Coats Digital, Res.Q and Serai unveil strategic collaboration to digitize apparel industry

*Apparel industry faces dramatic decline in sales across the board

*Digitisation key to boosting efficiency and reducing costs for businesses to survive

Coats Digital, Res.Q and Serai Limited by HSBC are delighted to announce a strategic collaboration that will help re-shape the future of the apparel industry. Res.Q is seeded by the Hirdaramani Group.

Leveraging its unique combined strengths, the partnership will provide companies with access to a range of inter-connected digital solutions over a single trusted platform. These solutions will not only provide real-time data and end-to-end transparency across the apparel supply chain, it will also boost efficiencies leading to cost savings, as well as reducing the need for face-to-face contact.

The timing couldn’t be better. According to a new McKinsey report on the apparel industry^[1], COVID-19 could spur the biggest economic contraction since World War II, hitting every sector from finance to hospitality and apparel. It’s estimated that revenues for the global fashion industry will fall by as much as a third in 2020 due to the dramatic drop in sales.

“The apparel industry has been devastated by knock-on effects of Covid-19 and requires a reset,” says Vivek Ramachandran, CEO of Serai. “The industry must rebuild relationships and respond to new demand patterns that will emerge as part of the new norm. This will require retailers, brands, manufacturers and suppliers to increase their digital engagement, make new connections, share more information, and systematically address pockets of inefficiency across the supply chain.”

The collaboration between Coats Digital, Res.Q and Serai aims to strengthen relationships between buyers and sellers in the apparel industry. It also strives to reduce inefficiencies by connecting the multiple standalone systems that companies currently use to manage their processes.  The increased transparency will translate into higher levels of trust between buyers and sellers and improved efficiency, reducing operating costs for participating companies.

“The industry now has to rethink its practices and invest in technology to survive in the new normal.” explains Adrian Elliott, President, Apparel and Footwear, Coats. “This collaboration defines a journey for digitization in a connected world to deliver true speed to market and significant cost benefits.”

Serai provides a neutral platform open to all industry participants to connect and access the full range of solutions offered by Coats Digital’s and ResQ. The team is also actively exploring risk mitigation and financing propositions that capitalise on the data that emerges from these digital solutions.

By working together Coats Digital, Res.Q, and Serai will help the apparel industry emerge stronger from the current crisis.

Samath Fernando, CEO Res.Q, “What has accelerated is the need for simplicity in the Apparel Industry: now, more than ever, we are seeing a demand for systems that speak to each other to create transparency and eliminate duplication of work between Brand and Vendor.”