Looking for fashion technology editorial? PLM, DCP-3D, AI & ML, and other extended technology content is now at The Interline
A fashion technology pioneer with an extensive global network.
Mark Started his career in fashion manufacturing in 1974 and has been a fashion technology evangelist and process expert since 1985. He blends decades of direct experience in manufacturing with a long history of introducing new technologies and new processes to the apparel and footwear industries. Today he is trusted by the biggest brands, the most recognisable retailers, the most innovative manufacturers, and the most exciting technology companies on the global stage to spearhead change.
Expertise spans the full spectrum of fashion technology, with a particular focus on influencing the digital-native future of design, development, and manufacturing. His career has seen him pioneer the use of 3D footwear and apparel systems, brought
the first PDM solution to market, and built the blueprint for PLM in 1999.
Working with leaders across every segment of the fashion industry to challenge their digital transformation strategies, and to visualise the “art of the possible”. His engagements with leading brands, retailers, manufacturers, and textile mills have helped world-leading businesses introduce new processes and build digital-first solutions to meet a changing world. He also directs and advises technology companies of all shapes and sizes.
Prior to focusing on advisory projects, he founded and ran leading fashion PLM magazine WhichPLM. He also founded, and continues to provide strategic direction to, The Interline, which now includes PLM as a key part of its full-spectrum fashion technology coverage.
How We Operate
Mark is comfortable operating at all levels of your business, from C-level to the process champions, and down to the operator levels throughout the supply-chain. We support visioning, strategy and tactical requirements of the business digital journey. We operate across the entire digital value-chain from Tier 0 to Tier 4, supporting design, development, manufacturing best-practices, environmental & sustainability ‘impact use cases’ and datatypes.
- Tier 0 - Brand operations, Distribution Centres, and Back Office Operations
- Tier 1 – Manufacturing of Products including CMT & Fully Factored models
- Tier 2 – Material Knitting & Weaving, Trims, Components and Packaging
- Tier 3 – Yarns & Thread Production
- Tier 4 – Farming of Raw Materials, Animals, and Fossil Fuels
Advisory Services
Fashion is being reshaped by post-pandemic changes in consumer behaviour, sourcing and logistics challenges, rapidly shrinking trend windows, and greater scrutiny and enforcement around sustainability. To respond to disruption and deliver digital transformation, brands, retailers, and manufacturers are looking to remodel their end-to-end technology ecosystems.
From trend analysis and storyboarding, through sizing, 2D and Digital Product Creation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Product Development, Costing, Sourcing, Workflow collaboration, and more, Mark’s strategic services are aimed at unlocking and supporting fundamental changes to the way fashion works.
Digital strategy and process benchmarking
PLM landscaping and business case support
WhichPLM has a proven track record of working at the cutting edge of both big enterprise and agile, multi-tenant cloud PLM to make sure our clients get the best possible results from the latest PLM solutions. Based on a library of PLM solution evaluations, we examine what our clients want to achieve with PLM, which solution will be fit their needs, when they should implement, upgrade or replace, who should form the implementation team, what the budget should be, and where their PLM journey will take them.
Expert extended-PLM assessment and arbitration
3D and DPC benchmarking and roadmap development
Interested in talking to Mark.
Mark has a proven history of success in helping global fashion leaders in every sector to digitally transform their businesses, take advantage of emerging technologies, and transition from home-grown processes to best-practice workflows. His services have helped his clients to stay ahead of their competitors, to remain in tune with the ever changing demands of their consumers, and to deal with historic disruption and uncertainty.
Mark began spearheading fashion technology in the 1970s, and is trusted for his objective approach to innovation – making sure that the “art of the possible” gets grounded in reality. From designing open APIs and educating the next generation of talent, to running PLM customer surveys and building roadmaps to 2D-3D-DPC working, He understands what brands, retailers, and manufacturers want from technology, and he is unmatched when it comes to the breadth and depth of his experience tailored to delivering digital transformation across the fashion value chain.
