Home DPC3D Ask the Experts: 3D Workmanship Standards

Ask the Experts: 3D Workmanship Standards

by Michael Ratcliffe
0 comments

As part of our ongoingAsk the Expertsseries, we have brought together some of the Fashion industry’s leading Digital Transformation specialists to answer your most pressing questions. Today, we ask the team: how should we be determining and communicating 3D workmanship standards?

Here’s what they had to say…

In terms of 3D workmanship standards for digital prototyping, there are two answers to that question:

  1. The workmanship standard for the 3D asset should mirror that of the physical garment, otherwise you’re not creating a digital twin
  2. If it’s not possible, or not clear, how to use the tool to mirror the physical construction, you should email the software vendor for their 3D workmanship library

In a previous role over 10 years ago, my team and I created our 3D Toolkit for digital prototyping. At that time, much of what we were doing was uncharted territory and thus, it had to be written from scratch. But this is 2024 when we are dealing with a more mature technology, and it is an immense waste of time for brands to have to create this documentation on their own. Further, if every brand creates their own standards, it will be very difficult for the factory vendors to deal with different standards coming from every single brand. 

The goal of digital prototyping is to streamline the product creation process; asking each and every brand to create their own documentation for how to stitch a sleeve cuff, for instance, is the opposite of this. If the software vendors aren’t providing this information at the start of an implementation, the industry and PI Apparel community need to collectively ask the vendor for this to happen immediately. 

Beyond basic construction standards, what else should be in your 3D Prototyping toolkit? Here’s my “off the top of my head” list: 

  • Brand Strategy and Goals (so that everyone, including vendors, are on the same page about the WHY)
  • Block Library location (In 2D, 3D, and physical on-form photography format)
  • Materials Library location
  • Color Library location
  • Avatar standards and location
  • SOP for digital prototyping/sampling with process options
  • Render standards (including views, lighting, and environment)
  • File naming standards
  • Vendor Portal location
  • Contact list

Your team and your vendors may be tempted to take shortcuts when creating a digital prototype to save time, but I would advise against it. Taking shortcuts to get a quick “look-see” often have consequences in drape, ease, and fit. I’ve heard many people saying, “you can’t use digital prototypes for fit”. If your digital process hasn’t been built to mirror the physical process precisely, then yes, the garment likely won’t fit true-to-life. But if built correctly, on the correct fit form, with correct material physics, digital prototyping can successfully simulate 90% of apparel products within manufacturing tolerance. 

From my perspective, if you’re not using 3D prototyping as part of the fit approval process, you’re wasting over half of its potential. 

If we look at the big picture – using digital content to create a modern fashion process – it is even more essential to have an accurate digital sample. If the content is going to be used in areas such as insights, merchandising, sales, marketing, and retail, then that asset should be able to stand in for the physical asset without having to worry about discrepancies that could cause confusion, errors, returns, or lost sales. 

Digital capabilities have the potential to help us solve some of our biggest issues in fashion: poor forecasting, overproduction, out-of-stock, discounting, quality issues, returns, and sustainability. Digitization is key to creating processes that will allow us to quickly bring high quality, highly relevant fashion to market in a way that is people and planet friendly. But we will need to think beyond the confines of individual roles and silos to reimagine an entirely new way of working. 

Find Joshua here.

Workmanship standards/guidelines are a must for any digital work: CAD for textiles, 3D, Photoshoots, Videos, etc.

There is no one size fits all; each company and each department will have their own ways of working and their own usage requirements.

When I help companies establish their own best practices, I always say, “let’s start with the end in mind.

A lot of time can be wasted re-doing work; if things are just done in a “cheap and cheerful” way, then they usually need to be re-worked later.  Avoid the “mop-up!”  Take the time in the beginning to explore how your art will evolve and set it up to thrive as the creativity flows.

We (three workstations/3 printers on a 24 hr rotation shift) used to push 60,000 pieces of art through our studio at Old Navy in 8 weeks. The only way we did that was to understand the evolution of that artwork and prepare it at the beginning for its final use, knowing that a great deal of that initial artwork would probably not make it to market. But that didn’t matter. What we did do was avoid “mopping up” what had been crudely done, so that EVERYTHING was ready to go to market quickly as the deadline approached.

No system makes a designer make up their mind any faster, but what we can do is prepare our work to be as nimble and flexible as possible throughout its creative evolution so that it can be re-worked in and out of the range quickly.

Take the time to think this through, and if you need help, reach out!

Find Craig here.

