Boston - With its tidy racks of dress shirts, trousers
and sweaters, the Ministry of Supply shop on Newbury Street looks, in many
ways, similar to other clothing stores.
That is, except for the 10-foot-long 3-D knitting machine
positioned next to the checkout counter: The one that weighs as much as a car,
is outfitted with 4 000 needles and can manufacture a customized blazer in
about 90 minutes.
The process requires little in the way of human labour.
After a customer selects the colours, cuffs and buttons of the garment, an
employee programs the device to crank out a jacket to those specifications.
It may sound like a novelty, but make no mistake: It is a
symbol of a potentially industry-shaking wave of innovation taking hold in the
apparel world.
This is an experiment in the idea of mass customization,
in which clothes are made for an individual's preferences or sizes. It's a
departure from the model of selling standardized, mass-produced goods that has
dominated retailing for more than a century.
Ministry of Supply's foray into this new territory is in
its early days, and 3-D knitting is just one tool that could eventually be used
to bring personalized garments to the masses.
But if this and other nascent efforts are successful, it
could set off a scramble in the fashion business to radically transform the
long-standing supply chains and design methods that are used to make clothes
today.
If even a small portion of a retailer's goods are made
on-demand, it could slash some of their costs, since there would be no risk of
getting stuck with inventory that customers didn't like. It could also allow
brands to react on the fly to trends, an increasingly powerful weapon at a time
when social media is acting as rocket fuel for fashion fads. And it could help retailers
meet the expectations of a customer who is increasingly seeking out
one-of-a-kind, boutique-like goods.
Gihan Amarasiriwardena, left, Ministry of Supply's chief design officer, and chief executive Aman Advani talk in their flagship store in Boston. Washington Post photo by Jorge Ribas.
"It's going to be a big change," said Lisa
Chapman, a professor at North Carolina State University's College of Textiles
who studies design and mass customisation.
Adding personality
The embrace of personalised goods in apparel is taking a
variety of forms. Adidas is soon to open its second Speedfactory, a facility
that eventually aims to manufacture sneakers that are customized to the exact
shape and size of shoppers' feet. Men's apparel start-up Indochino has entered
into a strategic partnership with a Chinese manufacturer that allows it to
expand production of its made-to-measure suits. Amazon.com, which is rapidly
emerging as an apparel juggernaut, has reportedly received a patent for a
machine that makes custom garments. (Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos owns The
Washington Post.)
Ministry of Supply, a start-up that began as an
e-commerce operation and now has nine stores, says it is possible it will be
making one-quarter or even one-third of its merchandise via 3-D knitting within
a couple of years.
The machine in its Boston store, made by a Japanese
company called Shima Seiki, knits yarn directly into the shape of a complete
garment. In other words, there is no cutting and sewing and, therefore, no
seams. The machine, known as the Wholegarment Mach2XS, costs about $190,000.
Shima Seiki covered the cost of the machine for this experiment; Ministry of
Supply footed the bill for its installation and handles maintenance.
Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Ministry of Supply's chief design
officer, said the process has key advantages. For one, the lack of seams makes
clothing more durable, because seams are typically the place where wear and
tear first appear.
Also, by knitting in the shape of the blazer, there is
very little fabric waste, especially compared to traditional knit
manufacturing, in which it's not uncommon for 30 percent of the textile to be
wasted. (A blazer made on the 3-D knitting machine costs $345 if you customize
it, or $285 if you buy it off the rack.)
There's also a potential benefit to the merchandiser.
Shoppers are increasingly spending money on what they believe are unique
experiences, and they are increasingly curious about the origin of the goods
they buy. By putting the technology right in front of them, Ministry of Supply
hopes to cater to those preferences.
"We're really excited about exposing our creative
process and letting the customers see that," Amarasiriwardena said.
Automated
The process that shoppers are watching is largely
automated, with the machine doing work that in a traditional supply chain would
be done by several people.
"It seems like it's a manufacturing innovation, but
it really affects the entire business, from start to finish," said Aman
Advani, the chief executive of Ministry of Supply.
For one, the retailer has had to adopt a new design
process for garments made via 3-D-knitting. Instead of sketching new pieces on
paper, they build them using software on a digital mannequin.
And since they are now makers, not just sellers, the shop
must keep enough yarn in the back of the store to crank out 50 or 60 blazers.
(Each jacket calls for about 1.5 pounds of fabric.)
Store employees must also master new skills, such as
envisioning a garment at the yarn level. They spent a week with Shima Seiki
learning how to operate the complex machine and to do maintenance work, such as
changing the needles.
"When we look at competencies, there's design, make
and sell," Amarasiriwardena said. "Traditionally our retail staff is
just focused on the sales side. For this to work in the future, our team needs
to be able to spread across all three of those."
Still, the technology has its limits. Even though the
blazer can be produced by the machine in about an hour and a half, more steps
are involved before Ministry of Supply hands it over to the shopper. The
garment must be run through a washer and dryer so the material shrinks to the
right fit. And the buttons and label have to be sewn on by hand by a store
worker.
The retailer hopes to one day be able to turn around a
garment during a single visit to the store, but for now, clerks tell customers
their garment will be ready in three to five days.
A newly printed blazer emerges from Ministry of Supply's 3D print-knit machine. The clothing company lets customers create their own jackets in their Boston store. Washington Post photo by Jorge Ribas
It is hitches such as these that make Felipe Caro, a
professor at University of California-Los Angeles who studies operations and
technology management, skeptical that mass customization can become ubiquitous
in the retail business.
"Sure, there's almost no labor involved. But how
many of those can you produce in afternoon?" asked Caro, who previously
worked on supply chain strategy for fast-fashion powerhouse Zara.
In other words, in mass customization, the retailer is
always working in batch sizes of one. So even with the reduced costs associated
with less labor and no obsolescence, he finds it hard to see how this can be a
cost-effective model at a large scale.
And yet, Chapman of North Carolina State said there is
plenty of incentive for companies to keep trying to crack this puzzle.
"There's going to be a demand for more personalized
and customised products," Chapman said. "And that's where these new
technologies have the potential to make an impact."
Indeed, Ministry of Supply sees more avenues for
experimentation. In the future, it is looking at customizing the sizing of
products made via on-demand manufacturing - particularly if it branches into
something like dress shirts, where shoppers tend to be looking for an
especially precise fit. The retailer also hopes to offer up more style and
aesthetic attributes for customers to choose from.
"We jokingly but not so jokingly like to mention
that we only budgeted for one-way transportation of that machine," Advani
said. "So we're betting on it being the future."