Speakers’ Corner gives you a preview of the voices you’ll hear at upcoming PI events, straight from the people shaping fashion and footwear.
In this edition, Marcus Chung, VP, Supply Chain and Operations at Arcade, reflects on why the biggest gains in digital product creation are coming from the teams and users themselves rather than top-down mandates, and why solving color accuracy remains one of the biggest unsolved gaps between digital and physical product creation.
If you could instantly fix one bottleneck in the digital product pipeline, what would it be?
I think color management and accuracy is still very challenging when creating physical products. I wish there were a solution to go from digital to physical more accurately and quickly!
How has sustainability influenced the way you use digital tools in product development?
Sustainability is a great motivator to help people adopt and use digital tools in product development. Fewer samples means less waste and less shipping of strike offs and samples around the globe means reduced carbon emissions. People really see the sustainability impact of creating fewer physical samples.
Will AI become a creative partner or a creative disruptor for apparel designers?
I hope a little of both! We're already seeing designers embrace AI as a partner for efficiency and creative ideation. I think AI can be disruptive in a positive way, without feeling like a threat.
What advice would you give to a brand taking its first big step into DPC?
Unleash your team! The day-to-day users of digital product creation tools are finding ways to innovate in both large and small ways. This cannot be a top-down approach because the technology is evolving so quickly. I think the biggest gains are coming from within the teams and the users themselves.
Favourite digital tool in your stack, and why?
This isn't specific to product creation, but I'm becoming addicted to Granola, which takes incredible notes and comes up with clear action items. I love that I can also take notes into the tool while it transcribes a meeting, and it incorporates my notes into the final output.
One word that sums up where DPC will be next year?
Acceleration!
Marcus Chung will be leveraging his deep knowledge and experience at The Fashion Tech Show LA (September 15-16th) to lead a session on 'Generative AI for Product Design and Development'.
