An Intelligent Fabric Sample Resources Management System (FRMS) for Fashion Product Development

Characterized by shorter life cycles, faster production, and impulse purchasing, the emerging trend of ‘fast fashion’ places significant pressure for many firms in deliver more new fashion products to the market. Indeed, in each season, new product development (NPD) teams, comprising of designers, merchandisers and/or buyers, have to work on hundreds of new products to satisfy the demanding market. Among all materials, fabric is the most essential component of a fashion design. In a NPD process, a large number of fabrics swatches have to be handled. Hence, an effective fabric sample resources management system (FRMS) is crucial to a successful NPD.

The proposed project aims to integrate technologies of multi-dimensional database management system (MDBMS) and case-based reasoning (CBR) to develop an intelligent fabric selection solution that will enhance the efficiency of NPD, particularly in the searching and selection of fabrics. In brief, the proposed solution is generic in nature and can be widely used by firms of various kinds.

It is expected that such developed solution can strengthen a firm’s competency in NPD and, eventually, contribute to the overall productivity and competitiveness of the Hong Kong fashion and textile industry.