Why Is The Well Of Digital Product Creation Talent Running Dry?

What happens when the current workforce does not have the right skill set to perform in a system that is changing faster than anyone could have imagined? What if the need and demand for experience and expertise are greater than supply? This is the current state of the fashion industry. Driven by transformative technologies, as we inch toward creating a better and more sustainable ecosystem for fashion, one colossal piece of the puzzle remains: talent. How do we, as an industry, ensure that we are hiring, training, and educating people in a way that's fit for this brave new world?

One does not need to be a futurist to notice how rapidly the world around us is changing. Additive manufacturing, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and many more technologies, collectively packaged as 'Industry 4.0,' have foreseeable effects on every design and manufacturing industry. Fashion is no exception. Together, these technologies are going to change how we design, manufacture, present, sell, and consume fashion. And employers are already seeking talent with a combination of competencies in these areas: skills that are not traditionally taught together under one major in colleges.

The gap between what the industry clearly knows is coming and what education is preparing students for is growing. Fashion education has not seen any significant upgrades for decades. Fashion is a dynamic discipline built on adaptation, yet there are only a handful of institutes with a progressive outlook that train students for future-proof careers. With so many technology and industry solutions available and technology vendors who are typically keen to work with educational institutions, we have to ask why.

As the late Louise Wilson once said, "The problem is that fashion has become too fashionable. Everyone thinks it is attainable." In that vein, universities all over the world have rushed to offer fashion degrees. Unlike other design majors, fashion has a high face value that is easy to sell through pumped-up marketing, and students are often drawn to the idea of a highly creative qualification that, in theory, leads to employment in a vibrant, creative industry. But curriculums are often orthodox, and the proliferation of fashion degrees has resulted in a growing pool of unemployed or, worse, unemployable graduates. In the United States alone, some 4,089 degrees in fashion and apparel design were awarded in 2017, and design is just one of many creative and commercial disciplines that fall under the umbrella of digital product creation.

More importantly, fashion education has fallen far behind the curve when it comes to reflecting the reality of fashion as it stands today. As technology improved and penetrated other design disciplines like architecture and automotive design in the last century, it was taught as a matter of course to students entering those sectors. Fashion design courses, however, remained resistant. And where digital design skills were taught, they were often kept optional and separate from mandatory modules focused on 2D computer-aided design (CAD), mood boards, and flat drawings. While 'fashion-tech' became a popular topic of discussion, it was and still is conspicuously missing from most curriculums.

A few years back, in Anti-Fashion: A Manifesto for the Next Decade, trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort stressed the need for the Hudson Valley to learn from and work closely with Silicon Valley, foreseeing this shift. Edelkoort has since been proven right: fashion education now needs not only a comprehensive approach to technology but also a cross-disciplinary culture of learning and co-creation, modeled on the ways other industries have moved forward with the help of technology.

Imagine an environment where fashion designers and pattern makers work alongside coders and textile engineers. That is the reality leading brands want, but it is a vision falling short because sourcing all that talent and bringing it under one roof is proving increasingly difficult.

One area where talent is in particularly high demand is digital product creation and, more specifically, 3D design and development, where creating digital counterparts of physical products is one of the most important tasks a brand faces. The advantages of conceiving and developing a fashion product in a 3D digital environment are innumerable, at every stage from initial sketch to production-ready sample. Those benefits have only become more pronounced during the pandemic, as alternative options were taken off the table.

The same is true for education: where 3D has real value in the enterprise, it arguably has even more value in helping fashion design students translate their ideas into reality. The difference between a 2D sketch and a 3D prototype is pronounced - one is far more tangible than the other. By creating an unbreakable link between 3D simulation and 2D patterns, students can experiment in 3D and see their changes reflected on an avatar in real time. Core skills like draping, patternmaking, and tailoring can all be taught more intuitively as a result.

2D and 3D in Browzwear VStitcher

In my experience of what brand and retail employers are actually looking for, a student's portfolio today should showcase 3D skills just as strongly as 2D skills - particularly for graduates seeking roles at the forward-thinking companies likely to define the future of fashion. And for those portfolios to be properly balanced, fashion education needs to begin teaching 3D with the same importance it places on 2D.

Consider the difference between 2D and 3D design on vital commercial considerations such as producibility and sustainability. It is one thing to recruit a designer who can generate wonderful ideas in sketch form; it is another to bring on board someone who can design and develop products with broader considerations in mind.

To do justice to the next generation, fashion education needs to prepare students to ask not "what" but "how." How do we design or redesign to problem-solve and correct the flawed systems created in the frenzy of globalization and disposable fast fashion? How do we design for a future where garments are sold digitally before a stitch is sewn, or even as digital-only goods? How do we design for a world where traditional systems, processes, and ways of working have shifted in just twelve months, potentially never to return?

This is the void that fashion education needs to fill, and it is also the root cause of the industry-wide shortage of digital product creation and 3D talent.

From an educator's perspective, this might seem like a lot to ask to shake up the way we teach at a time when the entire sector is in crisis and when students feel more uncertain of their place in the world than ever. But in my view, there is no better time for universities and colleges to take a critical look at what they are offering the industry. These institutions need to step up and embrace new technologies to ensure a future-proof education that prepares students for a fully digitalized world.

For brands, it is equally important to understand that a digital upgrade or transformation is not simply about new software or machinery. At the core of any business are its people. Buying a camera does not make someone a photographer: access to a tool is only purposeful when combined with the right education and training. When personal computers were invented, adoption was driven not by what your hands could do, but by what your brain could do. That opportunity was open to everyone equally. The same needs to be true today.

This means more than waiting for a new generation of talent to filter through from upgraded educational initiatives. It also means upskilling the current workforce and taking a phased approach to integrating 3D and other digital components into existing workflows so that the burden of change is not placed all at once on an industry still learning how to carry it.

We have seen a surge in tech-driven fashion startups lately, many of them rooted in Silicon Valley. The creative minds behind them are not fashion designers, yet they are disrupting fashion design all the same. As Edelkoort suggested, the fashion industry must now learn from and compete with the tech industry or risk being overtaken by outside forces simply because we could not build inside forces quickly enough. This will not be possible without a radically fresh approach to fashion education.

If 2020 taught us anything, it is the value of future-proof, sustainable business models, products, and systems that are unlikely to become obsolete. A core component of that is the people we need to invest in, educate, and train for the future. Because without this level of change, brands and retailers pushing digital product creation initiatives forward will keep finding themselves going back to a well of talent that is slowly running dry.

Note: This article was originally published by The Interline on February 22, 2021.