Virtual Fashion
What Is Virtual Sampling?
Virtual sampling is a digital process that involves creating virtual prototypes and simulations of garments, accessories, or other fashion products using advanced computer graphics and 3D modeling technologies. It allows designers, brands, and manufacturers to visualize and evaluate the appearance, fit, and overall aesthetics of a product without needing physical samples. This digital approach streamlines various stages of product development, such as design, pattern-making, fitting, and merchandising.
The Shift from Physical to Virtual Sampling
In the traditional fashion industry, physical sampling requires significant time, effort, and resources. Designers and manufacturers need to create multiple physical samples, which can be costly and time-consuming. Virtual sampling provides a more efficient and sustainable alternative by enabling digital product representation, which can be manipulated and evaluated in a virtual environment.
Design Flexibility & Sustainability
Through virtual sampling, designers can experiment with different fabrics, colors, patterns, and silhouettes in a realistic and interactive 3D setting. This allows for faster iterations and modifications, helping designers refine their designs efficiently. By eliminating the need for physical samples, virtual sampling significantly reduces material waste and environmental impact associated with traditional production processes.
Improved Collaboration & Accuracy
Virtual sampling enhances collaboration and communication among stakeholders in the fashion supply chain. Designers can share digital prototypes with manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers, ensuring clearer communication and reducing the likelihood of errors or misunderstandings. This shared understanding improves accuracy and efficiency throughout the production process.
Cost Savings & Market Agility
Virtual sampling reduces costs and shortens the product development cycle by minimizing reliance on physical samples. This enables brands to respond quickly to market trends, an essential advantage in the fast-paced fashion industry. Additionally, virtual sampling allows brands to test innovative designs without large-scale production, minimizing financial risks.
In summary, virtual sampling represents a transformative shift towards digitization and sustainability in fashion. It empowers designers and brands to create, visualize, and evaluate products in a virtual environment, leading to faster iterations, improved collaboration, and reduced environmental impact. By leveraging advanced computer graphics and 3D modeling technologies, virtual sampling is revolutionizing fashion development, bringing efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced creativity to the industry.
Case studies
Adidas × Browzwear – 3D virtual sampling for performance sportswear
Adidas collaborates with Browzwear to use 3D garment visualization for footwear and apparel development, replacing many physical samples with high-fidelity virtual prototypes. This reduces material waste, shortens development cycles, and enables earlier fit and design decisions in a fully digital environment.
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PVH (Tommy Hilfiger) – 100% digital design workflow
PVH has transitioned Tommy Hilfiger’s design workflow toward “100% digital design,” using 3D tools (including Optitex and related DPC pipelines) to create collections virtually before any physical sampling. Virtual garments are used for internal reviews, merchandising, and showroom presentations, significantly reducing samples, lead times, and associated environmental impacts.
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Nike – 3D-driven footwear design and virtual prototyping
Nike employs parametric modelling, digital prototyping, and 3D printing to iterate footwear concepts virtually before committing to tooling and production. This 3D-first process improves collaboration between design and engineering, reduces the number of physical iterations, and supports more experimental geometries with lower development waste.
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Vizoo – xTex™ material digitization for virtual fashion pipelines
Vizoo’s xTex™ technology digitizes physical materials into high-resolution, PBR-ready textures that can be used in tools like CLO, Browzwear, and Blender. By substituting repeated fabric sampling and shipping with standardized digital materials, brands can drive more accurate virtual garments while reducing sampling waste and speeding up digital product creation.
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Makalot × Vizoo – Digital product creation at scale
Taiwan-based manufacturer Makalot has built a Digital Product Creation (DPC) pipeline that relies on Vizoo’s material digitization to support brand clients with virtual samples. Digital fabrics and 3D prototypes allow Makalot to respond quickly to briefs, cut down on physical proto rounds, and increase resilience in global value chains through virtual collaboration.
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References
Akhtar, W. H., Liu, X., Han, H., & Qin, Y. (2022). A new perspective on the textile and apparel industry in the digital transformation era. Textiles, 2(4), 633–656. https://doi.org/10.3390/textiles2040035
Chan, H. H. Y., Henninger, C. E., Boardman, R., & Blazquez Cano, M. (2023). The adoption of digital fashion as an end product: A systematic literature review of research foci and future research agenda. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 15(1), 155–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/20932685.2023.2251033
Gornostaeva, G. (2023). The development of digital commerce in the fashion industry: The typology of emerging designers in London. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 186, 122122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122122
Sayem, A. S. M. (2022). Digital fashion innovations for the real world and metaverse. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 15(2), 139–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2022.2046890
Silvestri, B. (2020). The future of fashion: How the quest for digitisation and the use of artificial intelligence and extended reality will reshape the fashion industry after COVID-19. ZoneModa Journal, 10(2), 61–73. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/11662