When Yu Jiang discovered Seamly, she was sold. Yu is a postgraduate student in Fashion Design Management at London College of Fashion (LFC), and she found Seamly while working on a school design-challenge. The goal was to find a low-waste solution to clothing production, and that solution was Seamly Systems—a web-based platform that reduces waste by allowing customers to upload custom fit measurements. The environmental impact of large-scale overproduction is one of the biggest current issues that fashion faces, and Seamly provides a simple solution to this significant problem. Yu won the challenge and decided to find the person behind this revolutionary way of making clothes.
After much correspondence, Sue Spencer, creator and founder of Seamly Systems, made the trip over the pond to meet with Yu and her instructors at LCF. Thanks to these connections, postgraduate programs at LCF—like Innovative Fashion Production and Pattern and Garment Technology—are looking at incorporating Seamly into their curriculum. They’re also working on implementing a zero-waste collaborative challenge, where students will work together across disciplines to address unique problems impacting the fashion industry.
Yu also connected Sue to PhD researchers at the University of Manchester in the Phigital (physical/digital) Technology Department. Now all PhD students are required to use Seamly as part of their training.
It’s not just fashion schools that are using Seamly; tailor shops are another line of business that identified their need for Seamly early on. Sue expanded her London connections and made a visit to McCann Bespoke—a custom tailoring shop that has been providing London with top-of-the-line suits for 25 years. As the negative effects of fast fashion become more evident, consumers are recognizing the importance of quality over quantity. Seamly helps bespoke outfitters like McCann to streamline their processes and provides the technology needed to produce high-quality, long-lasting garments.
