Assyst: Photographs and digitally generated product images are now interchangeable

As tough as the pandemic was, Hans-Peter Hiemer is convinced that it was important for the fashion industry. Since March 2021, he has been the new managing director of Assyst, the CAD specialist and 3D technology provider based in Germany, near Munich. Hiemer has known the fashion industry for a long time and from many angles. As a consultant and manager, he has worked for companies such as S.Oliver, the CBR Fashion Group, Orsay, Klingel, Zalando/Z-labels, Escada and Beeline.

Even before joining Assyst, he made no secret of his conviction that the industry would have to fundamentally rethink its approach if it wanted to continue to be successful. Away from the guessing game of what the bestsellers of the next season would be, and towards a data- and demand-driven business model with more small series instead of more mass-produced goods. The good news: the technologies are there, now the industry has to follow. We talked to Hans-Peter Hiemer about digital transformation and how far the fashion industry has come.

Mr. Hiemer, you have been in the fashion industry for a long time, then in management consulting, now you have joined a CAD vendor. Why is Assyst interesting for you?

In recent years, I have always been fortunate in my work to have my finger on the pulse of the times and be able to help shape the major issues in the industry. The first major change process was globalisation in the 1990s, then came verticalisation, which was about bringing about consolidation in sales. Now we're on the subject of acceleration and technology, and Assyst is one of the pioneers here. I've always thought about what's next, and that's where Assyst offers a brilliant combination: this is where industry, commerce and technology come together. To be able to reshape that and play a significant role here is interesting. In that sense, Assyst was almost a logical consequence.

For a long time, the market for CAD providers was manageable, but with 3D, new players have shown up and continue to show up. How does Assyst distinguish itself from these new competitors?

Yes, that's true. Historically, there have only ever been a handful of CAD vendors specialising in the fashion industry. Assyst is certainly the most developed. Compared to the new players, you have to know that they essentially only offer individual solutions, or cover small areas, and work very well in these - incidentally also together with Assyst. But we have an end-to-end solution and don't just map individual steps. We accompany the product from A to Z and, if the customer wants us to, we can represent consistency. As CAD experts, we come from the cutting edge and can now integrate upstream and downstream processes throughout the entire process. That’s the big difference.

You have been hard on the fashion industry in recent years - too sluggish, not customer focused enough, too many markdowns. The system no longer works. How should it get better?

As tough as the pandemic was, it was important for the fashion industry. Until now, we have always tried to solve the problems with the same method, and of course that doesn't work anymore. We have to move to a demand-driven model, and that doesn't happen voluntarily. We currently have millions of unsold items in the system; the pressure on the industry is enormous. But the good news is: it is possible today to change fundamental processes! The tools are there, and so is the attention from companies. The situation now holds opportunities for new models to be considered as well. It will probably take another two years for companies to recover financially. But then the next step will come.

The next step, in your opinion, would be to enter 3D product development. Why is that important?

In 3D product development, one can take 30 percent of the time out of the development process. What used to be twelve weeks becomes eight - that's absolutely feasible. It makes a difference whether one has to start the design at a time when one doesn't have any data yet, or later on the basis of customer feedback. I have also saved enormously on the number of samples, depending on the maturity level, at least twenty percent, up to 70 percent. All these savings flow directly into the calculation, which is margin optimisation before the product is even made.

How far has 3D technology come by now?

Starting from a 5-stage model, we are just at the middle stage of the maturity model. That is, we are at the threshold of predictability, where we can incorporate external factors into product development. As far as we are concerned, our product is in a stable state, our solutions are safe, reproducible and affordable. Today, you can't tell the difference between a digitally generated product image and a photograph. About 1,500 customers are developing new products on our Assyst platform every minute.

How far along have brands come in integrating 3D technology?

They are one step below. But the attention is there, and companies are willing to invest. Assyst has been working on this topic for many years, which means that technology is leading the way, and now the market can catch up, which is a good thing. It would be difficult if the industry had demands that could not yet be offered on the technological side. As for us, we're already working with customers who are integrating digital products into their store and are already selling 50 percent of their collection digitally only, which has shortened the go-to-market process by months. In other words, products are sold here without any financial risk because no samples had to be produced and no fabric had to be purchased in advance. About 400 companies worldwide are already integrated to the point where they can sell digitally. In some cases, the majority of the collection is developed digitally.

