On the occasion of the "May Day International Labor Day", "Ask 1039" launched a series of reports on "Science and Technology on Model Workers". Listen to the model worker talk about the new quality productivity in the industry, and see the scientific and technological model of the model worker.
Jiang Zhao is brainstorming/shooting with team members/reporters
At ten o'clock in the morning, Jiang Zhao was brainstorming with his teammates. Jiang Zhao is the leader of the innovation studio of Beijing Tongniu Group Co., Ltd. and is a professional clothing pattern maker with 11 years of experience. To put it simply, the main job of a pattern maker is to bring the costume design to life on the drawings.
Jiang Zhao: Pattern makers are just somewhere between clothing design and production. Let's draw a picture, it may be an inspiration, it may be more freehand, and the human body is a cylindrical shape, and the human body is more delicate. In the process of plate making, it is actually necessary to implement the design to each decimal point, implement it to the plate, and put together the clothing piece by piece, which is the job of the pattern maker.
Photo courtesy of Jiang Zhao at work/interviewee
The clothing industry is ancient and mature, it is easy to be a follower, but it is difficult to be a pioneer. In 2018, Jiang Zhao Innovation Studio of Tongniu Group was established, and Jiang Zhao and his colleagues began to explore the digitalization of the garment industry "from scratch".
Jiang Zhao: In 2018, we came into contact with digital clothing, and it will have more possibilities for upgrading on the R&D side. At the beginning of the studio, there were only 4 people, and we had to spread out the plates and re-stitch them on the computer to quickly form a dress that matched the designer's ideas. In 2018, we were quite confused.,At that time, there was no Chinese software in China.,It's all a little bit of exploration.。 Now the software has evolved to double-digit versions, such as 11.0 and 12.0, and we still use it at that time like 3.0 and 4.0.
The studio was busy/reporters filming
Jiang Zhao's innovation studio is similar and different from the stereotypical clothing studio. The difference is that the post-90s team led by Jiang Zhao not only gathers clothing-related professionals, but also digital technology talents, and the team continues to devote itself to the research and development of high-tech functional products and virtual digital technology innovation.
At first glance, these may seem to have nothing to do with the clothes we wear, but in fact, technological clothing has long been deeply involved in our lives. For example, the temperature has gradually risen recently, and it is estimated that you have also started to buy sunscreen clothing, but even if you do the strategy and read the evaluation, you still murmur in your heart, can this clothing really achieve the sunscreen value as it says?
Jiang Zhao: First of all, we will inject some additives with sunscreen function, which can help our skin clothing to have a sunscreen effect even if it is very thin. Second, if the clothing is exposed to direct sunlight and the temperature is relatively high, the color of the clothing fabric will change, which is a sensor of ultraviolet rays, and it is also an auxiliary. It's going to be fun, it's going to feel alive, it's constantly interacting with us!
Jiang Zhao's innovation studio team researches fashion trend materials/journalist shooting
People pay more and more attention to the functionality and practical wearability of clothing, so exploring a variety of high-tech composite materials and their applications is the research and development direction of Jiang Zhao and his team.
Jiang Zhao: Cotton has very good skin-friendliness, it has great advantages, but it is easy to deform, easy to fade, there are some drawbacks in its own materials, and then slowly come out of a lot of blends, such as cotton ammonia, cotton polyester, cotton elastic, consumers have more expectations for blending, we also have a lot of fun fabrics. In fact, this is a particularly good experience for both clothing and our wearing.
Jiang Zhao participated in the design of the Winter Olympics uniform/Photo provided by the interviewee
During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, event staff, technical officials and volunteers wore "chinoiserie" uniforms to stretch out on the field. As a participating uniform design team, in order to make the Winter Olympics uniforms better to wear in cold weather, Jiang Zhao said that stability is one of the key words. This requires both fabric stability and stability for the person wearing the garment. Therefore, Jiang Zhao did not choose the polyester fabrics used in most of the previous Winter Olympics uniforms, but chose laminated composite fabrics combined with high-performance membrane materials, which is commonly understood as "nylon".
Jiang Zhao: In 2021, we had the honor to go with Professor He Yang of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology to attack the volunteer costumes and torchbearer costumes of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Because our expectations for clothing were also very high at that time, we hope that through our appearance this time, we can extend from Made in China to Made in China, and the quality will be more displayed and improved. Because the wind is very strong in Zhangjiakou, our volunteers and referees have to work very hard to prepare for the venue in the early morning, can they wear this dress at this time? Polyester fabric will become a little hard and brittle under low temperature conditions, our wearing experience is not so good, but nylon fabric it will be more comfortable, more soft and light.
