Innovator Intelligence: Leveraging AI To Enhance Creativity, Sustainability and Efficiency in Modern Fashion Design
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Deep Dive
Innovator Intelligence: Leveraging AI To Enhance
Creativity, Sustainability and Efficiency in Modern
Fashion Design
In this report, we analyze the evolving fashion design industry and discuss opportunities for
brands and retailers to improve the efficiency, inclusivity, creativity and sustainability of their
design processes. We also explore the Savitude platform, an AI (artificial intelligence)-
powered design technology for designers of all levels that can help brands better design for
the modern consumer and positively impact their bottom line in the process.
This report forms part of our Innovator Intelligence series, which focuses on emerging
technologies that are disrupting traditional retail and fueling innovation across the retail
value chain.
• On-demand manufacturing and consumer-driven fashion cycles are forcing fashion
brands and retailers to reduce lead times by nearshoring and using digital design
technology.
• The fashion industry is beginning to design more inclusively, both by expanding the
plus-size market and designing for body shapes other than the hourglass shape.
• Sustainability is likely to be a lasting trend in the fashion industry, as investors,
Deborah Weinswig employees and consumers—particularly millennials and Gen Zers—demand a greater
CEO and Founder focus on environmental efforts.
Coresight Research
• Savitude’s AI-powered digital design platform enables brands, retailers and designers to
deborahweinswig@coresight.com
work creatively and efficiently, designing quickly for multiple body types and reducing
waste.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 1
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.
Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 3
The Shifting Design Landscape: Three Challenges ..................................................................................................... 3
1. On-Demand Manufacturing and Consumer Driven Fashion Cycles Require Greater Design Speed and Flexibility . 3
3. Sustainability is Emerging as a Key Value Proposition ....................................................................................... 8
Consumers ....................................................................................................................................................................9
Investors .................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Employees.................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Savitude: Optimizing Design Efficiency and Creativity ............................................................................................. 12
Key Competitive Advantages ................................................................................................................................. 12
1. Enabling Designers, Influencers, and Brands to Incorporate Trends, Inspirations and Brand DNA Seamlessly .... 12
2. Promoting Designs Tailored to a Multitude of Body Shapes ............................................................................ 14
3. Improving Design Efficiency and Reducing Waste ........................................................................................... 15
Upcoming Announcements ................................................................................................................................... 15
Coresight Research’s View ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 2
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.
Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Introduction
The world of fashion design has changed rapidly as brands and retailers have
been forced to adapt to shifting consumer behavior and demand. Consumers are
increasingly demanding a wider assortment of products to be delivered to them
with higher frequency, leading to the rise of fast fashion and an ongoing struggle
to reduce fashion lead times.
At the same time, calls for sustainability and inclusivity in apparel have pushed
back on the fast-fashion model, due to the associated waste and the one-size-fits-
all mentality that fashion designers with extremely limited timeframes have come
to adopt.
As a result, fashion brands and retailers have begun to explore creative solutions
to adhere to sustainable practices while also designing quickly for a multitude of
body shapes and sizes. Advanced analytics and digital design and ideation
technologies will likely become must-haves for retailers in the fashion industry
moving forward.
In this report, we examine the current pain points and areas of opportunity for
fashion brands, retailers and designers to improve the efficiency and creativity
with which they design. We profile Savitude, an AI-driven digital fashion design
solutions provider that helps designers leverage their creativity to ideate and
design quickly.
This report is sponsored by Savitude.
The Shifting Design Landscape: Three Challenges
Almost every area of the fashion industry is undergoing rapid change, from
production to distribution to marketing, but perhaps the most pivotal change in
the fashion industry is occurring at the very first step in the fashion cycle: design.
We explore three key trends that are shaping the ways in which fashion brands
are designing their products and are consequently affecting the industry as a
whole.
1. Consumer-driven fashion cycles require greater design speed and flexibility,
along with data driven insights
With the help of analytics, the 2. Consumers and designers are reducing their focus on the hourglass shape
most pivotal change in the and are increasingly emphasizing designs for multiple body types, aided by
fashion industry is occurring at advances in design technology and analytics.
the very first step in the fashion
cycle: design. 3. Sustainability is emerging as a key value proposition, propelled by advances
in analytics and stakeholder demands.
