Asmara’s journey began in 2000 in a small office in the beautiful city of Bogor, Indonesia with a vision to become a professional global fashion company that “cares.” The year 2004 was the start of global expansion with establishment of a second office in India. Over the past 20 years, Asmara has been fortunate to have business partners that have enabled it to further expand its operations in South and South East Asia, setting up sourcing offices in Bangladesh in 2005, in China in 2006, Vietnam in 2007, followed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The company now employs 1,200 people across 17 offices and 12 countries globally.

Asmara is able to produce a wide range of products through its global sourcing network. They combine the advantages of advanced global producers with those of local manufacturers. Connected in real-time internally, with production partners and with clients Asmara ensures everything is transparent, efficient and fast. They have achieved high standards of product quality as well as social conditions across their production partners, and now they are working to achieve climate neutrality. Today, the company claims that 65% of its products are made either from more sustainable materials or using more sustainable processes. They do not consider themselves just as a sourcing agent, but as a service company that continuously thinks what else can be offered to their clients in addition to their regular services. They also place importance on being future-ready for their clients, investing in technologies such as 3D, AI and digital traceability tools while exploring advanced materials.

In the past, design drawings and specifications created by designers were not enough to give an accurate picture of a product’s design. It required interpreting a specific yarn in a desired knit pattern and garment styling, resulting in high trial and error in development. The process involved creation of excessive knit downs and physical samples, resulting in overloaded sampling resources, high wastage of sampling yarns and delayed sampling schedules, potentially causing disruption in production and delivery schedules.

After numerous meetings and workshops between SHIMA SEIKI and Asmara development teams, APEXFiz^® has been considered the most appropriate solution to create realistic 3D virtual samples and reduce physical development samples. Using APEXFiz^® capability to simulate realistic 3D samples using various knitting techniques, Asmara’s designers can visualize styles with a high degree of authenticity at early concept stage. In addition to creating virtual samples, data from APEXFiz^® can be directly integrated into the knitting program for developing physical sample. Implementing APEXFiz^® has streamlined the design process at Asmara, reducing the number of physical samples made, improving decision making and increasing customer satisfaction.

Asmara plans to expand its knit 3D design services utilizing APEXFiz^® globally as a game-changing solution for reforming the knit industry and for creating a sustainable product development cycle. The company has indicated its intention to introduce APEXFiz^® to its offices in other countries, starting with its office in Turkey.