The 4th 3D Creative Design Competition Comes to a Close, Attracting 584 Participants from 48 Countries

Our fourth Creative Design Competition, ‘3D Fashion Tech : Ready, Set, CLO! ‘ has officially come to a close, attracting a total of 584 participants from 48 countries around the world.  Co-hosted with the Korea Textile Trade Association (KTTA), this annual competition is to promote 3D design methods and foster talented designers in the ever-growing demand for 3D technology in the fashion industry.  This year we had 15 exceptional sponsors globally to support the event, including Adobe, Cherry Group, Dishang Group, F&F, Hansae, HT Fashion Group, HUGO BOSS, Jiangsu Sainty Corp., Ltd, LF, Mango, SAE-A Trading, Sejung, Stoll, TMI Group, and Wacom.  The theme of the competition was ‘New Definition of Craftsmanship’, where participants showed their creativity to define a new form of 3D fashion that combines digital elements with craftsmanship (and techniques) such as traditional and handicraft elements.  Especially, Adobe Substance 3D offered a temporary free collection of 3D parametric materials on Substance 3D Assets library for this year’s competition, containing nine parametric fabrics and decals, along with 3D models. All fully compatible with CLO, it enabled participants to bring even more realism, flexibility, and creativity to their 3D artworks. A total of 21 winners were chosen by a…

CLO Talent Incubator Programme: Meet Marvelous CLO Talents in Hong Kong

We held the first CLO Talent Incubator Programme in Hong Kong this summer. The programme aims to equip more talents with CLO knowledge for the industry, and to help the local companies having skilled talents to facilitate their CLO implementation under the upward trend of 3D technology and popularity of CLO in Hong Kong. The application for the programme started in June. There was an enthusiastic response during the application period, resulting in 10 talents successfully joining the programme. The programme includes 56-hour lessons in 8 full days, a final project and an online webinar, to cover the skills of making a wide range of fashion and textiles products, rendering and 3D presentation, and to showcase their achievements to the public. We are happy to meet 10 talents from different backgrounds, including fashion students, freelancers, merchandisers, fashion designers and graphic/multimedia designers. All of them could create very attractive final project results in CLO, which shows that CLO is user-friendly and suitable for all people with different levels of 3D understanding or garment making knowledge. It is very honoured to have 2 guest judges – Mavis Hui from Global Management Services Ltd., and Erik Tam from Newtimes (HK) Ltd, to give…

CLO Academic Month: Jumpstarting a 3D Curriculum and Establishing a Roadmap

We wrapped up our second annual Academic Month in July. Similar to last year’s Academic Month, it was a testament to how schools are jumpstarting with 3D and overcoming challenges to successfully implement CLO into their curriculum. This year’s Academic Month highlighted five institutions including Design School Kolding, Manchester Metropolitan University, Trainstation, Institut Français de la Mode, and Istituto Europeo di Design. The schools presented what they’ve been teaching in CLO, why they decided to start using CLO, and what their students have created in the software thus far. Each institution highlighted key points in their roadmap to onboarding their students in the software. At Design School Kolding, for example, Christel Arnevik said that they began with a pilot project in order to better understand all the intricacies and software features. Surveys and questionnaires to test the Bachelor Program students’ 2D and digital capabilities were imperative so that they could understand how to establish a curriculum that would best suit the students’ needs. Upon receiving the results from each survey, they would construct courses and a tailored curriculum that aligned with areas that the students required the most help. The courses focused on relevant and contextual teaching, emphasizing “how-to’s”, and…

How CLO is Helping Fashion Designers Discover Their Creative Minds in a Digital Environment

At the beginning of the year, CLO received an invitation from the Design Incubation Program – also known as DIP – to introduce the software to their fashion designers. We also invited the participants to our CLO Hong Kong Public Workshop held the following week. We received an enormous response from participants and decided to collaborate on a project to support the fashion designers in visualizing their collections and implementing CLO into their business.  Where fashion designers go to grow DIP is a two-year program that helps startups from across the fashion world navigate and overcome challenges in the critical early stages of business development. The program offers financial support, mentorship, and networking opportunities to take fashion designer’s brands to the next level.  The Hong Kong Design Centre manages DIP, and Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) sponsors the program. CreateHK is a Government agency dedicated to spearheading the development of Hong Kong’s creative industries. Local emerging brands such as Somewhere Nowhere, Klockwise, Knitwarm, and V Visionary are alumni and current DIP members. Photo courtesy of Somewherenowhere, Klockwise, and V Visionary. CLO x DIP Collaboration We look forward to seeing the development and growth of each brand that we’ve helped with visualizing their collection. Our…

Creation Fields: A Company set to Revolutionize the Fashion Industry with CLO 

3D product development reduces the total number of unnecessary garments being produced within apparel industry significantly – saving time, money, as well as reducing the overall environmental footprint. However, many brands still find challenges when it comes to initially implementing 3D into their pipeline. Creation Fields, which was founded by Eva Mattsson Culafic and Kristina Fürst Thiis, provides key competences to meet brands’ needs in order to support their 3D implementation journey. This includes product development, pattern construction, design, tailoring, and user-experience. The co-founders of Creation Fields have an immense amount of experience within the apparel industry and have built a broad and unique network within the world of CLO and 3D. The main aim of the Swedish-based company is to decrease the negative impact on the environment connected to fashion production, while also helping brands increase their margins, decrease their time-to-market and to work closer to the consumer – all through the use of CLO. With the current transformation of the industry, Creation Fields seeks to be the number one supplier of technical competences connected to these changes. We had the exciting opportunity to speak with Eva from Creation Fields in order to find out more about the company…

