Destination Maternity's New CAD System is a Perfect Fit

Posted by Apparel Magazine, on August 4, 2010
by Stacey Kusterbeck, Apparel Contributing Writer

Destination Maternity, founded in 1982 as a catalog company, became the world's largest maternity apparel retailer by offering pregnant women the latest trends and styles at a time when options were very few (and mostly unappealing). Now, the company is making a name for itself by being on the leading edge of technology.

Its eight patternmakers have perfected the art of getting the fit just right for women of all shapes and sizes, with rapidly expanding waistlines. The company designs everything from bras to swimsuits to wedding gowns, for its brands A Pea in the Pod, A Pea in the Pod Collection, and Motherhood Maternity, sold at more than 1,000 retail locations and online.

"We make so many different types of styles and maternity innovations. There really isn't anything that doesn't come through this pattern room," says Mari Alessi-Kowalski, director of technical design, who oversees pattern making and testing. "The team can really handle most challenges that come our way. There's not too much we can't figure out."

What the talented team was missing, though, was technology that would help them meet the company's vision of "staying on trend, maintaining our maternity fit formula and strong pattern quality," says Alessi-Kowalski. 

The Philadelphia-based company knew it was being held back by an outdated CAD system. It set out to find a Windows-based system that would allow pattern makers to work efficiently internally and externally, streamline the pattern process, and improve pattern quality. Being better trained on the CAD tool was a high priority.

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