Should the fashion industry confront the sustainability challenge with 3D prototyping technology

Abstract

In this paper, coming out of a broader research project on how the digital prototype can be effectively integrated in the product development process of the clothing industry, the authors investigate the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Collective Actions on Sustainability and the environmental impact of the new model of fast and accelerating fashion. Extensive research was contacted with personal interviews and analysed primary data shows how new technology solutions like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), 3D visualisation or 3D prototyping can work with and across supply chain partners to reduce the environmental footprint of their processes. The final phase of the paper involves the conceptualisation of a new apparel product development model, encompassing various digital tools which aim at addressing fit problems, extending the useful life of clothes and reducing the environmental impact of clothing in use through design and services.

Keywords:

• Design decision support tools
• Product life cycle
• sustainable business models

1. Introduction

The global fashion industry (which includes clothing, textiles, footwear and luxury goods) is worth an estimated $3 trillion (Bodimeade 2013), and according to (Mackenzie et al 2015) has ‘outperformed the overall market and every other sector across geographies for more than a decade’ – more profitable than even high-growth sectors like technology and telecommunications with global clothing and footwear retail sales expected to reach $2157 billion by 2018 (ReportsnReports 2014).

In a disposable culture, fast-changing trends and cheap manufacturing means the fashion consumer can dispense of purchases in an easy manner. In recent decades, the democratisation of fashion (from the diffusion of luxury brands to the ‘fast fashion’ phenomenon of the mass market) has made fashion accessible to an even wider public (Columnino, 2013). However, the main properties of the fast fashion clothing items can be summed up: low priced, limited durability, including limited quality and limited options for mending, most often basic in cut and up to date in colour, textile and details (Kalinin 2013). The fashion consumer fuelled by rapid consumption buys clothes that may never wear, dispose of clothing that is still usable and simply buy excess garments to satisfy psychological needs (Cao et al. 2014).

According to WRAP,¹ every year in the UK only, 350,000 tones of used clothing, worth of estimated £140 million, goes into landfill (Sims 2016). The fact that the production and use of fashion garments generate a great amount of waste, would make it appear as an impediment for sustainability (Gardetti and Torres 2013). The fashion industry fundamentally operates in an unsustainable way and maintains the same practice (Ditty 2015).

As awareness on fashion’s impact on our world is growing, there are key leaders in the industry who are beginning to question the impacts of the model built on inherent dissonance among fast fashion consumers and quick response production. New digital technology has made great advances in design and manufacturing within the middle to high end apparel sector as well as mass manufacturing through the availability and more common use of solutions like Product Life cycle Management (PLM), 3D visualisation or 3D prototyping; solutions which can work with and across supply chain partners to reduce the environmental footprint of their processes. We conceptualise a new apparel product development model, encompassing various digital tools which aim at addressing fit problems, extending the useful life of clothes and reducing the environmental impact of clothing in use through design and service.

1.1. Unsustainably challenging clothing industry and research methodology

Fast fashion (low-cost clothing collections based on current, high-cost fashion houses’ trends) is, a quick-response system that encourages disposability. One of the biggest problems fast fashion companies face is the constant challenge of productive relationships between internal departments (separated by silo mentality), processes, solutions, as well as those between external suppliers, their processes and technology solutions (Harrop 2015). The very nature of fast fashion brings with it greater challenges than any other industry that have much longer lead times, to carefully consider design and to set-up machines and computerisation to better support development and manufacture in more of a closed loop systems and solutions. The fashion industry is unique in that it needs to move much faster and needs to bring newness which today is measured in months or for the fast fashion weeks, added to this the fashion industry is operating across multiple parts of the world with many disconnected players and needing to come together at the same time. Added to this the need to bring hundreds of materials, components and trims in multiple colour options and sizes that all add to the risk of being able to meet the target deliveries and selling time, whilst the product is on trend, if dates are missed then the products will need to be discounted, resulting in lower margins. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regulatory compliance and operational effectiveness add to the previous challenges and apparel corporations require to take action. New digital solutions are supporting PLM and CSR programs operating across the entire end-to-end supply chain addressing to the needs today’s complex apparel sector.

