Posted Date: 5/7/2008
Shapely Shadow Unveils FastFit360,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Roxy Starr
Chief Technical Officer
Shapely Shadow, Inc.
23852 Pacific Coast Highway #597
Malibu, California 90265
(MALIBU, CA, APRIL 28) A Victorian novelty has provided the inspiration for a 21st-century innovation for the apparel industry.
Shapely Shadow has created FastFit, inspired by flip books first introduced in 1868. Like flip books, FastFit utilizes the visual experience to capture movement.
Unveiled on April 8 at Miami Material World, Shapely Shadow will offer Fast Fit360 as an on-demand hosted solution for apparel companies. The current and already widely used application cuts up to 99 frames out of 15 seconds of digital video to create a 1 MB file presenting movement. The file is a piece of HTML code, not a large video or Flash file, showing an image that rotates 360 degrees, either on a mannequin or fit model. It eliminates the need to take multiple photos of a garment from different angles, or to create video files that are too large to e-mail.
The FastFit360 application comes as part of a hosted solution that allows workers in any part of the world to access a new product in development for tracking changes and viewing the thread of comments from all those involved in the project. This facilitates efficiency by eliminating the need for every worker to store large number of e-mail messages. Now they're all in one place.
"FastFit 360 addresses the need for a global communication space, particularly with overseas vendors who are unfamiliar with the larger and bustier fit of Western bodies," says Shapely Shadow CTO Roxy Starr. "FastFit360 makes written changes easy. Companies can now say, uneven hem at back as seen in frame 12,' which moves the focus from language to image, thereby reducing language-based misunderstandings that cost companies money and time.
"An overseas vendor who received a FastFit image," Starr adds, "told me, 'This is very good to know wearing condition in each angle.'"
PLM systems have become a necessity for managing product lifecycles, but FastFit360 is the missing piece. "Web-based interactive communication with FastFit images is a more effective way to build partnerships," says Starr. "It reduces the scope of errors in interpretation of fit comments and provides a good understanding of silhouette issues."
To create a FastFit file, users import video into a computer using a digital video camera, then use the application to create rotating images of garments in just a matter of seconds. FastFit was designed to make the creation of 3D garment images as simple as a taking a digital photo.
Beta testing with select clients will begin this summer, with general release scheduled for fall.