1. Consumer-Driven Fashion Cycles Require Greater Design Speed and
Flexibility
Advances in consumer data analytics have made it possible for retailers of all
kinds to more accurately predict what consumers prefer to buy in the near future
and make changes to their inventory, pricing and supply chain accordingly.
Project Verte, which we profiled in our Unified Commerce for the Channel-
Agnostic Consumer deep dive, enables brands and retailers to access real-time
inventory and sales data, and adjust their supply chain and fulfillment networks
almost instantaneously. Centricity, whose business we outlined in our Decoding
Customer Data report, uses big data and AI to help retailers and manufacturers
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 3
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.
Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
understand shopper demand in real time and make proactive SKU (stock-keeping
unit)-level assortment decisions.
However, long design, production and shipment lead times can make it difficult
for many fashion brands to take advantage of the increasingly accurate,
predictive consumer behavior data that they have access to.
A 2018 McKinsey survey indicated Some apparel companies are responding to this challenge by changing the
that 60% of apparel procurement physical location of production—and therefore aiming to reduce shipment times.
executives expect to nearshore at A 2018 McKinsey survey indicated that 33% of apparel procurement executives
least 20% of their total sourcing were already nearshoring at least 20% of their total sourcing, and 60% in total
by 2025. expected to be nearshoring this proportion in 2025. While nearshoring can
reduce transportation times, it does not reduce design times, which for many
fashion brands can make up a significant proportion of total lead time.
As consumers continue to expect new designs and products with increasing
frequency, many designers have struggled to keep up. The fashion design
industry shrank at an average annual rate of 3.0% in the five-year period leading
up to 2020, according to market research firm IBISWorld (it is worth noting that a
significant portion of fashion design is done in-house and is not included in this
estimate). However, many manufacturers are increasingly hiring outside fashion
designers to help keep up with rapid fashion cycles and changes in consumer
demand.
At the same time, apparel markets worldwide have seen small, but existent,
growth: The global apparel market saw sales grow from $1.38 trillion in 2014 to
$1.41 trillion in 2019, prior to shrinking in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. This
growth may not be spectacular, but it indicates that the fashion design industry
need not be shrinking at the pace it has been. Figure 1 illustrates the dichotomy
between the growth in the apparel market overall and the shrinkage of the
design industry.
Figure 1. Global Apparel and Design Market: YoY % Change
5% 4.3% 4.3%
4%
3%
2%
1% The fashion design industry
0.0%
has shrunk even as the
0%
apparel market has seen
(1)% modest growth
(0.6)%
(2)%
(3)%
(3.0)% (3.0)% (3.0)% (3.0)%
(4)%
2016 2017 2018 2019
Global apparel sales growth Global fashion design industry growth
Source: IBISWorld/Statista
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 4
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.
Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
While fast-fashion brands that focus more on speed than complex, novel designs
have been able to leverage real-time consumer data effectively, many higher-
end, design-focused brands have found it more challenging to effectively leverage
real-time insights, hampered by long lead times and intensive physical, non-
digital design processes. The delays caused by long design processes matter: A
2019 survey by Salesforce revealed that 40% of global consumers are willing to
pay more for a product or service that is first to the market.
Along with nearshoring production, digital design and ideation in the fashion
industry will likely be necessary for these brands to make the most of the growing
library of consumer analytics that can inform inventory and design decisions.
These analytics can be paired with new product creation technologies throughout
the entire design process to optimize the modern design journey, illustrated in
Figure 2.
Figure 2. Components of the Modern Design Process
Source: Savitude/Coresight Research
3D design and other digital design and ideation technology can help brands get
their products to market significantly faster, enabling them to cater to
increasingly demanding consumers and leverage inventory, sales and consumer
behavior insights. Despite the advantages, many fashion retailers have yet to
embrace these technologies- potentially to their detriment. 3D design remains
something of an outlier in the fashion world: Only 2% of retailers worldwide are
currently using 3D design, according to Sean Coxall, President of Supply Chain
Solutions at Li & Fung, one of the world’s largest supply chain management
companies. However, Coxall expects this proportion to grow rapidly in the near
future, with 25% of retailers using 3D design by 2023, as depicted in Figure 3.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 5
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.
Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Figure 3. Estimated Proportions of Retailers Worldwide Using 3D Design
2020 2023E
2%
25%
By 2023, 25%
of apparel
retailers could
be using 3D
design
75%
98%
Using 3D design Not using 3D design
Source: Li & Fung
Li & Fung estimated in 2020 that 3D design tools can reduce design labor costs by
68% and reduce waste by 55%, but 3D design tools can only be fully effective
when combined with ideation technologies that enable designers to ensure
product details and fit throughout the creation process Combined with AI-driven
product-ideation software—which can use consumer data to help suggest
potential new designs to designers—we anticipate that digital and automated
Li & Fung estimates that 3D design and ideation technology will continue to become more prevalent in the
design tools can reduce design fashion industry. It will likely be imperative for brands and retailers to use
labor costs by 68% and reduce
ideation and 3D technology in tandem with advanced analytics that can help
waste by 55%.
them analyze designs not just for fit, but also for suitability in different regions of
the world and in the context of different trends.
2. Consumers and Designers Are Reducing Their Focus on the Hourglass Shape
and Are Increasingly Emphasizing Designs for Multiple Body Types
In recent years, inclusive fashion has become more mainstream, with brands and
retailers targeting and focusing on numerous specific body types, such as plus-
size, petite and tall, not just those who fit the traditional hourglass shape. The
plus-size market in the US had seen solid growth in recent years, before declining
along with the rest of the US apparel market in 2020. However, the plus-size
apparel market has weathered the pandemic slightly better than the market as a
whole: We project the plus-size market to have declined by 11% in 2020 from
2019, a slightly smaller decline than our projected 12% decline in the total US
apparel market.
There remains further opportunity in the US plus-size market. The rate of obesity
among adult women (aged 20 and above) in the US is around 41.9%—
approximately 52 million women—according to the Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That
number has grown substantially over the last several decades, and it is likely that
the pandemic will lead to a continued rise in obesity rates, as consumers have
been confined to their houses and rates of alcohol consumption have climbed.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 6
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
In the US, the plus-size market is well developed. Elsewhere around the world,
there remains greater space for expansion in women’s plus-size apparel. Figure 4
illustrates the projected growth of the global women’s plus-size apparel market
from 2019 to 2025.
Figure 4. Global Women’s Plus-Size Apparel Market (USD Bil.)
$250 $229.9
$220.4
$211.3
$202.6
$194.3
$200 $186.2
$150 The global plus-size
women’s apparel market is
expected to reach nearly
$100 $230 billion in 2025
$50
$0
2020E 2021E 2022E 2023E 2024E 2025E
Source: Acute Market Reports
Across the world, more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight in 2016—more
In the US, we estimate that the than 25% of the global population—and worldwide obesity has almost tripled
plus-size clothing market
since 1975. The market for plus-size apparel remains underserved. In the US, we
comprises 20.7% of the total
women’s clothing market, in a estimate that the plus-size clothing market comprises 20.7% of the total women’s
country where 41.9% of clothing market, in a country where 41.9% are obese. There is room for
consumers are obese. expansion, as indicated by the nearly 20 percentage point gap between the
obesity rate and plus-size market penetration in the US.