Personal interviews were contacted with professionals and experts in the use of the above-mentioned technology tools as well as with entrepreneurs and executives with many years involvement in the clothing industry. In total, 100 experts were invited to participate in the qualitative survey and this research project will show the results of the 43 ‘relatively unstructured’ personal interviews on the sustainability issues as part of the overall research. (Figure 1(a)–(e)) show the statistical data according to Attributes: Response, Gender, Age Group, Country of Work and Occupation accordingly. In particular, through our research a number of research questions were investigated such as: Why has the industry’s view of sustainability been difficult to monetise, even if the new model of fast and accelerating fashion is more complex with higher environmental impact? What are the challenges need to be addressed in order to manage emerged issues like the reduction in the use of intermediaries between producers and retailers as means of delivering a more transparent and sustainable fashion product? Why are these issues threatening retailers on operational effectiveness? In what way does the fashion industry approach the social and environmental challenges emerging from the supply chain? Can new technology solutions like PLM, 3D visualisation or 3D prototyping work with and across supply chain partners to reduce the environmental footprint of their processes? Can fit problem solving, extend the useful life of clothes and reduce the environmental impact of clothing in use through design and services?

NVivo data analysis software was chosen as a state-of-the-art analysis tool to make research process more transparent, without sacrificing rich and interpretive analysis by the authors. Figures 2 and 4 show the word cloud for ‘Sustainability’ and the word tree for Sustainable respectively, created in NVivo after analysing all the transcript interviews of the participants (the latter using Query tool in selected node-sources).

Figure 1a. Attribute: Response.

Figure 1b. Attribute: Gender.

Figure 1c. Attribute: Age group.

Figure 1d. Attribute: Country of work.

Figure 1e. Attribute: Occupation.

Figure 2. Word cloud for ‘Sustainability’ developed in NVivo analysing all the transcripted interviews of the participants.

Figure 3. CSR benefit.

Figure 4. Word tree for ‘Sustainable’ created in NVivo using the Query tool in selected node-sources.

2. CSR implementation in fashion supply chains

Common elements of CSR are: (a) a reliance on meeting or exceeding the letter and spirit of legal, ethical, commercial and other business requirements; and (b) a focus on the impact of a company’s operations, products and services on people, communities and the environment (Wakelyn and Chaudhry 2009).

The globalised production of textile and fashion goods has made it more difficult to regulate standards with regard to environmental impacts through a ‘single country policy’. The development of CSR programmes in development countries has occurred in response to increasing consumer interest in social and environmental impacts of business activities wherever they operate in the world (Papahristou and Bilalis 2016).

CSR refers to actions or business practice that companies taking responsibility for ethical and environmental concerns. Usually, it’s a banner under which small businesses and multinational corporations alike have emblazoned on marketing materials online and in-store (Childs 2015). Ideally, well-managed CSR creates social and environmental value, while supporting a company’s business objectives and reducing operating costs, and enhancing relationships with key stakeholders and customers (Rangan, Chase, and Karim 2012).

Although it provides numerous benefits like Figure 2 is showing, the fashion industry have just recently realised its importance and significance. According to an interviewee, deeply involved in sustainability, the fashion industry responds in what the consumer wants, spending great amounts of money on marketing, trend-forecasting and so on. If the industry steps up and makes: (a) a product that is more expensive to make, (b) is more expensive on the rack and (c) not sure the customer will want it, then that is a priori a failure formula from a fashion perspective. The fashion industry’s approaches to the social and environmental challenges that emerge from the contemporary supply chain are limited because, so far, it is not profitable. There is an emerging movement though, from consumers who expect brands to play bigger roles in their communities through CSR initiatives that help support their collective well-being (Ethical Fashion Forum 2016).

2.1. Initiatives for social assessment of fashion brands

Critical issues face textile and clothing industries, and many multinational enterprises in this sector as they have violated many norms in order to procure low-cost products from developing and underdeveloped countries (Radhakrishnan 2015). Many organisations all around the globe are working for a social change to happen regarding the apparel industries.

Global Resource Initiative (GRI)’s² vision is to create a future where sustainability is integral to every organisation’s decision-making process. Its mission is to empower decision-makers everywhere, through its sustainability standards and multi-stakeholder network, to take action towards a more sustainable economy and world. Many organisations all around the world use GRI’s framework (the fourth-generation guidelines G4 have been released in May 2013) to understand and communicate their sustainability performance to the world.

A recent research, (Childs 2015) argues that the more immediate challenge in CSR remains the management of public perception and the avoidance of negative association between the parent brand and ongoing ethical and environmental crises. World’s leading fashion brands within the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) share the same vision as stated on SAC’s website: ‘The Coalition’s vision is an apparel and footwear industry that produces no unnecessary environmental harm and has a positive impact on the people and communities associated with its activities’.³

Furthermore, the Commission’s 2011–2014 CSR Strategy (European Commission 2014), set out the expectation that companies should have a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical, human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close cooperation with their stakeholders. In addition, it made clear that the development of CSR should be led by enterprises themselves (Figure 3).