True to Life Accessory Creation: How INDG Takes Accessories to a New Level with CLO

Those who have experienced the CLO interface know that accessories lend themselves exceptionally well for CLO and virtual sampling. CLO continuously innovates through integrations and new features to enable the highest quality visualizations. Some of the main benefits of using CLO for accessory creation are early product validation, the ability to create more responsibly through lower sample production, faster lead times, and the possibility of re-using assets for campaign material.  A great example of how these advantages come to play can be seen through the company INDG. INDG is a CGI production company, creating photorealistic 3D content and interactive experiences for global product brands. They collaborate with several of the largest sports, fashion, and luxury brands to digitize their portfolios, in particular, a large array of accessories, all using CLO.  We had the opportunity to catch up with Bastiaan Geluk and Irina Ternauciuc from INDG to find out more about the benefits they’ve seen through accessory digitization using CLO. We dive into the main reasons for client requests when it comes to digitizing accessories, how CLO aids in creating accessories more responsibly, their favorite CLO tools, and more. What Benefits have you experienced since using CLO for accessory creation? “The…

The 3rd Creative Design Competition Comes to a Close With 19 Winners

Our third Creative Design Competition in partnership with the Korea Textile Trade Association has officially come to a close. This year’s competition saw a total of 703 participants from 67 countries around the globe. It also had an exceptional list of participating sponsors including, LF Hazzys, HUGO BOSS, Marc Cain, Pantone, Atacac Fashion Studio, Ciel Textile Ltd., Beijing Institute Of Fashion Technology, Hansae, INDG, SAE-A Trading, TMG Group, Wacom, and Youth Hightech. As is the case with each design competition, we love to see the diverse talent and creativity of CLO users all across the world. This year’s contest had two challenges with the first one having a theme of Travel + Digital Emotions. This theme allowed participants to digitally express what it would look like if they were able to travel without the restrictions of COVID-19. With 99 participants moving on to the second challenge, this round featured a theme of Life On Mars in the Metaverse. This allowed participants to reimagine an alternate life in the metaverse.  There were 19 winners chosen in the end by a panel of global judges. The grand prize winner, Yuen Huang, received $4,500 and an FHI Cotton Chip Set from Pantone. The…

Taking CLO to The Next Level: An Interview with one of our very own CLO 3D Designers

We are continuously inspired by our very own CLO 3D Designers. Being a master of the CLO interface and training brands around the globe on how to use 3D to their advantage, they have great knowledge to share when it comes to perfecting your designs. A great number of brands have implemented CLO into various stages of their supply chain and the long-lasting benefits that come with this digital transformation are becoming more evident. From product development and design and the ability to re-use 3D Assets to showcase collections in a more creative and unrestricted environment – 3D aids brands to become more productive, sustainable, and achieve faster, and more realistic results.  A topic that has become increasingly popular, is the usage of 3D for Marketing touch points. This includes digital sell-ins, e-commerce, showcases, digital Marketing and advertising. Many designers strive to achieve photo-realistic 3D results that can be used for outward facing communication and which take away the necessity of real-life photo shooting and even runway shows – shifting these to a virtual realm.  We had the opportunity to catch up with one of our 3D Designers, Simon Voelkl, who has found a passion for creating photorealistic renders driven…

CLO Academic Month: How Top Universities have successfully Implemented CLO into Their Curriculum

Fashion students are paving the way for the future of the industry, and a new generation of designers are growing worldwide. By implementing CLO and redefining the traditional fashion supply chain, universities have the opportunity to deliver a real change within the industry. This allows students to learn the needed skills to develop garments in a more efficient, eco-friendly, accurate, and faster way.  Implementing CLO into a university curriculum is essentially a win-win for students and fashion brands alike. Students are able to learn the sought after skills in order to win top jobs in the industry and become prepared to take on future innovations within the garment development world. For fashion brands, having a pool of students who have 3D knowledge and capabilities will aid them in reshaping their supply chain for the better in terms of reducing waste, sample approval time, improving product quality, accelerating time to market, and significantly improving the communication between teams.  It is no secret that the fashion designer of the future will be working in a hybridization between the physical and the digital world. With the industry reaching a tipping point, the need for 3D design experience, such as with CLO, is not…

Parsons and the Special Olympics Push For More Inclusive Apparel

Last month The New School’s Parsons School of Design showcased the inspiring creations that students made using CLO as part of the school’s “Special Olympics x Parsons School of Fashion Inclusive Design Collaboration”. Among the attendees of the presentation were athletes, Parsons students and faculty, and special guests like fashion photographer Nigel Barker and representatives from the Women’s Tennis Association. In recent years, we have seen the fashion industry push for inclusivity across many different underrepresented communities. Brands have taken steps in the right direction when it comes to size-inclusive apparel, as well as race and gender identity, but it seems that those with intellectual or physical disabilities are often overlooked or left out of the conversation completely. This collaboration with the Special Olympics represents a real push for more inclusive apparel across the board. “Together with Special Olympics, we co-created, designed and established a collab class with an intricate co-design, human-centered systems-thinking and partnership methodology,” said Brendan McCarthy, Systems and Materiality BFA Program Director at Parsons. “It can be used as a model for fashion and athletic/performance design houses, businesses more broadly and educational institutions to re-think how they approach critical issues around equity, inclusion, social justice, specifically for one…