Designing inclusively is not just about size inclusivity– it is also about designing
with different body shapes and fit preferences in mind. In Coresight Research’s
November 2020 survey of US consumers, we found that four in 10 consumers had
returned an unwanted purchase in the past 12 months. Of those consumers,
51.5% indicated that they had returned a clothing purchase in the past 12
months—more than twice the returns rate of any other product, as shown in
Figure 5.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 7
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Figure 5. US Consumers That Had Returned Any Unwanted Purchases in the Past 12 Months: Product Categories They Had
Returned (% of Respondents)
Clothing 52%
Electronics 22%
More than twice as many
consumers reported
returning clothing in the
Footwear 15% last 12 months than the
next highest category
Home-improvement/DIY products 14%
Base: 169 US respondents aged 18+ that had returned a product in the past 12 months, surveyed in November 2020
Source: Coresight Research
Poor fit is one of the leading reasons for apparel returns—the wrong size as well
as the fit of a product not suiting a consumer’s body shape. Returns sparked by fit
issues come at vast expense to retailers: According to estimates from IHL group,
retailers lose more than $600 billion worldwide each year to returns. Consumers
with less traditional body shapes likely return products more often, as it has
traditionally been difficult for designers to create clothes that fit well on certain
body shapes. The lack of analytics available to help designers ensure they can
design for multiple body types makes it difficult for brands and retailers to
produce clothes that fit well across consumers of different shapes and sizes. As a
result, these consumers can be the toughest for fashion retailers to convert.
Retailers lose more than $600 Furthermore, during the pandemic, many consumers have preferred to return
billion worldwide each year to items through the mail. Some 42.6% of US consumers reported preferring to
returns. return online orders by mail, versus just 25.4% who prefer to return them in
store, according to our November 2020 consumer survey. Combined with the
increased penetration of online shopping, this preference puts further strain on
already taxed retail logistics networks. ShipMatrix Inc. estimates that the total
holiday shipping capacity of US logistics providers in 2020 between Thanksgiving
and Christmas was 79.1 million parcels per day. That is a 21% increase over
2019’s 65.3 million parcel capacity, but still not enough to handle all of the 86.3
million parcels looking for space daily—a 27% increase over the number of
packages looking for space in the 2019 holiday season.
All retailers are increasingly understanding the importance of reducing returns. In
fashion, they can do so in large part by leveraging technology to design for a
more diverse array of body shapes and sizes.
3. Sustainability Is Emerging as a Key Value Proposition, Propelled by Advances
in Analytics and Stakeholder Demands
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 8
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Fashion accounts for 10% of the world’s emissions, according to data from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. For long periods of time,
consumers, investors and employees have been willing to shrug off the harmful
effects fashion design, manufacturing and consumption have on the planet, but
the increasing evidence of fashion’s impact on the natural world has led all
stakeholders to pay more attention to sustainability. Although fast fashion
remains a large subset of the market, more brands are becoming aware of how
their decisions and actions impact the world around them. Advances in analytics
that help fashion retailers optimize the sustainability of their design process and
operations have opened up a new frontier of possibilities for companies to make
more of an impact with sustainability initiatives.
As part of efforts to promote sustainability, Coresight Research has introduced
the EnCORE framework, a methodology to help retailers and brands frame their
sustainability efforts. The EnCORE framework is made up of five key components:
• Being environmentally engaged: Retailers should start with understanding
how their own operations and supply chain impact the environment along
with peer standards and industry shifts.
• Adopting circular models that minimize the environmental impact of
products and maximize the circulation of materials back into use.
• Optimizing operations through resource-efficient infrastructure and
decarbonization technologies.
• Creating and maintaining a responsible supply chain that includes processes
that are less resource-intensive and provide transparency to the customer.
• Committing to excellence in reporting and communicating about
sustainability, including stakeholder engagement and being a role model
within the industry.
56% of global consumers report In fashion, searches for trends, inspiration and designs can often come at the cost
being willing to pay, on average, a of emissions produced by travel and waste generated by physical design
35% premium for sustainably processes powered by trial and error. Below, we outline how consumers,
made products. investors and employees appear more focused on sustainability and likely in favor
of reducing unnecessary waste in the design process.
Consumers
Consumers are often critiqued for their willingness to buy and quickly discard
cheap, unsustainably made products without regard to their environmental
impact. That portrait of the consumer, however, seems to be out of date: 56% of
global consumers report being willing to pay, on average, a 35% premium for
sustainably made products, according to a 2020 survey by the NRF.