Another initiative, closer to the clothing industry, WRAP, a UK resource efficiency experts organisation, influences the design of everyday items, such as textiles, and is helping to transform how consumers buy, use and dispose of these goods, especially clothing. Some participants affirm that most of the brands are performing badly on the Higg Index⁴ showing the difficulty of both small and large companies in identifying challenges and capturing ongoing improvement and the need to gauge environmental sustainability performance. In 2013, the SCAP 2020 was launched when WRAP identified key action areas that could deliver the biggest reductions in the environmental impact on clothing. The signatories represent 40% of the whole UK clothing market including Tesco, M&S, Next and fashion designer Stella McCartney (WRAP 2015). The seven action areas of the commitment are as it is shown in the Table 1.

Table 1. SCAP 2020 Commitment – The seven action areas.

1	Use a common assessment tool to measure our baseline position and track changes in footprint over time
2	Reduce the environmental footprint of clothing through fibre and fabric selection
3	Over the longer term, work with our supply chain partners to reduce the environmental footprint of their processes
4	Extend the useful life of clothes and reduce the environmental impact of clothing in use through our product design and services
5	Develop effective messaging to influence key consumer behaviours which will reduce the environmental footprint of clothing
6	Increase re-use and recycling to recover maximum value from used clothing
7	Develop actions that help keep clothes out of landfill

3. The impact of technology in the fashion industry – going digital in design is the sustainable option

Today the fashion collections may be smaller, but there are more of them. Instead of having four seasons and four collections a year, the industry now has 52 collections with new products coming in stores every week (Whitehead 2014). Fast fashion has changed how consumer perceives fashion; he/she is unpredictable, demanding and increasingly sophisticated; high quality, low prices and constant newness are what interest him/her today. The market is increasingly saturated and combined with the above, makes tried strategies of fashion companies such as geographic expansion and internationalisation more complex than in the past (Papahristou and Bilalis 2016).

The collaborative supply chain is perhaps the most critical component of a sustainable business plan. Since many brands source from the same suppliers, collaboration also encourages the development of industry-wide standards and adherence to those standards by the suppliers. In the long term, these efforts hold the potential to benefit a company’s bottom line, driving innovation while offering consumers better quality products that are less likely to be harmful to people or to the environment (Cobb 2014). Examination of the connections between design process and the supply chain is imperative for advancing sustainable practices in the apparel and textile industry (Curwen, Park, and Sardar 2013). Indeed, according to EPSRC Centre for Industrial Sustainability,⁵ the majority of the environmental impact of a product is decided during the design phase, with most decided after only 20% of the design activity has been undertaken.

Several research studies have been conducted trying to embed sustainability considerations within the established product development processes of the apparel industry. Gam et al. (2009) incorporated cradle to cradle model (Mc Donough and Braungart 2002) into existing apparel design and production models to develop the sustainable apparel design and production model C2CAD (cradle-to-cradle apparel design), to provide guidance for sustainable apparel design that addresses environmental and human health issues in the design process. The C2CAD model has four steps: problem definition and research, sample making (including ‘material selection and testing’ and ‘cost and design evaluation’ parts), solution development and collaboration and production (Gam et al. 2009). The C2CAD model was applied in the design of children’s knitwear (Gam et al. 2009) and men’s jacket (Gam et al. 2011). The aim of the research was to design environmentally friendly apparel that helps solve consumer’s excessive apparel consumption problem. The strategic evolution of the Design Process embedding sustainability into established design processes, can be seen in Figure 4.

According to Yang (2016), in light of the limiting realities, making sustainability initiatives work requires marrying them to improvements in operations that brands actually care about: cost, quality and speed. Cost and quality are two key factors that many clothing companies are actively trying to link with sustainability.

A useful recent work (Papachristou and Bilalis 2015) has examined how digital prototype in the textile and clothing industry enables technologies in the process of product development where various operators are involved in the different stages, with various skills and competencies and different necessity of formalising and defining in a deterministic way the result of their activities. Taking into account the recent trends in the industry, the product development cycle and the use of new digital technologies cannot be restricted in the ‘typical cycle’ but additional tools and skills are required to be integrated taking into account these developments. We agree with EPSRC’s developed framework, that the design process needs improvement so that sustainable design is not an afterthought, but is incorporated mentally through the design process from its outset (Figure 5).

Figure 5. The importance of design improvements. Early integration gives the greatest environmental rewards. Source: (Lewis et al. 2001).

