Virtual Fashion Technology

For those of you that do not already know of Shenlei Winkler, she currently is the Director of the Fashion Research Institute [FRI].  She has approximately 30 years experience designing in the RL. Pasted below are some past posts about Shenlei and the work she has previously done in Second Life and is now doing in partnership with IBM in OpenSim virtual product development for the apparel industry.

• IBM Presents The Future of Fashion Product Development & Shopping
• Shenlei Winkler: Virtual Product Development
• Meet Shenlei Winkler aka: Shenlei Flasheart in Sl
• Today’s Post on FIT @ SL Blog

 Shenlei is a master builder and fashion designer in Sl. She recently closed her Prim & Proper store on Shengri La in Second Life to devote full time to the OpenSim project she is working on in partnership with IBM. FRI recently announced that they broke the 15,000 prim limit in SL.

 Shenlei has announced a recent press release on the Fashion Research Institute site as well as her blog. The information is so important to the apparel industry that I will post most of the announcement here.

 Fashion Research Institute Announces the Formation of Black Dress Technology Subsidiary
posted 4/9/2008

Fashion Research Institute, Inc. (FRI) has launched a subsidiary, Black Dress Technology (Black Dress), to develop an end-to-end enterprise solution for virtual-worlds-based  product design for the fashion industry in conjunction with IBM, FRI’s technology partner. 

 Black Dress will provide a virtual world experience specifically developed for apparel and accessory designers.  This virtual world, expressly created as a product design  environment, will offer a fundamentally new work flow addressing critical issues facing the fashion industry, such as ensuring manufacturability of designs and decreasing substantial sample costs by at least 30%.  In addition, this “green” solution reduces the carbon footprint of the fashion industry.  Users of the Black Dress solution will ultimately be able to enter a virtual world, receive training on the systems, and take a design from concept to prototype – with every step short of actual manufacturing being done virtually.

Black Dress will offer an IBM-backed and -developed enterprise solution providing a simpler and more intuitive user interface than currently existing products, apparel-industry-oriented software, and scalability for businesses of all sizes.  Users of the technology could see sample creation costs decreased by 60% or more and time to market cut by as much as six weeks per collection.  Additionally, management and executive staff can have access to real-time business statistics so they can make immediate, informed decisions. This technology solution was showcased in the IBM booth at the National Retail Federation Show in January 2008.  

A mid-sized design house implementing a Black Dress Technology solution could save millions a year in sample costs and dozens of weeks of development time, enough to put into development and production one full collection or two mini-collections. This, in turn, could allow this company to generate additional tens of millions a year in gross revenue.

 “Black Dress will be competing in a $1.7 trillion global industry, where the rapid turnover of in-house IT systems clearly tells us there’s a huge need for an improved solution.  We intend to deliver that solution, in a way that serves the unique needs of both the creative design staff and executive management.  In fact, we see our solution as finally allowing management to monitor and manage the previously unmanageable design process without disrupting the delicate creative process,” said Winkler.

In the article titled “Alternagrids Offer Choices,” by Phoenix Psaltery published 3/18/08 in the Metaverse Messenger. Shenlei is interviewed about the OpenSim community gateway for the apparel Industry project she is working on with IBM.

 According to Shenlei, “if we want virtual worlds to truly succeed, then there needs to be a robust more stable platform out there. And businesses, in fact, will pay to resolve the technology issues. And once the tech issues get resolved, then we can start to see an Influx of consumers, at which point (Business to Consumer) plays start becoming very interesting. That is the crux of the issue.

 Here is a link to Shenli Winkler’s Blog titled: Shengri La: Utopian Micronation

A group of five sims (a utopian micronation in Second Life) are owned by the Fashion Research Institute. Shengri La is one of them - more information about the sims are in the Psaltery article. The ShengriLa sims are open to the public. Shenlei has welcomed people to visit but has stated that Shengri La has two very simple rules – please be polite and do not leave trash behind.

Shenlei is a big supporter for designers in SL and she has established a Saturday market on Shengri La for SL designers. New designers are welcome to set up tents down on the boardwalk. The rules for exhibition are: no adult content; no charge; 20 prims a designer and keep everything inside the specific tent.