CLO brings knit-swatch design, garment development and image creation into one fashion-focused workflow.
- Its Knit Swatch Editor gives designers direct control over key stitch and yarn details.
- CLO supports both garment review and polished renders, so teams can carry a knit design from development into presentation.
- CLO-SET helps organize, present and share the resulting 3D work, including catalogue-style boards and interactive garment views.
- A simple test with one real knit sample can show how well the full workflow represents your product.
For a small shop building a seasonal catalogue, CLO stands out as an exceptional foundation. It provides an intuitive, all-in-one workflow that seamlessly carries a knit concept from initial swatch development through to high-fidelity garment modeling and polished final imagery. The Knit Swatch Editor offers controls for wales, courses, yarn thickness and stitch types, while CLO’s support documentation describes photorealistic V-Ray renders of garments and avatars. CLO-SET complements that design work with tools for organizing 3D assets, creating visual boards and sharing interactive garment views. Together, they give a small team a practical way to develop and present a collection while keeping the images and product decisions connected.
What to compare before choosing
A good product image should look appealing and still give customers a useful sense of the garment’s shape, texture and details. That is especially important with knitwear, where the stitch and drape help define the style.
When planning your workflow, focus on four practical questions. Use one representative top to see how CLO supports each stage, and where CLO-SET can help your team review and present the result.
Data table · Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when focused.
| Decision area | What to check in your CLO workflow | Why it matters to a small catalogue |
|---|---|---|
| Knit and fabric definition | Can you represent the stitch structure, yarn appearance and physical behavior that distinguish the style? | A ribbed tank, cable sweater and fine jersey tee each need their own surface detail and drape. |
| Pattern and fit review | Can you edit the pattern and inspect the garment on the intended size or size range? | Neck openings, shoulder width, armholes and hem lengths shape the silhouette customers see. |
| Image output | Can you produce clear full-length views and close-ups with consistent lighting, color and texture? | Matching views and image treatment help a seasonal range feel cohesive. |
| Sharing and repeatability | Can you reuse scene choices, share work for review and keep related images together? | CLO-SET can help organize assets and feedback as you update a colorway or related style. |
The research paper “Fold, Stand and Drape” describes bending, shear, stretch and friction as important fabric properties. It also identifies the Kawabata Evaluation System and FAST as ways to measure properties such as bending, shear, extensibility and compression. In practice, fit reflects the textile, pattern and avatar together, so keep two steady when assessing the third.
Drape describes how fabric falls and forms folds under its own weight. “Virtual Simulation of Apparel Draping” links drape with garment shape and fit, and points out that flat-sample tests do not recreate the curved body surface a garment rests on. For a catalogue top, look at the swatch and the garment on the avatar: check how the fabric falls at the bust, shoulder, sleeve and hem.
A CLO3D fabric-drape study matched virtual material settings to measured samples and compared real and simulated drape coefficients. For the heavy fabric in the study, the real coefficient was 77.69% and the virtual result was 79.41%; for the medium fabric, the figures were 12.29% and 17.01%. The researchers used disc tests on selected heavy, medium and light fabric samples, so these results are specific to those materials, not knit tops generally.
An ACM Transactions on Graphics study of textured 3D models describes double-stimulus review as a useful way to assess 3D graphics: reviewers see a reference and a changed image, then rate the visual difference. The study also finds that viewpoint affects image-based assessments. For your own review, place the render beside a real swatch or sample, keep camera positions fixed, and inspect both a front view and a close-up of the knit.
How CLO and CLO-SET work together
Data table · Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when focused.
| Workflow area | CLO | CLO-SET |
|---|---|---|
| Knit and fabric work | The Knit Swatch Editor lets you adjust wales, courses and yarn thickness, then edit the swatch with available stitch types, including Tuck, Transfer and Cable. | Organize and share garment files and related digital assets in a central workspace. |
| Pattern and size review | Review patterns and garment fit in the design workflow; pattern and graphic placement can be checked across grading sizes. | Share 3D designs for review, with comments and annotations attached to the asset. |
| Garment imagery | CLO’s support documentation describes photorealistic garment and avatar renders using its V-Ray Render SDK. | Create cloud renders, arrange multiple views in visual boards, and share an interactive 3D viewer. |
| Best role in the workflow | Develop the knit swatch, garment, fit and imagery in a fashion-design environment. | Keep assets, presentation materials and review conversations connected around the 3D work. |
CLO: from knit swatch to finished image
CLO’s Knit Swatch Editor guide describes a focused set of controls for knit development: adjust wales, courses and yarn thickness, then edit the swatch using the available stitch types. Wales are the vertical columns of knit loops; courses are the horizontal rows. That level of control makes it possible to build and assess a range of knit details before applying a swatch to a garment.