How digital is the supply chain already, fabrics for example?

The rollout is imminent. We are encouraging fabric manufacturers to already digitise their fabrics and are offering an open system for this purpose with digital parameters such as weight, elasticity, etc. I see this as a great development opportunity for the preliminary stage in textiles. But we also help our customers create their own fabric libraries and learn how to evaluate fabrics as a technical image. They have to go through their own personal experience process to be able to read this data safely and reproduce their knowledge safely.

What are the possibilities for 3D-developed products in the retail sphere? Are there examples already where digital products are sold to end customers?

Technically, this is feasible, but you need a suitable sales concept. When end customers buy a product, they want it quickly. If it takes too long, interest drops. At the moment, there are still too many individual systems that are not connected to each other and that are in the wrong places. If transport takes ten days, that's too long.

But there are already examples in the area of avatars and virtual try-on. In the USA, we are running an extensive research project together with a major US retailer. Here, we have also imported the technical product data for all products so that the end customer can try on the product virtually. To do this, we request some information from the customer, such as body size and the desired wearing comfort - we don't ask about weight - and match the data with the data cloud from Avalution [a sister company specialising in body data - editor's note]. Via the try-on button, the product is calculated on the body and provides information about how the fit is.

For you, fast, small series are the future, manufactured in decentralised, digitally supported microfactories. Adidas already presented this three years ago with Assyst in Berlin. What was the next step?

On the materials side, the steps are already very big. At the last Drupa, the world's largest printing press trade show, a sophisticated production process for printed T-shirts was presented together with the Textile Institute Denkendorf and Assyst: A roll of white fabric is inserted into the machine, the machine starts running, the design is created and the machine prints the fabric exactly where the print is to be later. Only then does the digitally controlled cutter come in and cut out the pieces. So the integration of printer, software and cutter is already working, and there are also the first companies working with it, especially merchandising manufacturers.

Such machines are the entry prerequisite for nearshoring and on-demand production. I think we will see an industrial breakthrough here in two to four years. The investments for such printing presses range from less than ten thousand euros for small batches to millions. Large printer manufacturers like Epson are investing here right now. If they didn't find this market interesting, they wouldn't be promoting the topic.

Has the pandemic also changed the view of the digital transformation of the value chain? Or is everyone only looking at retail?

In two respects, the pandemic has changed the way we look at processes in the fashion industry. First and foremost, a company must be able to sell its products. For this to succeed, it needs completely new processes and has thus defined its need for change. For this, it needs technology. It doesn't make sense if I can sell my product in two days, but it takes months to get it ready. With technology, the development time is reduced from twelve weeks in the past to two to three today. With this time saving, it's also perfectly okay if the design takes six weeks, which is exactly where many now see a big benefit.

Secondly, digital product development opens up completely new opportunities to pick up the market immediately. Assyst customers were able to design a homewear collection within two weeks in response to the lockdown phases and sell it digitally immediately - just because it was technically possible.

What is your assessment as an industry expert: Does our wholesale model still have a chance?

This is a regional discussion. Our 3-stage wholesale model is a special situation in Central Europe; there's really nothing like it anywhere else in the world. The direct model simply has the huge advantage that you have personal contact with the customer.

I can still imagine wholesale in Germany and other European countries in two ways: One is in the high-end and luxury segment. Here, curation and service play a central role. The other example is in the area of low-entries, i.e. everywhere where it is a matter of meeting demand. It will be difficult for brands in the middle that do wholesale, retail and e-commerce at the same time. This mainstream middle will have to choose between retail and wholesale - to serve all areas will be too expensive. Basically, however, I believe that the pandemic has brought a great opportunity for brick-and-mortar retail, because everyone has noticed how lonely online shopping is in the long run.

Fotos: Assyst GmbH

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.de. Edited and translated by Simone Preuss.