I recently had the pleasure to speak with Howard Glazer, President of Canadian based SnapFashun Group – a very interesting software company operating… in the fashion industry. Here’s a summary of that conversation:
1. Software is omnipresent in today’s world and clearly the fashion industry couldn’t stay away from this transformation. Do you agree?
Absolutely, software and technology are firmly entrenched in the fashion industry. Tweet
Design programs like Adobe Illustrator are now just as much a part of the designer’s toolkit as cloth and scissors. And you couldn’t find a more natural synergy than what now exists between social media and fashion. It’s hard to imagine a fashion world without Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, to tell us what’s in and where the trends are heading. SnapFushun is just the next step of the evolution, where we allow people to leverage the tools they are already using to share their creations and benefit from the designs and talents of the fashion community.
2. Please tell us a bit about SnapFashun – what need does it serve, what is the technology behind it?
SnapFashun provides the fashion industry with a unique digital resource that allows its users to effortlessly convert their creative ideas into virtual garment designs in minutes. At SnapFashun, our mission is to preserve the art of fashion design by bringing together an extensive digital design library to inspire, educate and support the design process for design professionals, students, teachers, home sewers and the fashion curious.
3. SnapFashun was founded over 20 years ago and launched fashion’s first visual search engine in 2005. How does your visual search engine differentiate from the competition?
SnapFashun is a fast, simple and affordable way to get thousands of reference sketches to create custom designs of any kind. The design possibilities are endless! Our software works along with Adobe Illustrator to provide an interactive reference library as well as browser to store and retrieve sketches. All SnapFashun Libraries contain thousands of sketches that can be “snapped” together, manipulated, altered and resized, so users can develop their own designs for portfolios, trend boards, moodboards, pattern cards, concept boards, line sheets and more!
4. You have recently re-launched SnapFashun, have you noticed any change in buyer needs and purchase behavior?
When SnapFashun first launched its software 10 years ago, it was still being shipped by CD all over North America. Today software is downloaded directly off websites. Buyers expect to be able to test software before purchasing with trial periods running between 14-30 days. The transition to a digital business has allowed us to be much more responsive to our customers’ needs. Tweet
We’ve been able to experiment with different pricing models and quickly adapt our strategy to meet whatever changes the market and our customers demand.
5. Any thoughts on global expansion?
Until recently, SnapFashun was only selling in the US. With the relaunch of our website and software we’ve begun expanding into Canada and Western Europe. As fashion and software are borderless, we plan to make SnapFashun available in South America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Australia in the near future.
