Just In Time
The trend of agile, made-to-order production
The power of social media means trends are now more often set by consumers instead of brands and editors. Products are now “pulled” into the market based on actual demand rather than “pushed” based on best-guesses and forecasts.
Technology, data science, and near-shoring have enabled both start-ups and mainstream companies to respond quickly to source and develop products, curtail production timelines, and streamline distribution. Brands are starting to be smart about the process before any piece of clothing is made in order to avoid overproduction. “[Brands] shorten the time from demand to production or localize manufacturing,” said Kerry
Cooper, president and COO of Rothy’s, “in addition, [they] build in flexibility to be able to ‘chase’ product that is selling well to fulfill demand.” Berlin-based Lesara claims a 10-day turnaround time from identifying fashion trends to putting products on the market. New York based Sharecloth digitizes styles and enables retailers to place orders before products are ever manufactured. In Adidas’s “speedfactories”, data-driven design is used to enable mass customization. Sure enough, Amazon patented a fully automated “on-demand manufacturing system” and launched “Merch”, a made-to-order t-shirt printing platform where Amazon manufactures any T-shirt design that sells.
According to BoF and McKingsey, we will likely see a rise in just-in-time production, reduced levels of overstock, and the rising importance of small-batch production cycles.
Sources: Glossy (December 20, 2018) | BoF McKingsey&Company (The State of Fashion 2019) | Image: Lesara