New Zealand owned and Los Angeles-based company ShapeShifter is producing computer aided design systems for manufacturers of some of the biggest global clothing brands in the world such as Nike and Adidas.
The company’s software enables manufacturers to cut fabric costs by reducing fabric consumption, saving tens of millions per year for the largest manufacturers, according to ShapeShifter chief executive Tim White.
“Fabric costs in some cases may need to be balanced with cutting time and a number of our customers also want to see a marked improvement in cutting time freeing up precious capacity in their factories so that they can either increase through-put, or meet customer-imposed deadlines.
“Because our prophet software is so powerful and utilises the massive processing capacity available in the cloud, customers are able to process an infinite number of orders concurrently whereas with other competing software these orders need to be queued resulting in a considerable amount of lost time waiting for results.”
Historically, White said, most manufacturers have been unable to provide accurate quotes within 24 hours and run the risk of over-quoting and losing the job, or underquoting and losing money on the order. “Our prophet software enables them to accurately quote in 10 to 15 minutes which is a game-changer for them.”
“Our software isn’t the cheapest on the market by any means. Our customers are paying on average $US10,000 to $US15,000 per month for their subscription,” said White. “We have zero customer churn in the business which I believe reflects the significant and quantifiable savings our customers are seeing from using the software.”
The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with the parent firm a New Zealand company. The majority of company revenue is returned to New Zealand.
The tech company has been focused on expansion within Asia over the last 12 months and one of the first three New Zealand companies to immediately engage with the newly opened Kiwi Connection tech hub in Ho Chi Minh City.
The hub is founded and operated by Augen Software Group, a Kiwi tech business who initially established their permanent local presence in Vietnam in 2005, in order to tap into the abundance in technical resource to support New Zealand’s rapid growth in innovation.