Testimonials & References
We are proud to have been trusted by both the biggest brands and the most exciting emerging companies, as well as world-renowned retailers and the technology vendors who support them. Below is a curated list of some of our most recent success stories; click the link below any of them to open our complete reference pack.
As a newcomer to the industry, I was looking for market insight and began working with Mark
I have known Mark and the WhichPLM team since we started Out on our PLM search back in 2007.
Black Mik Clothing is an online retailer and a manufacturer, so we cover a lot of the supply
As the Production Director at Ted Baker I am always looking to make our processes more efficient,
Mark Harrop, as a PLM expert, can give an objective and based- experience feedback of each
I would like to take the opportunity to offer a formal recommendation for Mark Harrop and
PLM ‘How to’ Guides
New to PLM? Looking to scale or optimise an existing implementation? Ready to integrate your PLM solution to your broader technology ecosystem to unlock digital-native ways of working? Our PLM toolkit contains 9 PDF packs, all free to download, that cover the complete PLM journey in an educational, engaging way. Once you’ve finished reading them, get in touch with us to take the next step on your PLM journey.
Fashion Market Segmentation
There is no single, universal approach to fashion technology. Whether you produce sportswear or specialise in sustainability, the challenges you face - and the benefits technology can provide - will be different. We have worked with organisations across every market segment, and we’ve helped design workflows, best practices, and evaluations for each of them.
Brands that target exquisite customer service, uncompromising quality and fit, innovative digital experiences, and a broad product and material mix, have similarly complex demands from technology. From core product data and close collaboration with the craftspeople that make up their supply chains, to 3D prototyping and blockchain-backed authenticity and sustainability credentials, the luxury sector has high demands for its technology. We’re accustomed to helping it meet them.
Juggling overlapping calendars, high-performance, high-durability technical components, and an ever-evolving consumer base driven by a shrinking hype cycle, premium lifestyle brands need to maximise the value of technology across their design, development, and industrial manufacturing lifecycle stages - from Tier 1 to Tier 3. Their ecosystems include everything from 2D to supply chain risk management, with integration between those technologies being a key focus area that we continue to work with our clients to optimise.
The mass market is where fashion technology is really put to the test, at scale. High street brands and retailers address a wide range of price points, operate based on both seasonless volume and a firm understanding of their consumers, and must capitalise on new trend opportunities more quickly than ever. Many businesses in this market segment are behind the technology curve; we work with them to meet the pace the market demands, across strategic and tactical technology and process innovation.
After being hard-hit by the disruption of the pandemic, both manufacturers and textile mills have begun to deploy new digital processes at dramatic scale. From digitising materials and elevating their own in-house 3D capabilities, to opening their operations up to provide the first-party data that underpins new 4D-ready sustainable material sourcing, these essential cogs in the apparel and footwear value chain are now working to build digital processes, automations, and levels of visibility that will be essential to delivering the vision of a fully connected fashion value chain in the near future. With our hands-on experience of production, we understand what it’s going to take for this vision to be realised.
Mark's Blog Feed
For more than a decade, WhichPLM operated as a digital magazine dedicated to pioneering thought leadership, advice, and unbiased guidance on maximising the value of technology. That journey continues on The Interline, just as Mark continues to provide his advisor’s perspective on key technology trends here at WhichPLM.
WhichPLM Reports
Over the last twelve years, WhichPLM has produced yearly downloadable reports that document the progress of fashion PLM, evaluate the evolution of the global market, and provide thought leadership perspectives on the direction that both core and extended PLM are heading. These annual reports have been called the “PLM bible,” and they are read by CEOs, creative designers, sourcing managers, and everyone in between.
Contact us
Whatever stage of the technology journey you have reached, and whether your focus is on core PLM or extended ecosystem technologies, we want to hear about your challenges, your vision, and where you feel technology has (or has not) delivered value for you.
Planning to scale digital product creation? Looking to eliminate supply chain risk? Working towards an ambitious sustainability target? Interested in how your PLM solutions compares to the best the industry has to offer?
Contact Mark via email or LinkedIn using the buttons below.