Furthermore, while some may have expected the pandemic to cause consumers
to deprioritize all but their most immediate needs, our research suggests that the
current crisis has actually made many people more conscious of how their
decisions impact the environment. A Coresight Research survey conducted in
August 2020 found that 29.0% of US consumers felt that sustainability has
become more of a factor for them when shopping since the start of the
pandemic, compared to just 15.7% who say the pandemic has made them
consider sustainability less when shopping, as shown in Figure 6.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 9
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Figure 6. Whether the Pandemic Has Made Sustainability More or Less of a Factor for US Consumers When Shopping (% of
Respondents)
Don't Know, 8%
Less, 16%
Nearly twice as many
consumers reported that
More, 29% the pandemic has made
them more conscious of
sustainability than those
who reported it has made
them less conscious
No Change, 47%
Base: US Internet users aged 18+
Source: Coresight Research
In our August survey, of the US Increased consumer consideration of sustainability has been driven by the
consumers who said the crisis has growing understanding of how behaviors affect the world. Of those in our survey
made sustainability more of a who said the crisis has made sustainability more of a factor, 45% told us that it
factor, 45% reported that it was was because the lockdowns had showed them the immediate impact that
because the lockdowns had changed behaviors can have on the planet, citing how fewer cars on the road,
showed them the immediate grounded flights and closed factories had immediate positive impacts on
impact that changed behaviors environmental factors such as air quality. Furthermore, over 42% said they were
can have on the planet.
more concerned about sustainability because they now had a greater awareness
of global risks and threats.
Fashion retailers are already beginning to capitalize on consumers’ preference for
sustainability. The North Face has seen success with its “Renewed” program,
where the retailer takes a damaged or returned product, cleans it, fixes it and
then sells it. In a recent webinar with Coresight Research, Dan Goldman, then
Head of Strategy at The North Face, indicated that the company believes
sustainability will be the next great feature of apparel that consumers will want
to show off, rather than flashy logos or name brands.
Sales numbers support Goldman’s assertion: ThredUP, an online secondhand
apparel retailer, maintained 20% year-over-year growth rate through the height
of the pandemic (mid-March to May 31), indicating that sustainably focused
fashion retailers can thrive even in crisis. Moving forward, we anticipate that
consumers will continue to look to buy from brands that represent their values
and have a positive impact on the planet.
Investors
Investors have also become increasingly conscious of the power they have to
influence the fate of the planet. As of 2018, more than 25% of money under
professional management was invested in sustainable assets, according to US SIF:
The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, roughly triple the
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 10
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
proportion in 2013. Furthermore, the coronavirus pandemic has illustrated how
As of 2018, more than 25% of important it is to have a resilient supply chain capable of withstanding major
money under professional
global shocks, be they health related, political or environmental. Just as
management was invested in
consumers are now increasingly aware of global threats, investors have a
sustainable assets, according to
US SIF, roughly triple the heightened awareness of the volatility of assets without a sustainable model.
proportion in 2013. Over the course of the current crisis, investors’ preference for sustainable
companies has become more apparent than ever. Through 2020, the ESG S&P
500 index (a sub-index of the S&P 500 cataloguing the performance of companies
that are committed to environmental, social justice and governance values)
consistently outperformed the overall S&P 500 index, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. ESG S&P 500 and S&P 500 2020 Performance, Indexed to January 2, 2020 = 100
115
110
105
100
95
90
The ESG S&P 500
85 outperformed the
overall index by nearly
80
2% in 2020
75
70
65
S&P 500 ESG Index S&P 500
Source: S&P Global
Indexed to 100 at the start of 2020, the ESG S&P 500 grew to 114.43 as of
December 2, while the overall S&P 500 index grew to 112.62—a difference of
almost 2%. Investors are putting their money where their mouths are and
investing increasingly in sustainable assets, making it more vital than ever for
fashion retailers—long considered among the least sustainable retailers—to
appeal to the environmentally conscious.