Winter Olympics uniform version / photo provided by the interviewee
The customization of masks for the Beijing Winter Olympics is a special cross-border cooperation since Jiang Zhao started his career. With 20 colors and a total of more than 10 million, Jiang Zhao and his team have made innovative upgrades in terms of mask versions and materials, not only to ensure sufficient protection, but also to be comfortable and fashionable. She opened a Beijing Winter Olympics N95 mask, and the technology and intentions on the small mask were visible to the naked eye.
Jiang Zhao: The mask was worn for a long time in the arena during the competition, and our N95 mask was not strained, but it had to have a high standard of protective performance, so I improved a lot of materials on this to make it more skin-friendly. The type of mask we are applying for, it has to fit our own face shape, and we have to consider many scenarios, such as when we wear glasses, how to avoid fog? Our ear cords are very soft and velvety after special brushing.
Jiang Zhao participated in the research and development of the mask during the competition/reporter shooting
Not only that, Jiang Zhao and his team innovated and developed a fully automatic production line design for medical protective masks, and successfully achieved "zero pollution and full degradation" of mask packaging bags for the first time.
Jiang Zhao: The whole material is fully degradable, and even the glue is extracted from corn stalks, which does not put any pressure on the environment at all.
Participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics not only allowed Chinese clothing to appear on the world stage, Jiang Zhao and his team also transformed practical achievements including a number of intellectual property rights, and also promoted some clothing technologies that have been verified in the Winter Olympics scene outside the venue.
Jiang Zhao: For example, during the Winter Olympics, we used a lining with silver ions to keep our clothing warm. It is equivalent to saying that after our human body generates heat energy by itself, this lining can reflect heat energy and lock in temperature. This lining is now also used in many big brands in China, when people go to buy down jackets and ski clothes, they see the shiny lining of the clothes, and there are small dots of shiny and shiny on it, which is a use of silver ion lining.
Jiang Zhao Innovation Studio launched the digital human image "Jin" / photo provided by the interviewee
Open the shopping platform, if there are only a few pictures of the model's upper body in different poses on the product detail page, I am afraid that it will not allow us to fully understand the dress. The innovation of virtual digital technology that Jiang Zhao and his partners are committed to research makes the plane display three-dimensional, like a perspective mirror, dismantling the fabric and function of a piece of clothing and clearly displaying it in front of consumers, and the amount of information is full.
Jiang Zhao: When a consumer goes to the consumption scene, someone may not tell him next to him, "I'll tell you how this is and how is that", so he may not understand why there is a zipper in this place, for example, so we have to use our digital technology to produce such content, so that consumers can intuitively understand where the high-tech of my dress is, where the money is spent, we are more and more aware of what we want, and everyone knows more and more what they want.
In Jiang Zhao's view, digital display methods can allow apparel merchants to collect market feedback faster and save costs.
Jiang Zhao: For example, at present, when returning the code, we not only rely on the experience of the plate maker, but also refer to big data, use software, artificial intelligence AI to help us do analysis, and its code size will become more and more accurate. For example, in the past, our clothes may have been 12 or 8 sizes, but now we may have 20 sizes of clothing, and we may even make two sets of numbers in the north and south. At the time of production, we will have different distribution in each area. The brand may want to use this very fast and intuitive method to test the consumer's reaction to the new style, if you don't like me (the brand) has a quick response ability and reserve funds, instead of as before, it is a particularly big venture for the brand to test the market preference, it may need to make 2000 pieces of clothing into the market first, and if it doesn't sell well, it can only be used as a test of the waters. Now this way makes it not a star and a half of the cost of reduction, which is also some penetration of new quality productivity.
Jiang Zhao, leader of the innovation studio of Beijing Tongniu Group Co., Ltd./Photo provided by the interviewee
So on this basis, if there is a platform based on digital technologies such as big data, cloud rendering and artificial intelligence, it can not only provide designers and creators with design resources and digital content production tools, but also help clothing brands improve R&D efficiency and save R&D costs.
Jiang Zhao: We are also adding an AI module so that designers or users can improve some usage materials more quickly, which is expected to be launched by the end of this year.
The transformation and upgrading of the garment industry needs to inject new quality productivity, and one of the keys to maintaining the sustainable vitality of new quality productivity lies in talent and inheritance. Now, Jiang Zhao has cooperated with colleges and universities for many years, and she wants to take her apprentices step by step.
Editor: Li Tianyi
Editor-in-Chief: Zhu Laisheng