Abstract:
With an era of fast fashion evolving, the clothing manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe is facing great challenges to design and
produce fashion products within a short time to meet customers’ demands. 3D software technologies have been identified as tools
that can make it possible to design and present products virtually without physical samples. The purpose of this qualitative case
study was to explore the extent to which clothing manufacturers in Zimbabwe have implemented 3D technology in the
manufacturing system. In-depth interviews and observations were used to elicit data from production managers of forty clothing
manufacturing companies. Data was presented in narrative form and analysed thematically. The study established that out of the
companies that were studied thirty-two companies did not use any form of new technologies like 3D nor 2D in their
manufacturing while six of the companies used 2D technologies and two companies employed 3D technologies within their
organizations based outside Zimbabwe. The manufacturing practices of the companies tend to differ depending on the type of
technology used. The study concluded that clothing manufacturing industries in Zimbabwe had implemented 3D technologies in
their manufacturing to a very limited extent. The high cost of purchasing and managing 3D technological equipment was
concluded as one of the major barrier that limited majority of the companies in Zimbabwe from implementing 3D technologies.
Lack of experts and technicians to maintain the 3D technologies were found to be another challenge in the process of
implementing 3D technology in the clothing manufacturing companies. From the findings of the study, it was recommended that
the government of Zimbabwe should support the local clothing industries with loans and consider waving import tax for
technological equipments so as to enable companies to purchase the technologies needed for manufacturing. Clothing
manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe should have a co-operate plan to train experts regionally or even internationally who can
operate the CAD systems that are of importance to the clothing manufacturing systems. Universities of science and technologies
should train professionals who are innovative to meet current development and technological needs of the clothing industry.
