Getting a recent collection to market is difficult enough – but in today’s world of working with partners overseas, rising expenses and provide chain delays, it may possibly seem nearly not possible. As solutions in the form of advanced technology proceed to turn out to be more accessible, we ask ourselves, are “not possible” processes finally becoming possible?  

Since launching in 2017, the science-backed software company SEDDI has been driven to vary the way in which fashion goes to market. The corporate’s collaborative, cloud-native 3D textile and apparel simulation solutions are utilized by brands, mills and manufacturers to create digital twins for the apparel industry. The overarching goal? To make effective virtual try-on (VTO) that the style industry can depend on.

SEDDI’s most significant foundation, said Graham Sullivan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SEDDI, is its accuracy.

Reflecting on the early days of SEDDI, Sullivan shared with FMG Studios that it became clear that true VTO technology needed to be built on a solid scientific foundation of true-to-life digital textiles, garments and avatars. With a transparent goal of constructing VTO not only a reality but effective, this understanding put the corporate on a five-year journey of research and development to create just that – highly detailed textile digitalization and 3D garment engineering software solutions.

Importantly, while the corporate’s north star vision is to bring a real virtual try-on solution to life – if done right – SEDDI sees an even bigger picture of contributing to firms’ sustainability goals and making strong headway towards a future with less waste and fewer returns.

“After years of fixing firms, I desired to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Sullivan. “We began SEDDI to cut back the unnecessary waste and pollution within the apparel industry and to assist people find clothes they love because they appear good and fit well.”

“VTO helps consumers make more informed clothing purchases and reduces returns,” said Sullivan. “We will’t solve all the fashion industry’s problems, but we may also help brands get it right more often. Our software will make it possible to bring fashion to market with little-to-no waste, and SEDDI will proceed to invent tools for a recent generation of fashion designers for whom sustainability is a top priority.”

Inside SEDDI’s suite of products currently available are SEDDI Textura and SEDDI Creator. Each Textura and Creator are browser-based with computation within the cloud and designed to supply the user the power to create digital assets at a fraction of the time and price.

SEDDI Textura is the corporate’s AI-powered, textile digitalization software that allows a wiser approach to scale a brand’s digital fabric library. What makes Textura unique from other solutions is the software’s AI engine which uses physical textile data and intelligent neural networks, to construct accurate and trustworthy 3D fabric simulations with only a desktop scanner and the cloud.

SEDDI Creator offers brands digital craftsmanship for accurate, agile and collaborative garment design. In line with the corporate, Creator is the one garment-engineering software that allows true digital sewing, by fusing science and design. Creator’s TrueSeams™ technology simulates the development of clothing all the way down to the seam and stitch geometry. Creator is cloud-native and designed for multiple stakeholders to simply collaborate in real-time from anywhere.

Notably, while the technology is complex, the products have been created to be incredibly easy for a brand or designer to make use of. All of SEDDI’s products are intuitively designed, accessible with an internet browser (no special hardware essential) and straightforward enough for anyone recent to 3D design to operate.

DESIGNED IN DETAIL

“VTO is one among the good economic opportunities of our time, nevertheless it is awfully difficult,” said Sullivan. “If it was easy, it will have been done properly way back. History is suffering from failed startups which have tried. The tech they counted on is just not able to meeting the challenge.”

Jorge Lopez-Moreno, Founder and Chief Science Officer at SEDDI, added that SEDDI’s data capture hardware and VTO algorithms were designed with accuracy and predictability in mind – scanning how the sunshine refracts on fibers and even simulating fabrics with yarn-level stitches and engineering-grade techniques are the constructing blocks of understanding the fabrics and garments.

“Our technology enables brands to make production-ready decisions based only on digital assets,” said Lopez-Moreno.

TOMORROW’S CONSUMER JOURNEY

With SEDDI’s technology, the corporate believes VTO will turn out to be commonplace in the approaching years. But what is going to this seem like for brands and consumers in the longer term? Sullivan says it should be nothing wanting “game-changing,” as brands and retailers turn out to be able to have interaction customers directly with products through the technology.

The chance to collect fit data from a broad set of consumers to nice tune sizing, discover emerging trends, inform production and design, in addition to offer clothing that may actually fit individual customers, will bring about extraordinary changes to the industry,” said Sullivan. “To cut back online returns we must transform the cycle of buy, try, and return to an experience of try, buy and keep.”

Aligning with its goal of providing accuracy, Sullivan shared that his team operates on the idea that buyers wish to see how clothing really looks and matches. In this fashion, the interaction should mirror the act of going right into a physical dressing room in a store to try on clothing. In that reality, consumers make informed buying decisions. It’s not shocking, he said, that when consumers have this experience, there’s a much lower rate of returns for clothing in comparison with apparel purchased online

AVATAR ADAPTATION

One other key element find a consumer’s perfect fit also relies on shoppers’ avatars.

While until now there has not been a compelling in-real-life use for an authentic digital version of themselves (quite using avatars is predominantly for gaming and virtual worlds where accuracy is just not needed), to try on clothes to purchase and wear, an avatar has to faithfully represent the patron’s body to get the drape and fit accurately.

At SEDDI, Sullivan explained, the team has developed the science, the technology and the IP for accurate simulation of clothing within the cloud to satisfy this challenge. “We aren’t your unusual startup in an accelerator program. We’re a big, highly completed team doing the labor for several years across many disciplines to make accurate VTO possible.”

With SEDDI’s VTO technology, avatars may also be kept private. Avatars may be created by various means and used with SEDDI’s technology so long as the patron is comfortable that the avatar is an excellent proxy for his or her body when trying on clothes.

For brands and retailers, providing their customers with a convenient, authentic virtual try-on solution to enhance the omnichannel shopping experience is important to stay competitive. SEDDI believes that VTO technology will someday allow customers in a store to scan a clothing tag and take a look at the item on virtually without getting into a physical dressing room. They may additionally add an item to a digital shopping cart and be met by a store associate with the items of their size.

“We imagine that the hybrid experience of quick virtual try-on while handling the items for the texture of the garments may reinvigorate in-store shopping,” said Sullivan.

“Many consumers want personalization of clothing. True-to-life, virtual try-on reveals where the fitting must be altered,” said Sullivan. “We imagine SEDDI’s VTO shall be a boon to bespoke clothing manufacturers.”

SEDDI plans to introduce its VTO technology to pick customers in 2023, ushering in a recent era of consumer engagement.