Apart from academic research studies, several apparel and footwear data platforms have been developed based on fit algorithms that rely on extensive research into body profiles and biometric data like TrueFit.com (2015), Fits.me (2015) and Virtusize.com (2015). These solutions promise to increase sales by removing the uncertainty around size and fit, decrease return rates and enhance customer experience. Reducing returns means extending the life cycle of clothes; means less clothes out of landfill; means two out of seven action areas of SCAC 2020 Commitment are being met (Table 1). Changing the flows of information, – No 5 of Meadows’s list of ‘places to intervene in a system’ – (Table 2) in the fashion supply chain can bring big change towards sustainability. Data-driven technology companies like EDITED (2015) and Stylumia.com (2016) provide solutions to help clothing brands to prepare the next seasons collections based on evaluation of consumer behaviour. Buyers and merchandisers use that information to address gaps in their own assortment, while designers use it to detect trends in their early stages and develop product accordingly. Technologies like the one of Body Labs (2015), are using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to deliver the most accurate and versatile 3D digital body shape in the world and provide essentially a better way to fit clothing; a better way to size up and size down. Having the intelligence and a large data-set from technology these kind of applications can integrate with PLM tools providing feedback of how well the clothing of a company is fitting it’s customer segments (Figure 6).

Table 2. Places to intervene in a system.

Places to intervene in a system
9	Numbers (Subsidies, taxes, standards)
8	Regulating negative feedback loops
7	Driving positive feedback loops
6	Material flows and nodes of material intersection
5	Information flows
4	The rule of the system (incentives, punishment, constraints)
3	The power of self-organisation
2	The goals of the system
1	The mindset or paradigm out of which the system- its goals, rules, feedback structure- arises

Figure 6. A strategic evolution of the design process.

3.1. Combining PLM and 3D Prototyping technology for an industrial change to enhance sustainability

It is believed that 3D virtual product development and PLM innovations can create a change in the sector reducing environmental impact and promote social equity. PLM applications are designed to concurrently support brands and retailers to keep pace with changing lead times, so that creative concepts can be turned into commercial products quickly. For many vendor companies PLM is the backbone of the development process, providing a seamless process, from the first draft to the store. Digital technologies, such as cloud computing, PLM systems, 3D visualisation and digital apparel printing according to Gerber Technologies (Gerber 2016), can help fashion and apparel businesses successfully face the added challenges of working within global supply chains. 3D Virtual Prototyping is a modelling tool of clothing allowing fashion designers to visualise virtually and experiment easily with a variety of fabrics and patterns, on a 3D dynamic virtual mannequin before the actual garment is manufactured. This ensures that the lead-time in getting the prototype right is reduced and gives a customised final sample which is more sustainable. Indeed, these tools are not only making fashion better, faster and more profitable but they fall right in line with companies’ increasing desire for green practices: fewer prototypes mean less energy spent on shipping and transportation, less water and fewer chemicals used in preparing fabrics for samples before even creating and reduced waste. Some of the benefits the 3D digital product offers to the product development is less samples, faster prototypes, much higher quality earlier-on in the cycle and the ability to make decisions based off of that (Barrie 2015).

4. Results/drive sustainability

•	No more paper pattern tests
•	For some styles, no physical samples
•	Over 50% faster

Sustainable design implementation methods (like 3D virtual environment) within a company’s development process, particularly in the case of complex organisations and products, need further improvement. According to contacted interviews with experts of the clothing industry, in the case of apparel, it all comes down to draping and proper fit, thus a significant development in avatar realism is needed.

We have asked the interviewees if solutions like 3D visualisation or 3D prototyping in product development can work across supply chain partners to reduce the environmental footprint of their processes: most of them agreed that new technology innovations like the 3D prototyping can reduce numerous samples but point out that the truth is in the context. Shipping of prototype back and forth, back and forth many times obviously happens a lot because of traditional prototyping process.

The truth is though that we are talking about just few garments being produced which are just waste. If you ship back and forth one prototype and get it fit perfectly for the target market (obviously 3D prototyping is even better) but getting the prototype right even if it encores some waste, is more important than ending up with a prototype that does not fit the target market; instead you end up producing too much XXL size i.e. for the Portuguese market,

reports an executive from a fit recommendation suite of products and services. Working to create better sizing fit and communication sizing fit can reduce the ecological impact of clothing purchasing. A university professor with strong research background in exploring the interactions between apparel design and technology, and the changes that are occurring in the way that apparel is designed, produced and distributed using new and developing technologies, argues: ‘We trained our consumers to buy clothes, wear them once and if they are not satisfied with fit throw them away. I think we can un-train them’. We also asked the participants if they believe fashion companies share the same philosophy and show the same sensitivity towards green practices as vendor companies state they do (Lectra 2014). The interesting outcome of the conversation with them was that although they all agree that 3D does reduce costs and environmental impact, there is a question if existing practices actually meet the targets the companies are setting for new approaches. More specifically, most brands take this an important long-term benefit when thinking about scaling up the use of virtualisation but it’s not something the decision to go 3D digital is based on. According to an executive from a vendor company which provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations, ‘Short-term, there are other, more pressing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that often matter to our clients’. The Senior Designer 3D in a leading sportswear company reported that the company’s short-term focus is more in some other areas; not specifically targeting 3D but looking at overall number of product reduction and gradually changing how they incentivise the sourcing of materials that are coming from better sources. The sample reduction was part of the hope around the virtualisation before really related to sustainability.

