via ARSUTORIA Magazine

Else.shoes™, the integrated platform for mass customisation in the footwear industry

At theMICAM, ELSE Corp – a Virtual Retail Company presented an innovative experimental platform for the Footwear Industry, else.shoes™.

Else.shoes™ is the result of over two years of technological research and of numerous tests and pilot projects, aimed at developing an optimal solution for Virtual Retail through the platform E.L.S.E. (an acronym for “Exclusive Luxury Shopping Experience”) destined to the mass customisation of fashion products in 3D.

The ambitious goal of the company, which acts as a guide for its partners, consists in a total transformation and a revolution in Fashion Retail based on two principles, in two different directions, that are an integral part of the strategic vision of this startup:

  • Virtual Retail: an innovative hi-tech industrial project for Mass Customisation based on the 3D CAD of fashion products. It transforms the brands’ distribution channels into new conceptual spaces inside traditional shops (shop in shop, popup & temporary shop), called Virtual Fashion Corners, where a new “customer experience” of 3D Virtual Shopping, focused on product customisation, can be realized.

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  • Real Time Fashion System: driven by the integration of 3D & 2D CAD systems, Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence, which lead to accurate predictions regarding the style and size needs of single customers (MySize & MyStyle), besides providing brands with the planning and prediction of product demand in real time. Going from analysis and prediction to demand planning; from personal demand to optimised product design and from individual product design to on-demand manufacturing.

 

Advantages offered by the revolutionary project of Virtual Retail:

  • Brand: new business models through Mass Customisation, accelerated selling times thanks to Virtual Collections, and they will be able to assist to an improvement in the market positioning, as they will offer customised products and a higher customer loyalty and engagement through the Virtual CRM.
  • Retailer: who will see an increase in sales per square metre and a new “low-risk” management formula (No Stock Retail) and will be able to offer new premium services inside the shop, like 3D foot scanning and the customisation of products in 3D.
  • Customers: who will be offered a new VIP service, available to anyone and linked to individual design, a more stimulating experience, an improvement in purchase decision and an increase in satisfaction and personal empowerment.

Projects and official business partners of the startup:

  • ATOM Lab: Atom’s research lab, a real “factory on demand” that develops technologies and experimental projects to create a new way of manufacturing.
  • ShoeMaster UK: a global leader in the provision of CAD/CAM systems that proposes 2D and 3D solutions for the footwear industry. ShoeMaster International is part of the ATOM group.
  • IBV: The Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) is a technological centre that studies the behaviour of the human body and its interaction with products, environments and services, and promotes the people’s welfare through the combination of knowledge in areas such as biomechanics, ergonomics and emotional engineering, and its application to different sectors.
  • Predit: a platform that integrates all business processes for the elaboration of new products across the entire value chain and provides predictions on the success of new collections based on predictive analysis algorithms; its goal is to help companies successfully face the new challenges related to Fast Fashion models.
  • Techedge Group: a multinational company that offers solutions to numerous companies around the world. It is the official partner of several software vendors, including SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon Web Service.
  • DIS – Design Italian Shoes: a custom-made footwear brand whose roots lie in The Marches and that boasts over 100 years of shoe handmaking tradition. Though the innovative 3D configurator, DIS enables customers to choose any shoe model, customise it in just a few clicks and have them custom-made in Italy in just 10 days.
  • VAR Group: an Italian company with a leading position the provision of IT services and solutions for Companies and SMBs.

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