{"id":35188,"date":"2018-11-13T19:53:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T00:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/when-chanel-trades-sewing-machines-for-3d-printers\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T19:53:38","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T00:53:38","slug":"when-chanel-trades-sewing-machines-for-3d-printers","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/when-chanel-trades-sewing-machines-for-3d-printers\/","title":{"rendered":"When Chanel trades sewing machines for 3D printers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2015 Paris Fashion week, Karl Lagarfeld surprised the fashion industry and revealed a partially printed version of the iconic Chanel tweed suit. The idea was to remove any sewing from the vest.<\/p>\n

While 3D printing has been widely used in the aerospace and the automotive industry, the first 3D-printed dress appeared in 2013 on New York Fashion Week runways. Most observers saw it as a bold innovation that wouldn\u2019t take over the luxury fashion industry anytime soon because technology was far from answering the high standards of Haute Couture.<\/p>\n

Ever since, Chanel has been using 3D printing to bring innovation to several of its product categories (clothing, watches and make-up). Nevertheless, under French law, the Haute Couture designation is attributed to Houses who made clothes entirely by hand [1]. Can this use of innovation constitute a threat to Chanel\u2019s core business model where luxury and craftmanship has been tightly linked together for decades? Can it be an opportunity and source of future competitive advantage in the luxury industry?<\/p>\n

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Fall 2015 Couture Collection (Paris Fashion Week) [2]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Chanel\u2019s Additive Manufacturing Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Additive Manufacturing as a communication tool<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Chanel\u2019s use of 3D printing was initially a statement of \u201cavant-gardism\u201d, a demonstration that the iconic brand was evolving with its customer base while remaining authentic to its values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to take the most iconic jacket of the 20th century and make a 21st century version, which technically was unimaginable in the period when it was born. The vest is one piece, there is no sewing, it is molded. What keeps couture alive, is to move with the times. If it stays like sleeping beauty in the woods in an ivory tower, you can forget it. The women who buy couture today are not the bourgeoises of the past, they are young, modern women\u201d\u00a0(Lagarfeld, 2018)<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Additive Manufacturing for product innovation<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

While the vast majority of Chanel\u2019s products are still made \u201ctraditionally\u201d, additive manufacturing has been essentially used for rapid prototyping and to bring product innovation either in terms of design or in terms of performance:<\/p>\n