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The industrial revolution created the unique ability to mass-produce clothing before it’s sold. Now, the artificial intelligence revolution offers a way to begin to unwind that.
A new platform, available today, aims to enable designers to design and produce garments on demand, even down to single items, in hopes of satisfying the contemporary desire for newness and the impossible task of predicting what people will want to buy. Fittingly, the “operating system” is called One, and it’s from Resonance Companies, a New York and Dominican Republic-based startup that has developed an AI-informed approach to on-demand clothing manufacturing.
Designers start by selecting a “body”, meaning the silhouette of the garment, choosing from a growing list of more than 100 styles, including button-down shirts, shift dresses and pyjama sets. (They can also use their own patterns.) They then can select from more than 50 fabrics — all chosen for their relative environmental friendliness — such as Bombyx silks and crepes de chines, organic cottons and a range of Tencels. Then, the designer selects the colour and patterns to display on each individual panel of fabric before selecting the style and colours of the trim (such as stitching and buttons) and the size and quantity to produce.
Each step is represented via a three-dimensional digital twin (shown in multiple sizes) or a flat-lay image, and the estimated production price is updated as the details come together. (Designers can also upload their own patterns, prints and colours, and use their own trims.) Once the designer places the order, the piece can be made and shipped in as little as 14 days or so.
Putting it to the test
As with many recent technologies that fast-track design work — Roblox fashion design software or generative art tools — the One platform is fun to experiment with.
The Resonance team gave me access and then guided me through the process that a designer would go through, letting me design two pieces in two separate sessions. For my first garment, the process went so quickly, I somewhat forgot that a physical version would soon arrive on my doorstep. I started by adding some personal artwork to a button-down shirt, as ‘Zoom tops’ are an ongoing sartorial soft spot for my wardrobe. I soon saw, through the digital twin, that using artwork that wasn’t specifically designed for the piece didn’t look very elevated, so if I wanted to inject my own artwork, I’d have to go back and create something with a specific piece in mind.
Being conscious of time, and with the Resonance team patiently waiting for my next move, I then leaned on one of my favourite colour combinations: fuschia and orange. I was inspired in part by a silky ombré set from BruceGlen — made using Resonance’s technology — that I got to try during New York Fashion Week.
I tried a design that highlighted the contrasting colours, partly inspired by the last two BruceGlen shows in New York, where colour is a core component. When it came to picking fabrics, I was similarly a bit overwhelmed; not having studied the nuances of various fabrics, I had a hard time interpreting from the sample images how a specific fabric would fall. I chose a lightweight organic cotton voile, hoping for a striking and comfortable Zoom top. The platform estimated a production cost of about $21.05, meaning the cost for Resonance to produce the items. Resonance makes money by charging a monthly subscription fee to the platform, and by charging a per cent of any sales made when designers link their ecommerce sites to the platform. Designers can also buy a sample, like I did, to which Resonances adds 10 per cent to the cost of their goods.
When the piece arrived a couple weeks later, I was definitely surprised to see my haphazard handiwork in the flesh, somewhat because it really did look like the picture; though a little too much like the picture, perhaps. While it was novel on-screen on the One platform, it didn’t translate as well as I had hoped. The fabric felt high-end and the fit felt elegant, but if I could do it again, I would have chosen something with more sheen to make it less casual. (Resonance enables creators to purchase fabric swatches.)
I went back to my One platform, this time with a clearer vision in mind: I wanted something lilac with red accents (again, a contrasting colour combination driving inspiration), and something comfortable to wear to a casual dinner out. I chose a fitted tank dress silhouette, a Tencel-spandex jersey fabric (fingers crossed, again), and a subtle lilac print from Resonance’s library. The red came in the form of thin piping around the neckline. The platform estimated a production cost of $25.48. After approving the digital twin, I pushed it through the process without overthinking it. (Perhaps the previous surplus of choices inspired me to be a bit too experimental.) Again, within a couple weeks, I received the garment.
I was surprised to see that the subtle polka dots were still a bit more prominent than I expected and that the red piping read more as orange in the flesh. The fabric and fit were incredibly soft and comfortable. The One platform delivered, but it seems my design talent still left room for improvement.