I’ve set up 3D workmanship guidelines for several big fashion companies, and each time, I’ve noticed how similar the rough instructions are – and yet, how the differences lie in the details.

In most cases, the use case determines those details, because a first prototype needs a different quality level than a photo-realistic rendering.

In real life manufacturing, workmanship is fairly clear, while in 3D, there’s still a lot of “faking” needed.

Why put a real zipper in the fly of a pair of jeans if you can put a clever and efficient seam in there instead? No one will ever have to unzip the digital pair of jeans. However, if your focus is only on the washings, and not on a realistic depiction of the jeans at all, why bother with a fly? Just sew the front closed.

That’s just one small example of a hundred similar questions for 3D workmanship. It all depends on the use case for the 3D files. So determining which standards are needed is step one – then follows how to communicate these standards.

I’ve created several SharePoints for clients with a focus on exactly this, and have received excellent feedback on a structure consisting mostly of step-by-step instructions in text and screenshot format. If a language barrier is present, short videos instead of screenshots would serve well. The important thing is to show exactly what steps are required to achieve the desired result.

Ideally, the people creating these guidelines should also know the easiest way to achieve that result!

Find Sophie here.

As each brand develops their physical manufacturing best practices over years (and sometimes generations) as a commitment to craft and quality, the same should apply to their digital output, no matter what the end use is.

Unfortunately, while there are broad similarities in approaches, it is up to each organisation to define not only their quality standards but also their processes, which then become part of their ‘special sauce’.

The building blocks of a solid quality standard packages should always include:

  • An asset creation pipeline that has been proven, validated and accepted by all stakeholders (note that this one is not frozen and final – it may evolve as better tools come online).
  • An asset creation methodology, which breaks down the individual steps to maintain consistency and quality.
  • Asset creation component sub-standards, so that all the elements that go into building assets (lasts, blocks, avatars, materials, trims,etc…) meet their individuals quality standards.
  • A well thought-out asset management platform, which will reduce chances of errors and miscommunication.
  • A solid, real-time visualisation and communication process that ensure the highest fidelity for reviews and approvals as well as access to the most up-to-date asset/product information at every stage.

The rest is really up to the individual brand stakeholders.

The commitment to digital craft is one that will become more and more a non-negotiable!

 Find Safir here.

Determining and communicating standards are two very different things, best unified by a service-minded attitude. Effective communication is not possible without a message that prioritises the audience.

Determining Standards

To determine or establish standards, think “purpose first.” A product creation organisation has different needs (purposes) compared to an organisation focusing on consumer facing assets. Some organisations need both, so the asset creation pipeline will inform multiple needs and purposes. Make sure you’ve read our Ask the Experts discussion on Consumer Facing Applications.

To create the first standards publication, start small. Tackle the easiest wins. You can identify those wins by addressing issues identified by your stakeholders. What problems are your designers and developers seeing consistently? Which workflow jams are a nuisance to the factories? Address these kinks first, and you’ll create an engaged feedback loop. As your standards evolve, solicit feedback and be sure to find ways to include that feedback in the published standards. Not all feedback is actionable, but including what you can tells the stakeholders you are listening and care about the issues they are seeing with the digital product creation process.

Note: standards will also vary tool to tool. There are some overarching standards but each tool has its own language and best practices.

Communicating Standards

Remember to prioritise the audience. In apparel, our teammates are creative and technical. Our global industry spans a number of languages, mores, and practices. The best tool I’ve found is image-based instruction. Think of the instructions for assembling your IKEA furniture. The text is always supplemental to the images. With images, you can provide examples of the workmanship you find acceptable AND examples of what is unacceptable. Images of what is deemed unacceptable are also a great way to include specific examples your stakeholders have provided.

Remember to use clear and simple language where possible. Be sure to have key stakeholders proofread all content BEFORE it is published as a standard. Approach the work, expecting it to evolve as your digital maturity evolves.

Standardisation services excellence, speed, and accuracy. 

Be inclusive and intentional about continuity. If a proposed standard is not something that will have a respectable shelf-life, don’t make it an official standard. Publishing short-term, unvetted standards will erode trust with your audience. 

Low trust = low adherence. Without adherence, is it even a standard? 

 Find Christian here.

A big thanks to our experts for their insightful and informed answers! 

Found this helpful and have more questions you’d like answered? Pop them into the comments section below and we will add them to the list.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

Exploring Fashion’s Digital Frontier

Get Seamless stories to your inbox

© 2024 All Right Reserved seamless.fashion