The growing personalised fashion market is ripe for
the taking. In a Just Style exclusive, Michael Colarossi, vice president,
product line management, innovation, and sustainability at custom design and
manufacture specialists, Avery Dennison Retail Branding and Information
Solutions (RBIS), explains how mainstream fashion brands can capitalise on this
lucrative opportunity.
Personalised
fashion is without a doubt on the up, Colarossi, the man behind Avery
Dennison RBIS’ portfolio of products and solutions, product line
strategies and technical product innovation, tells Just Style.
Two reasons are driving this;
the first is that today’s consumers have a stronger desire for a personal
identity when it comes to clothing. He explains: “Whether it’s apparel or
consumer goods – the ability to personalise, customise and create something
unique is becoming more important.” Secondly, the rise in digitisation means
more people want to create online personas and they want those personas to
match their real-world selves.
“This need for personalisation
in both the real and online world is growing. The rise of ROBLOX
[which allows users to develop or play millions of 3D online games] and other
video games with virtual shops means users can create avatars that look and
feel like they do in real life.”
Can
mass apparel brands tap into customised fashion successfully?
Team sporting events such as
the Fifa World Cup are a natural place for customised apparel, says Colarossi,
as it allows individuals to show their support for their favourite teams and
even have their own names emblazoned on the back.
However, he adds: “That might
be where it all started, but today we’re seeing footwear brands such as NIKE
and adidas
also offering customisation.
“We’re witnessing it hit the
mainstream with many brands having capsule or small collections that have some
level of customisation.”
He explains this is now on the
cards for more mainstream brands because digital manufacturing technology
allows the customisation to be scaled up.
Footwear brands in particular
have evolved their customised platforms over time to give consumers more choice
and speed, which addresses that critical question of how long individuals are
willing to wait for a customised piece of footwear.
Colarossi points out Polo Ralph
Lauren did some interesting work around the Olympics, which enabled
customisation for some of its beanie hats and sweaters.
Personalisation hasn’t
permeated into every piece of apparel, however, but brands like Rapha, which
focuses on cycling apparel, has certainly found ways to make it work for parts
of its portfolio and at scale.
Colarossi believes these
examples demonstrate there is scope for more of the mass apparel market to tap
into the growing trend for customised apparel, but it will require the wider
adoption of digital design technology.
Is nearshoring a
necessity?
The more challenging and
arguably more complicated step for mass brands wishing to tap into
customisation is the need to shift from offshore sourcing locations to
nearshoring ones that are closer to a consumers’ home. Success is also
dependant on digital manufacturing technology being implemented to deliver the
personalised elements at speed.
“I anticipate a shift towards
manufacturing that is closer to the point of consumption,” Colarossi says.
“No-one wants to wait two days for anything. So customising personalised
garments means doing it close to the point of order and where it will be
consumed.”
But he adds this shift will
take time because of the large install of digital technology that’s required
and the need to change manufacturing location.
“Digital technology is
enabling this – whether it’s 3D technology or design. Being able to see how the
apparel will look online and automatically transferring this into real-life
manufacturing enables customisation to move from the web to real life almost
seamlessly.”
This trend is only growing as
more factories digitise and the workflow can be scaled up faster.
At the opposite end of the
spectrum, there is a growing trend for miniaturisation which means being able
to customise in store.
Colarossi says: “It’s becoming
a reality whether that’s on-demand embroidery and patches or inkjet printing
with customisation – robust technologies are making it easier to give consumers
what they want quickly.”
Applying Avery
Dennison’s personalised technology to the mass market
Avery Dennison is currently
enabling customisation and personalisation at every point of the supply chain
journey. At the front end it is digitising its product and allowing it to be
brought into the design process and from a design perspective it is going through
a digitisation process as well.
“We’re enabling customisation
to take place in our factories and we have a platform called In-Plant-Printing
solutions that allows items to be printed on-demand, Colarossi says. “Customers
can send data and print it as they want for a unique one-off piece or for a run
of thousands. In other words our platform allows for on-demand printing in a
factory.”
Avery Dennison is also working
with some of the world’s leading brands and retailers to train employees on how
to customise on-demand in a retail environment.
The digital element is key to
the success of personalised apparel and Colarossi suggests every product in
future will have a unique digital ID.
In fact, Avery Dennison has a
technology platform called atma.io which can create a customisable consumer
experience in as little as 16 minutes thanks to its radio frequency
identification (RFID) tracking.
It also means that if a
customer wants to have a piece of their clothing on the web, Roblox or an
avatar – the platform will allow them to do that.
The growing impact
of the metaverse
While the metaverse was
arguably the buzzword for apparel retail in 2022, Colarossi says it is still
relatively new to many. In fact many of the industry’s decision makers today
are probably not the ones purchasing apparel on the metaverse themselves.
With a 13-year old son
himself, Colarossi is confident teenagers do care what their avatars look like
and they will spend money on the outfits. That is why we’re starting to see
mass fashion brands pop up on these platforms offering clothing for consumers’
avatars, he says.
“It’s definitely making the
fashion world think differently about how they brand, market and target
consumers and how they monetise it.”
For example, translating a
physical t-shirt to something in the metaverse is still not something that’s
been figured out but everyone is exploring the space.
“From an Avery Dennison
perspective – we see ourselves as being the ones to help make that a reality in
future. Imagine a world where you purchase a designer t-shirt, handbag and pair
of trousers and want to put it in your avatar in the metaverse? Through a
digital ID we could enable that in the metaverse seamlessly,” he asserts.
In other words a consumer’s
avatar in the metaverse can look exactly like the consumer in the real world.
But, he notes one of the challenges will be establishing what is real versus
what is not.
He states: “There’s an ethical
question there as well and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.”
Looking to the future of customised apparel
In five to ten years time
Colarossi believes there will be a shift in the mass market to creating more
customised, personalised and on-demand manufacturing closer to the point of
consumption.
He predicts it will be driven
by consumer demand for personalised garments and growing consumer awareness
around sustainability and the negative connotations associated with throwaway
fashion.
And the outcome could be a
more sustainable supply chain that is producing more apparel on-demand, which
in turn reduces the amount of waste.
Sharing his final thoughts on
the subject, Colarossi says there will be a growing push for a higher volume of
goods to be produced closer to the point of consumption.
“Customisation as a trend
linked to sustainability and digitalisation means we’re at a unique point that
could drive a more efficient and sustainable supply chain that meets the
demands of consumers in terms of customisation, personalisation, speed and
cost.”