Another participant from the academic world strongly argues that technology cannot solve anything on its own, it is humans who have to think and care and mainly develop a wider cultural view on connectivity and aligned business intelligences and governments that has to change. This statement switches away from a close focus on process improvement to a systems view of sustainability improvements across the industry as a whole. (Fletcher 2014) explores how designer-makers, large companies and collaborative projects that are working towards change. Using Donatella Meadows’s list (Meadows 2008) of intervention or leverage points (Table 2) for affecting change within systems in different ways, the fashion companies can produce products and champion approaches that support communities and respect workers; that promote information and supply chain transparency; and that offer the fashion and textile industrial system more effective, imaginative and conscientious models of production.

5. Concluding remarks and implications

‘Sustainability’ is an ubiquitous word, usually associated with environment. In Europe, eco-fashion has become prominent; some of the producers are smaller companies making clothing and accessories from organic cotton sourced through fair trade practices (Joy et al. 2012). However, due to the fact that eco – fashion lacks of aesthetic appeal and desirable low price, is not taken seriously by the consumers. Moreover, fast fashion companies highlight a limited product life span as a special attribute. Consumers are trained to continuously purchase and consume fast fashion replacements. This study is a part of a broader research project on how the digital prototype can be effectively integrated in the product development process of the clothing industry.

In this article, authors examine, in particular, how the use of technologies like 3D virtual prototyping and 3D visualisation tools, can reduce the use of resources and the generation of waste. A total integration between existing 3D virtual prototyping solutions and innovations in virtual fit in the fashion retail environment represent an opportunity for fast fashion companies to match deeper elements of value such as efficient use of material and low-impact manufacturing. Participants in the study strongly believe that the potential of 3D design helps to eliminate the large amount of waste that fashion faces, and it may also bring different parties involved closer to just-in-time manufacturing which is very important. 3D technology is a way to combat the unsustainable practices within the fashion technology.

The fashion industry as we know it today is over. In no way does it respond to the needs and values of consumers. Even leading sector companies that are currently so profitable have yet to overcome the single most pressing issue of our time: sustainability. The fashion industry and it’s consumers need to understand and embrace these changes. Consumer education is essential for raising awareness about the importance of sustainable fashion and total integration of obtained data from the retail environment all through to the concept stage and decision-making of the product development process, is essential.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Evridiki Papahristou received her PhD from the School of Production Engineering and Management Technical University of Crete where she is now a post-doctoral research fellow. Her research focuses mainly on the effective integration of 3D virtual prototype in the apparel industry and more recently on artificial intelligence applications in the fashion product development process.

Nikolaos Bilalis is professor of Computer Aided Manufacturing, and Director of CAD Laboratory, from the School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete. His research interests are on technologies for product and process development and integration, tools for product design CAD/CAM/CAE/CAPP, technologies for product development rapid prototyping and rapid tooling and virtual environments, product innovation, tools and methodologies for product evaluation design for disassembly and manufacturing excellence.

Acknowledgements

Τhe authors would like to express their gratitude to the participants of this research who kindly agreed to be interviewed.

Notes

1. WRAP: Waste Resource Action Programme.

2. GRI is an international independent organisation that helps businesses, governments and other organisations understand and communicate the impact of business on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, corruption and many others. https://www.globalreporting.org/Information/about-gri/Pages/default.aspx.

3. https://apparelcoalition.org/

4. The Higg Index (the core driver of SAC) (launched for the first time in 2012), is a suite of tools designed to allow fashion users – from factor managers to designers and sourcing teams – to drive meaningful change in their methods, and to minimise their negative impact on workers and ecosystems worldwide. It delivers a holistic overview of the sustainability performance of a product or company) (https://apparelcoalition.org/the-higg-index/).

5. EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences. The Centre for Industrial Sustainability operates out of four Universities – Cambridge, Cranfield, Imperial College and Loughborough – with a track record of success in the core elements needed in sustainable manufacturing (https://www.epsrc.ac.uk).