That little black dress spotlighted in a retailer’s display window looks deceptively simple. Unseen are the mounds of swatches, arrays of buttons, reams of design changes and other crucial points in the fashion design process that had to come together in just the right way to create this fashion staple.

Fashionshare is a unifying platform for designers, product developers, merchandisers, manufacturers and sourcers that pulls together all facets of the design process for greater simplicity and efficiency.

Developed by two apparel industry veterans, the web-based solution from Fashionware Technologies aids in apparel manufacturing collaboration and reduces the number of e-mails and computer files that must be consulted throughout the process.

Fashionshare, a user-friendly apparel software as a service (SaaS), debuted in saleable form in January. The product lifecycle management solution allows apparel manufacturers to supervise all product information across businesses, brands and supply chain. Color, fabric and trim libraries can be created to cost out garments and to track line development; storyboards, visual specs and product catalogs can be created using the software.

Because product information is not isolated on individual desktops, everyone in the supply chain can view, update or share products, style information and revision history in real time. Links can be created that allow employees to manage multiple products and work with vendors on a global basis.

Ready to go
“The length of time from when a client buys Fashionshare until the time the product is in use in the work environment is one of the shortest of any product out there,” says Paul Friedman, co-founder and president/CEO of the New York City-based company. “They just log onto our company site and their database and they’re ready to go. Everything is just a mouse click away from the base environment. Everything associated with style resides on the site, which contributes to the ease of finding things.”

Available by monthly subscription, Fashionshare includes an internal messaging system that allows for communication in a closed environment. “You are e-mailing from the product itself,” Friedman says. “This keeps information localized.”

Fashionshare includes many features that can be managed by division and season. Event tracking allows users to plan products and track events in the line development process. Users can create and catalog color palettes by division and season, and visual libraries of materials and trims can be created to help manage style images and sketches.

Share management allows all users to collaborate at any point of the product cycle from any place in the world. Production package lets users create and display technical specifications and manufacturing details.

Tech packs
Tech packs that contain detailed garment specifications, construction information and materials to be used can easily be created using Fashionshare. Each tech pack “outlines the specifications of a product through images developed in an on-going process to give to the manufacturer,” Friedman says.

Fashionshare draws from Friedman’s quarter-century of experience with his family’s global outerwear business, S. Rothschild and Company, where he served in every department before retiring as executive vice president and COO. Friedman also teaches product development at New York’s LIM College. Co-founder and director of development Sandra Muriel-Colorado’s experience includes 20 years with S. Rothschild, with a concentration in information technology.

“When we show the application to people, they see that the functionalities required to run an apparel business are in the software 95 percent of the time, so little customization is needed,” Friedman says. “Our customers know that we know what we are talking about.”