Dtail’s 'Fashion-Tech Talks'

Episode 1

“Transitioning from a 2D- to 3D design will arguably be more challenging than moving from pen-and-paper sketches to vector drawings.”

Joost Alferdinck is Chief Product Officer at PixelPool where he, among other things, heads development of the Dtail software platform. In the 10 years since he started at the company he has seen the landscape change drastically when it comes to the digital state of fashion.

Just back from a trip to New York City to speak about how gaming and 3D is creating new ways for brands to innovate, Joost sat down to talk about his unique perspective on the industry and where fashion-tech might be moving next.

What are the greatest tech challenges the fashion industry needs to address right now and why?

To begin with, let me set the scene. The technology landscape in general, and of course this applies to the fashion industry as well, is vast – so there are many different challenges. I’m only engaged with some of those challenges. PixelPool and Dtail operate in a very specific area within this landscape, which you could summarize as: ‘making a 3D workflow more rewarding for fashion brands.’ The fashion value chain is a vast area in and of itself, and we’re gravitating more towards specific areas within that: design, merchandising, planning and B2B sales. This, of course, gives me a unique perspective on the industry. We currently see the top three challenges as: the complexity of process and content standards within fashion,?the lack of technological foundations within brands and, looking to the future, how a metaverse and areas like AI and Machine Learning will impact the space.

Pictured: AI, Machine Learning and the metaverse are all going to impact the fashion business. Source: Dept Agency

What is your favorite part of working in this industry?

Over the years, I’ve only become more excited about what can be achieved in 3D virtual environments in a professional B2B setting. Having had the privilege of working with brands directly over the past 10 years, I’ve had a front-row seat to observe what levels of creativity, excitement and efficiency can be achieved using 3D workflows. However, there’s a huge number of moving parts involved in getting to that point – and they all need to move in unison towards that same goal.

How is 3D changing the game in fashion?

One of the areas with the highest density of moving parts is the production of the 3D content that enables the workflow. I’ve said many times before that our Dtail product exists by the virtue of high-quality 3D content.

In many projects, we as PixelPool do not only provide the platform software to build virtual showrooms – we offer 3D content production services as well, such as virtual products, environments and experiences. This allows our software and production teams to move in sync with each other, operating as one cohesive unit. If there are any challenges with 3D content standards, we quickly adjust our process and move on without considerable delays – keeping the momentum. However, we’ve always predicted that 3D content production will ‘democratize’ – meaning it will become more accessible in terms of budget and technical know-how, and brands will investigate either taking on 3D production on their own, or at least outsource it to more than one vendor. We’re currently at that stage where this is?happening everywhere – and we welcome and encourage it.

What is holding brands back from fully benefiting from 3D?

Transitioning from a 2D- to 3D design will arguably be more challenging than moving from pen-and-paper sketches to vector drawings. Moving into the (digital) 3D world, for fashion design specifically, brings a whole new set of skills that are not always available in the existing workforce. Not every designer has the technical pattern knowledge required to construct a garment in 3D. Nor can you expect them to have enough time (and interest) to dive into the technicalities of 3D file formats, polygon counts and texture maps.

There are many great companies, products and solutions in the 3D fashion space that help to bridge this gap. But if you, as a brand, want to take ownership of the process (and I think every brand should aim for that), I’m convinced that these new competencies will have to exist in your own organization somewhere. When they do, you need to decide how and where they will be applied in order to not only stay ahead of the inevitable curve, but to remain relevant as the industry embraces this new way of working.

Pictured: Employees designing in 3D with CLO software in PixelPool's offices

How is the user’s experience changing in this area of software development?

I think that a lot is happening right now in the B2C space, with concepts like the metaverse becoming more commonplace and generating a lot of excitement and interest. That momentum is carried to the B2B space because every professional buyer or sales rep is a consumer as well. What’s really exciting is that these new developments make audiences more familiar and comfortable with the possibilities a virtual world brings – and allows them to think and develop new ideas with these opportunities in mind.

Pictured: Fashion design generated by Kalina Panteleeva (Art Director at PixelPool) using AI system MidJourney

What do you think the biggest technological changes will be in the fashion industry over the next five years?

There are a few key technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning that are bringing an almost philosophical level of concern to the industry. The idea that you merely have to provide a simple text prompt to render a new creative design has many artists and designers concerned about the future - since fashion is indeed very much an art. The discussion then turns to what kind of role the human plays in steering this kind of design.?

Another area that will affect the industry is the technologies commonly referred to as the?metaverse. Although people have been speaking about this for a while now, in my opinion what we will see in this space is actually a multitude of 'metaverses' which, for fashion brands, could be analogous to different geographical markets that they know today. These metaverses might be connected to each other, but could also manifest more as separate planets each with its own 'society', style, rules and regulations. But surely there will be more strides made by fashion retailers in how they utilize digital practices in order to reduce waste and aim for more sustainable practices. Technology will certainly play a big role here.