Employees
As the workforce continues to become dominated by millennials and Gen Zers,
sustainability is becoming an increasingly important factor that employees
consider when choosing their career/employer. A Fast Company survey of 1,000
employees at large US companies in 2019 found that 40% of millennial
respondents indicated that they had chosen a job in the past because a company
performed better on sustainability than the alternative. More than 10% of all
employees in the survey also indicated they would be willing to take a $5,000–
$10,000 pay cut to work at a company more focused on sustainability.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 11
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
In fashion, we expect companies that embrace design, manufacturing and
distribution models that focus on sustainability—by relying on digital design
technology and circular models—will have a distinct advantage in attracting
millennial and Gen Z employees.
Savitude: Optimizing Design Efficiency and Creativity
Savitude is a digital design Savitude is a digital design solutions provider that pairs analytics and efficiency
solutions provider that pairs with creativity to enable designers and brands to streamline the design process
analytics and efficiency with while maintaining strong aesthetics and creativity. The company’s software offers
creativity to enable designers and designers the ability to create personalized designs based on more than 700
brands to streamline the design body-type templates. Savitude’s solutions enable designers to incorporate
process while maintaining strong different trends, inspirations and body types simultaneously while designing,
aesthetics and creativity. speeding up the design process while still letting designers do what they do best.
The image below outlines Savitude’s solution.
Source: Savitude
Key Competitive Advantages
Below, we highlight three of Savitude’s key competitive advantages, focusing on
how the company optimizes the design process and helps address numerous pain
points along the fashion supply chain.
Enabling Designers, Influencers and Brands To Incorporate Trends, Inspiration
and “Brand DNA” Seamlessly
Savitude uses AI to help designers ideate even more creatively and efficiently by
enabling them to simultaneously incorporate the latest trends, their own
inspiration and what Savitude calls “brand DNA” (the unique look and feel that
runs through all of a brand’s products) into hundreds of instantaneously
generated designs. The Savitude online portal provides end-to-end solutions for
designers to go directly from inputs (inspiration, trends, brand DNA) to first
patterns. For their inspiration and trend images, designers can simply upload
sketches or photos to the portal, as shown in the image below.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 12
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Adding inspiration images to the Savitude platform
Source: Savitude
Savitude enables sketches, As indicated by the image above, designers have ample latitude to input
pictures from nature and other inspiration of all kinds. Patterns, pictures from nature and other images can all be
images to be uploaded and uploaded and integrated seamlessly into the ideation process. When designing a
integrated seamlessly into the particular garment, users select which they would like the AI design feature to
ideation process. take into account when generating customized designs. The effect each of the
three inputs—inspiration, trends and brand DNA—has on the output designs can
be adjusted using a slider ranging from 0 to 100. Designers can then also
integrate brand identity into the automatically generated designs by uploading
similar sketches or images of the brand’s previous designs or archive. The
designer can also select what percentage of the collection they wish to be printed
vs solid. The printed portion will be inspired by the actual inspiration images.
Finally, the designer can choose a primary and secondary color that they wish to
be featured in the AI-generated designs.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 13
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Adjusting sliders for inspiration, trends and “brand DNA” prior to generating AI-created designs on the
Savitude platform
Source: Savitude
With Savitude, brands working The Savitude platform’s ease of use and seamless installation at the corporate
with influencers or celebrities can level makes it possible for non-designers to also create unique, inspired designs.
allow them to design products Savitude democratizes the fashion design process, making it easy for people who
entirely on their own, reducing may not be design experts to create their own professional-quality designs. Ease
costs for the brand and enhancing of design is an especially valuable feature of Savitude’s platform today, when
the creative abilities of the non-fashion brands are increasingly branching out into their own lines of apparel,
celebrities that are the face of the and celebrity mashups are more prevalent than ever. With Savitude, brands
products.
working with influencers or celebrities can allow them to design products entirely
on their own, reducing costs for the brand and enhancing the creative abilities of
the celebrities that are the face of the products.
Promoting Designs Tailored to a Multitude of Body Shapes
Savitude enables designers to easily create products that will fit all body types,
not just the traditional hourglass shape that fashion has long, almost exclusively,
focused on. After creating designs based on inspiration, trends and brand DNA
input, Savitude shows users hundreds of AI-generated designs to select from. The
user can then choose on which of the nine body types they wish to understand
the fit of their design. Once a body type is selected, the Savitude software
enables the user to view how well each generated design fits on the selected
body type, as a percentage (with 100 being a perfect fit), as shown in the image
below.
