Our
HistoryCompany Highlights
With more than 15 years of experience in 3D software development for the fashion industry, Embodee helps the fashion and Apparel industry in the design, creation, and selling of fashion and apparel products in a new collaborative way, online.
Founded in 2008, Embodee helps the fashion industry develop 3D virtual products more efficiently for a variety of uses including online and physical stores. Its on-demand renderings of 3D products are unsurpassed in visual quality and interactivity. For over a decade its focus had been creating dynamically rendered 3D images of apparel and footwear for online customization. Embodee is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has employees across the United States and Europe.
Here are highlights of the company’s history:
2024 – 2021
December 2024: Embodee expanded into a new market with the launch of Folio3D, a platform designed specifically for freelance fashion designers. Folio3D streamlines digital design workflows—organizing 2D/3D assets, sharing interactive renders with clients in under two minutes, and protecting work with watermarks and secure links.
April 2024: Major Embodee platform updates made product setup easier than ever. Key features included auto-categorization of product components, folder colorization from the color library, and improved 3D navigation controls for a more immersive experience in the Product Create tab.
January 2024: Orchids® officially became Embodee®. The platform transitioned to a new URL, embodee.app, aligning the product and company under one unified brand.
November 2023: Embodee partnered with Pantone to integrate ten Pantone color libraries directly into the platform, giving designers access to thousands of standardized colors within their 3D workflows.
October 2023: Ole Jakob “OJ” Skjelten joined as CEO, bringing leadership experience from Logitech. His focus included expanding configurator capabilities and driving new integrations.
June 2023: Published a case study highlighting Hanin Garment, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer, which achieved double-digit efficiency gains by adopting Embodee’s Orchids platform for collaboration and on-demand production.
December 2022: Embodee partnered with Helasauq Technology Pvt Ltd to distribute Orchids in South Asia, supporting supply chain digitization in key apparel manufacturing countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
November 2022: Orchids received a major update with optimized 3D model downloads and graphic layering capabilities, making product design more versatile and export-ready for marketing, e-commerce, AR/VR, and the metaverse.
July 2022: A pilot project with The Holt Co. and Snugabell showcased how small firms without 3D expertise leveraged Orchids to reduce physical samples sevenfold, accelerate reviews, and cut production timelines.
April 2022: Orchids web platform officially launched commercially, offering scalable plans and pricing for fashion companies of all sizes.
January 2022: Case study published on Norlanka’s 3D journey, demonstrating how Embodee’s Orchids platform allowed designers with limited training to create 250 product options in two days versus 10 days previous
June 2021: Embodee advanced Orchids web platform development, enabling cross-functional teams without 3D expertise to collaborate online, generate product variants at scale, and export 3D assets for marketing and e-commerce. Early beta users highlighted faster workflows, better visualization, and more efficient collaboration.
May 2021: Embodee hosted its first global webinar series introducing Orchids to industry professionals in 19 countries. Attendees learned how to create assortments, modify variances, and collaborate in real time, reflecting the platform’s growing role in the digital adoption of fashion.
2020 – 2017
October 2020: Announced that our new 3D web platform will be available in limited beta release starting Nov. 1. The platform integrates nearly all aspects of digital product creation and development online, helping the fashion industry increase collaboration, reduce costs, and improve sales.
January 2020: Announced collaboration with Byond to deliver real-time customization and personalization in Byond’s digital showrooms. Byond’s customers will benefit from a more robust virtual experience via the freedom to change design options and inspect them in vivid detail.
November 2019: Teamed up with world-renowned musician Daddy Yankee, whose online store uses Embodee’s visualization technology, enabling his legions of fans to customize his limited edition of hats.
June 2019: At a product innovation conference, previewed the industry’s first all-3D, cloud-collaborative platform. Coming in 2020, the platform will enable brands and retailers to design, set up, collaborate, and easily share inline and customized 3D products.
October 2018: Expanded growth into luxury apparel, footwear, and accessories market, launching virtual versions of three customizable Chloé handbags with mytheresa.com.
October 2017: Announced collaboration with one of the world’s leading online retailers for women’s luxury fashion, mytheresa.com, for customization of Gucci Ace DIY leather sneakers.
May 2017: Embodee’s process for transforming physical samples of footwear into 3D digital models was awarded a U.S. government patent.
2016 – 2015
December 2016: Announced expanded collaboration with Knot Standard, which broadens Embodee’s long-term focus on visualizations of customizable athletic apparel and footwear.
October 2016: Launched gBuilder and gComposer as add-ons to Embodee’s hosted rendering service, dramatically decreasing time and up-front cost for entering or expanding custom products merchandising in the online customization market.
September 2016: KnotStandard announced the launch of its online Virtual Studio for customizing menswear that displays Embodee-hosted and rendered visualizations of suits, blazers, and pants.
September 2016: Completed major expansion and upgrade to our data center in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was the third round of growth since the data center went live in January 2016.
September 2016: Piloted new gCAD product with Adidas to improve the visual quality of its 3D shoe model designs and transform them into fully customizable products, available at miadidas.
July 2016: Reebok became the latest major sportswear brand to work with Embodee to offer shoppers customizable shoes via YourReebok.
May 2016: Featuring Embodee’s technology for life-like 3D visualization of men’s suits and blazers, custom menswear company Knot Standard unveiled a virtual shopping studio, available initially only at its New York City showroom.
January 2016: Corporate headquarters moved to San Juan.
April 2015: Gartner Inc. selected Embodee as 2015 “Cool Vendor” for innovative approaches that help consumer goods companies improve digital marketing and e-commerce.
January 2015: CIOReview magazine ranked Embodee as one of the most promising technology solution providers serving the U.S. apparel and textile industry.
2014 – 2008 (Founding Year)
May 2014: Awarded U.S. patent for virtual try-on technology that displays how garments look and fit based on shoppers’ measurements.
July 2013: Selected as one of three finalists for the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards (Working Capital Group).
June 2013: Selected by Portland Business Journal as Oregon and southwest Washington’s 15th fastest-growing company based on revenue growth.
June 2013: Awarded U.S. patent for unique process of creating and modeling 3D digital garments.
2011-2014: Core business emerged: depicting 3D garments, footwear, and accessories before they’re made — either for customization or pre-mass production merchandising of samples. The core business evolved, adding products and services to make it easy to set up, configure, and sell custom fashion products online.
2009-2010: Start-up team developed the first technology platform. Initial development: virtual try-on of clothes via any web-enabled device. The team has decades of technology experience and has delivered breakthrough advancements in computing for Intel and special effects for motion pictures.
2008: Founded in Portland, Oregon, by CEO André Wolper to create visualization technology to spur e-commerce in the apparel industry