IIT-M and a start-up design technology to help garment sector

The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and a start-up incubated by NASSCOM will bring 3D technology to help small and medium businesses in the garment sector survive economic challenges that have arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘TRI3D’, the NASSCOM-incubated start-up, has developed a software substitute for conventional model photoshoots, convenient for even the small boutique designers and weavers who cannot afford photo shoots. The images generated by TRI3D are acceptable on most of the popular e-commerce websites, the institute said in a statement.

The new technology will convert flat images of garments such as sarees into photo-realistic 3D images on models, mannequins and creative representations. It would help small businesses whose main barrier was in generating images of garments for them to sold on e-commerce sites,

“The painstaking task of arranging a day-long photoshoot with models having to constantly change in and out of sarees is easily bypassed. The desired image is generated in a matter of minutes, without any compromise. The quality of the generated image is on par if not superior to the images taken by a photoshoot,” Krishna Sumanth Alwala, Co-founder, TRI3D, said.

"As many as 80,000 garments have been digitized and sold using TRI3D’s Technology in India, Sri Lanka and Abu Dhabi in the last one year," the institute said, adding that more than 100 new generation entrepreneurs from across 50 locations in India have already deployed this technology.

Elaborating on their technology, Nitish Reddy Parvatham, Co-founder, TRI3D, said a simple picture of a flat piece of a saree is automatically draped onto a model with unchallenged realism, by the power of technology. “The photo could also be one of an unstitched dress material and our software will not only ‘stitch’ the fabric but also visualise it as a finished garment draped onto a model, in a variety of poses,” he said.

"TRI3D is currently being used not just by retailers but also wholesalers and manufacturers, B2B distributors and even handloom weavers directly in some cases. It is suitable for anybody who has a saree or a fabric to sell," the institute said.