Viewing fit analytics on AI generated designs on the Savitude platform
Source: Savitude
While existing design ideation This enables designers who use Savitude to focus on a variety of different body
alone usually takes between two types and ensure that their designs fit well on all potential customers, not just
and 12 weeks, Savitude estimates those with the traditional hourglass shape. Savitude estimates that only 20% of
that its ideation process takes
designers as little as five minutes
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 14
and a©maximum
Copyright of five
2021 Coresight days.All rights reserved.
Research.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
women have the stereotypical hourglass shape, leading many consumers to be
unsatisfied with the fit of products that are designed for this shape. This can lead
to high rates of returns, which, as we discussed earlier in this report, can come at
great expense to brands and retailers, along with large quantities of unusable
excess inventory when products are designed only to fit a small segment of the
population.
Improving Design Efficiency and Reducing Waste
By giving designers access to a powerful AI platform in their ideation process,
Savitude can not only help them design better, but enable them to work faster
and less wastefully. Savitude reports that its software generally saves designers at
least four weeks, a crucial amount of time in a fashion world that is increasingly
defined by on-demand fashion and short lead times. While existing design
ideation alone usually takes between two and 12 weeks, Savitude estimates that
its ideation process takes designers as little as five minutes and a maximum of
five days.
The Savitude platform can generate hundreds of designs in a matter of seconds,
all based on customized parameters for inspiration, trends and brand DNA input
by the designer. This not only reduces the time associated with the usual design
trial and error process, but also the waste. By designing fully digitally, designers
who use Savitude can visualize huge quantities of designs without ever leaving
anything on the cutting-room floor.
Upcoming Announcements
Savitude will be adding the following features in the first quarter of 2021:
• Custom asset libraries—When a new brand adopts the Savitude Design
Studio, the first action will be to upload the brand’s archive. The Design
Studio will automatically “disassemble” the design details in the earlier
designs and form a unique library for this brand only. From that point,
the brand will be working with familiar design details, in the hands of its
own design team. This will greatly expand the details available and add
familiarity for users.
• Unique design details—A new capability will look at inspiration images,
extract patterns that will look like design details and reinterpret the
pattern into cloth as an original design.
Savitude is also collaborating with Gerber Technology's New York City Innovation
Center on a data workflow from seamless design to production. Besides
sustainable design and accelerating the design process, it is increasingly
important to create personalized garments that fit. Savitude's front-end design
plugging into Gerber Technology's on-demand product development and
production ensures that personalization and fit in design carry all the way
through to the finished garment.
In November 2020, Savitude was selected for the five-month Startupbootcamp
STAR virtual program in Milan, Italy with Prada, Valentino and Accenture as
partners.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 15
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Coresight Research’s View
Digital design is likely to continue to grow rapidly as designers strive to find the
perfect balance of efficiency and creativity, all while aiming to design for multiple
body types and remain sustainable. We identify three areas of opportunity for
brands and retailers to improve their design process:
• As fashion design moves toward automation, it will be imperative for
designers to balance the efficiency offered by design automation systems
with the personal touch of designers. Savitude can offer brands a
streamlined digital solution that maintains an emphasis on designers’
creativity.
• Inclusivity will continue to become mainstream in the fashion world, making
the ability to design for a wide range of body types more important than
ever.
• We expect fashion brands to continue to focus more on sustainability for
the foreseeable future. Savitude’s digital design suite is one solution
designers can use to promote sustainable practices without sacrificing other
elements of the business.
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 16
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.Deep Dive
January 19, 2021
Deborah Weinswig, CPA Owen Riley
CEO and Founder Research Analyst
Coresight Research
deborahweinswig@coresight.com Steven Winnick
Senior Analyst
New York • Hong Kong • London • Mangaluru (India) • Shanghai
Coresight.com
Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research | deborahweinswig@coresight.com 17
Copyright © 2021 Coresight Research. All rights reserved.You can also read
