engineering brought their expertise and passion to ensure every detail was handled on time and with a constant focus on ensuring the quality of the replicas would match the designer’s vision for each of the original costumes.

“We are honored to have completed this project with 20th Century Fox. It has allowed the team to use its expertise and display their pride in all that they have accomplished with our digital solutions offering,” said Mohit Uberoi, CEO, Gerber Technology. We are all looking forward to the release of The Greatest Showman.

The whole process will be demonstrated at ideation 2017 and conference attendees will be able to see the replica costumes, experience the technology and speak directly with the team members who worked on the project.

Posted October 24, 2017

Source: Gerber Technology