Case Studies

Background on the Garment Industry

The apparel market is a $172 billion retail market nationwide. Whether you buy designer fashions, or whether you go to your local discount store and purchase off the rack, the garment you buy is part of this $172 billion industry. And, designer fashion, or wholesale off-the-rack, the process of producing the garment is the same…first the garment is designed and a pattern is made and marked. Then the pattern is used to cut fabric which is sewn into the finished garment.

Today's garment production uses an automated CAD process in all aspects. The pattern is digitized into a garment CAD system which directs plotters and cutters. Currently, Hand digitizing one pattern can take many hours of production time.

Efficiency For Pattern Makers, By Pattern Makers

One New York based garment industry company with 65 years of experience has developed a scanning system that fully automates the digitizing process.

This unique Technical Design Scanning System reduces pattern digitizing man hours by 80%. It reduces the skill level needed to digitize patterns and eliminates the human error currently associated with hand digitizing and grading. In a real life case, this means that a complicated jacket takes a skilled worker more than 3 hours to digitize by hand. The same jacket can be scanned by anyone using Technical Design Scanning System in as little as 15 minutes. Clearly, this system solves real world problems and saves real time and money.

Additionally, the Technical Design Scanning System enables designers to scan whole garments and post them to a secure website. This enables co-employees and manufacturers to instantly view images of garments and garment trim from any location around the world. This means that up-to-date information can be shared easily by select departments. Now up to date information can be shared easily by select departments, thus solving many communication problems that are intrinsic to the production process.

The New York firm chose the fast and reliable Contex 54" Magnum XL scanner as the front end for their system. This four camera scanner provides high resolution and automatic features that reduce user input and eliminate down time.