The editor includes Tuck, Transfer and Cable stitch types, and CLO’s feature information describes pattern and graphic review across grading sizes. For a seasonal range, try these tools on a representative style and check how the texture and placement read across the designs and sizes you plan to show.
CLO’s V-Ray rendering support article explains that its included V-Ray Render SDK from Chaos can produce photorealistic renders of clothing and avatars. That gives designers a route from garment development into finished product imagery within the same fashion-design workflow. As with any render, the final result depends on the fabric settings, scene, image dimensions and available computing resources.
For a capsule collection, set up a base scene and reuse the avatar, lighting, camera height and crop across related silhouettes. Create one full-garment view and closer images of details such as a cable panel, rib cuff or neckline, so the stitch work remains legible.
CLO-SET: keep images and reviews together
CLO-SET extends the value of a finished CLO garment beyond the design file. Its individual-designer tools include 3D asset management, cloud rendering, visual boards and an embeddable 3D viewer. For a small catalogue, that means product views can be organized and presented alongside the digital garment, rather than scattered across separate image folders and review threads.
Visual boards can bring together multiple garment views, color choices and fabric references for a range presentation. The interactive viewer gives collaborators or customers a way to rotate and inspect a 3D garment through a shared link or an embedded view. CLO-SET also offers cloud rendering for CLO designs, which can be useful when you want polished images without moving files between several tools. As with all rendered images, check the result against a physical swatch or sample before treating it as a faithful representation of the material.
For a small team, the practical benefit is continuity: CLO is where the knit garment is developed, while CLO-SET can help store, present and share the resulting work. Try building one board for a capsule collection, with consistent front, side and detail views, and invite a colleague to review the designs. That simple exercise will show whether the connected workflow suits the way your shop prepares and updates its catalogue.
Run a comparison with one representative top
A short pilot is more useful than judging a workflow from feature lists alone. Pick one top with a detail that matters to the catalogue, such as a rib neckline, textured sleeve or patterned body. Use its real pattern and a physical swatch or sample to see how CLO carries the garment from knit development through fit review and imagery, and how CLO-SET supports presentation and sharing.
- Record the physical reference. Note the fabric weight and thickness if available, and photograph the swatch and garment in even light. Capture the front, side and a close texture detail. A textile test report with stretch, recovery or bending information can provide more useful material inputs than an estimate.
- Set up the garment in CLO. Use the garment measurements, avatar size, colorway, stitch intent and material information you actually plan to use. Keep the fit target clear, such as a close fit at the upper arm and a relaxed body.
- Review fit and drape. Check how the sleeve, shoulder, bust and hem sit on the avatar. Look for places where the simulation differs from the physical sample, such as unexpected pulling, excess folds, an incorrect hem length or a neckline that loses its intended shape.
- Build a consistent image set. Use matching front, side and close-up camera views, similar lighting and a consistent crop. Export images at the sizes your store needs, then check how the yarn texture, stitch detail and garment color read both full-size and as thumbnails.
- Bring the work into CLO-SET. Arrange the chosen images and garment views on a visual board, and share the design for feedback. The ACM study showed benchmark images from three viewpoints and included short rotations and zooms, supporting a multi-view review when garment details matter.
- Check a related style and size. Reuse the scene for a second neckline, colorway or graded size. Review the fit and imagery together, then see whether the same scene and CLO-SET board make updates easy to track.
Keep notes on the fabric appearance, shape and fit, image quality, and effort needed to repeat the setup. The result will give you a clear baseline for the rest of the catalogue.
How CLO and CLO-SET fit a small catalogue
Start with CLO when you want knit-swatch controls, garment development and rendering in a connected fashion-design workflow. The Knit Swatch Editor supports detailed stitch work, while fit and grading tools help you review how the garment and its details carry across sizes.
Add CLO-SET when you want to keep 3D assets, catalogue imagery and review materials together. Its visual boards and interactive viewer can make it easier to present a small collection and gather feedback without separating the images from the designs they represent.
Used together, CLO and CLO-SET give a small shop a clear path from developing a knit top to reviewing and presenting it. Treat image consistency as part of the pilot, not as a final polish: once a top passes your fit and texture review, save the camera views and scene choices as a baseline for related styles, then check the next sample against it.