Autorin: Yvonne Heinen-Foudeh, Senior International CorrespondentMeasures for digitalization develop their power when they form a sum. Each one is a valuable piece in the mosaic. This is particularly true for the fashion world, which is primarily determined by creative processes. For the essential building block of any digitization strategy – 3D technology – a new player has entered the European stage. Name of the tech brand: z-emotion. Following the theme to not being focused on one but partnering with the 3D simulation option best suiting your organization’s objectives FASHION TODAY dived deeper into the options provided with their trend-setting approach, took in the features & differentiating aspects in an in-depth session with the EMEA team acting out of Italian fashion capital Milan.
September 2023 – connected via video conference Andrea Marangoni and Martina Finotti from z-emotion’s Italian team guide us through a live presentation on the design platform with all various tools for 3D fashion design, garment simulation, for product development, marketing & merchandising – embedded into an extensive product eco-system for that part: What strikes our attention over the demonstration in the first row: top-of-the-notch quality for image rendering.
But let’s start from the beginning: As far as product development from the scratch is concerned two options are provided: to transfer patterns developed by z-emotion’s 2D software onto the next level. Over this process step designers are able also to tweak 2D patterns, thus adjust them for fit in a 3D simulation, Alternatively – with a third-party 2D design system in place for any user/brand – pattern data can created from scratch inside the software or be well imported into z-emotion via industry standard file formats.
”Enabling designers to visualize their creations in three dimensions, simulate fabric drapes in speed time and without collision (editor’s note: for that part z-emotion collaborates with Vizoo) and with that virtual prototyping on digital models is our domaine”, explains Marangoni the contribution to streamline design processes and drastically reduce the demand for physical samples. And with that – making more sustainable, cost-efficient and data-driven management decisions possible”, emphasizes z-emotion’s Business Development Manager EMEA further, Andrea Marangoni.
So far – so comparable: With its tools for 3D digital transformation the South Korean start-up equalizes with a few existing platforms offering 3D sampling for internal reviews, 3D images for social media activities, virtual try-on for e-commerce, the option to personalize avatars.
Major differentiation
As trailblazers in the retail scenario envision a future where shopping experiences become increasingly immersive, sustainable and inclusive, Z-emotion addresses that game changer with their holistic approach: analysis of the internal processes and Content Creation Services well include 3D web configurator, 3D assets for brand presence in virtual worlds such as the Metaverse for NFT creation, virtual showrooms and gaming.
The true event does not end at virtual styling and its value in customization. It lies in the power of social shopping. Social shopping is a type of eCommerce that seeks to involve people with similar tastes in an online shopping experience. The online shop is no longer just a selling platform. It is an open and interactive community for users to contribute.
Key Products & plug-ins in a nutshell
With an extended variety of features and applications the “z-emotion product ecosystem” as the company refers to it, exploration undoubtedly requires consultancy by the in-house experts to get a deeper understanding on all options also for individual virtual projects.
z-weave, as centerpiece for the software architecture, is a 3D garment design software for businesses and professionals to transform 2D patterns into 3D garments and from there leverage an unlimited range for design iterations, color variations and size control. By digitizing fashion assets such as fabric, yarn, and design styles, users can assemble outcomes from the software without any 3rd-party renderers.
Z-virtual and z-retail together represent the “Online Commerce Suite”, bring dressing rooms into e-commerce for virtual try-on experience and to lift up conversion rates. While z-virtual according to company information works as a plug-in to any e-com platform, may it be web-based or an app, z-retail is described as the virtual reality engine that allows fashion brands and retailers to create virtual spaces for showrooms or stores to showcase fashion products and also dynamically refit digital products onto digital twins.
Re-defining the game
On top the 3D tech player treads innovative paths with the integration of two more game-changing plug-ins, “that will revolutionize the design and content workflow for the entire community of designers”. – An indeed significant undertaking to maximize the potential of 3D technology, facilitating the seamless transfer of data from their 3D tools z-weave and zeavric into the most common 3D rendering and simulation platforms used by 3D designers and CGI artists: zeavric, z-maya and soon to be launched z-unreal together make elements of the “Fashion Gamification Suite” as they transfer the creativity of gamification as well as virtual experiences to the fashion world.
”Matter-of-factly there is no other player in the arena offering anything similar towards major rendering and simulation software like we enable interfacing to Maya and Unreal Engine”, emphazises Martina Finotti. – “At least at this point in time”, the head of marketing sympathetically smerks.
And what does the name for the digital apparel platform and the company refer to we ask Martina Finotti, handling the start-up’s marketing & communication and with that powerful social media presence to also address CGIartists, with special conditions for their non-commercial feature trials: As simple as brave – to Gen Z, consumers by demographic definition born between 1997 and 2012 – without doubt dominantly influencing fashion creation and consumption and with that required transformation processes as the industry will move ahead.
About z-emotion
The company, headquartered at South Korean capital Seoul and here at the hip Gangnam district, with an additional Asia office at Hong Kong and the US site at San Jose/Ca, had been founded in 2017 by today’s CEO Dongsoo Han. Chief-Strategy officer Kenneth Ryu to act out of Santa Clara/California, USA – also responsible for the US business.
CEO Dongsoo Han’s in tech circles is known as highly creative 3D simulation engineer. His career background results from experience at multinational semi conductor companies – at AMD’s GPU (Graphic Processing Units ) Tech Initiatives Group. “Building a new 3D CAD based on the latest technology was and still is advantageous in breaking the traditional barrier of 3D fashion,” stresses.
Mid of 2022 z-emotion decided to kick off re-enforcement for their international business with a focus on the EMEA region, having implemented a dedicated team for digitalization processes in Italy. With Andrea Marangoni and Martina Finotti two experts have been taken on board to lead the EMEA expansion. Both bring in-depth market experience from digital automation for apparel with them.
Finotti figures the total amount of users for z-emotion products and features in international business to slightly above 600. Among them Louis Vuitton, Nike, Covernat, Kallico Design and many others– with an individual project of innovation developed and realized for each of them.
With and for Nike as another for instance the Korean team had implemented an online virtual styling campaign for the active sportswear brand’s e-commerce website, enabling members to customize their digital human with different combinations of Nike 3D fashion items from top to bottom by implementing 3D technology, all simulated and rendered in real time.