This ease of experimentation is by design, Lenihan says. On that front, Resonance developed an accelerator for 20 emerging designers to produce works using the new platform. I got a glimpse of their pieces, and it’s a much better use of the tech. I imagine with tools like these, talent, not technique, will continue to be the key differentiator.
Responding to the speed of culture
Resonance’s One aims to enable designers to produce products without requiring a minimum number of pieces and without producing pieces before they are sold. This sounds straightforward, but it’s almost entirely unprecedented in the world of ready-to-wear, in which brands often design and produce pieces weeks or months in advance of when they hit the e-commerce grid or the shop floor. While there are ways to ‘predict’ — or anticipate, or respond quickly to — trends, it is impossible to predict the future, leading to historic overproduction. And for the items and sizes that don’t sell, the garments are put on sale, destroyed or funnelled through an opaque system that sees clothes piling up in warehouses, landfills and beaches.
Until now, Resonance’s technology was invitation-only, being tested by brands including The Kit, Rebecca Minkoff, BruceGlen, Faith Connexion, Laura Garcia and Tucker. After a number of updates to the dashboard and workflow, the platform is now being made widely available to any creator or brand.
This isn’t the first or only on-demand clothing creation attempt, but the depth, accessibility and scale is impressive. Zazzle, for example, enables people to upload images to T-shirts and other apparel, while Adore Me recently introduced a tool for customers to design artwork, using generative AI, that is custom-printed on demand onto a bra and panty set.
There are also alternative approaches to on-demand manufacturing and one-of-one pieces. Web3 fashion startup Mmerch created one-of-one hoodies with modular pieces, while Ministry of Supply has similarly offered modular clothing and small-batch manufacturing, often called ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing. Wide-knit knitwear is particularly well suited to on-demand manufacturing, as items like sweaters can be 3D-printed on demand with little waste. Custom sizing, which often goes hand in hand with on-demand production, is an added complexity for many experimenting in the space — but it can often go sideways due to discrepancies in measurements and taste on fit. (Remember the dotted Zozosuits in 2018? The bold attempt at custom jeans from Japan’s Zozotown were considered a major failure after many found the resulting jeans to be ridiculously ill-fitting, including this writer. Its CEO later apologised, although the company did gain legions of data on customer body measurements.)
One of Resonance’s big unlocks is digital printing. The fabrics all start out as white, before Resonance’s technology establishes how to lay out each individual piece from the pattern on the fabric in the most efficient way as orders come in — even if that means multiple brands and styles are literally cut from the same cloth. Then, each garment’s colour and pattern is digitally printed onto the fabric, giving it the final colours and designs. Finally, the pieces are sewn together by a team of about 200 at Resonance’s facility in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
The platform can be linked to a designer’s Shopify e-commerce store, and designers can list items for sale via the 3D renders or samples photographed on models. When they make a sale, the item can then be manufactured by and drop-shipped on demand, directly from Resonance. Brands can also manage wholesale and retail orders through One.
This type of speed enables brands to offer products that respond to the speed of culture, says Resonance chairman and co-founder Lawrence Lenihan. In other words, instead of backfilling their Instagram grids and email newsletters with items that might fit into the passing phases of demure dressing, brat summer or tomorrow’s new micro-trend, they can quickly design and offer relevant options — and only produce what sells.
There are still some limitations. For now, the technology is available only with Resonance’s materials library, with complex designs that mix materials or involve intricate tailoring also not available. (Creators can currently mix materials through elements like pocket bags, with more mixing planned.) Currently, it’s not designed to enable consumers shopping a participating deisgner’s Shopify site the option to input individual measurements and purchase a completely customised piece, though the company does plan to begin offering more personalised and customised garments, which would enable custom sizing.
One also demonstrates neatly that, while you can take away the logistical hurdles, you still need creative talent to design effectively. When it’s so fast and easy to create a garment, the hard part becomes dreaming up a ‘perfect’ piece.
I find it very tempting to design something again — if only for the knowledge that I’m the only one in the world with these pieces. But after putting my design work through the paces, I’m happy to leave it to the experts.
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