Using the analytic hierarchy process for selecting prototypes in the development process of fashion garment products

Abstract

To remain in the market, the process of development of fashion garment products produces a large quantity of products. During this process, the prototypes are made, evaluated and selected to compose the collection, thus the designers use some criteria to select them. For a designer, this process of selection is a complex decision-making, because they need to combine several criteria to attend a very specific target audience. Within this context, the main objective of this study was to propose a model for the selection of prototypes in the development process of fashion garment products, based on a multi-criteria tool, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The model was developed based on literature, and the criteria used were: part acceptance, cost, design and production. Then, the developed tool was applied to a real case study and proved to be efficient, thereby enabling a structured modeling of the problem considering the multiple criteria and uncertainty.