CWA 15043:2004

Proposal for a XML based format for storage and exchange of design data in the footwear industry CWA 15043:2004

Scope

This document describes the general structure of the "ShoeML" framework of data formats for the business documents containing "footwear design data". The new data formats have been designed and implemented as a set of XML Schemas. The document describes the coverage of the data formats, their capabilities and internal details, the built-in validation rules about their content, and lists the main intended usages.
Annex A1 and Annex A2 actually contain the latest version of the ShoeML Schemas, together with short descriptions, with the scope to drive the software implementation. Technical details about the Geometry sub-schemas, actually the most complex ones, are contained in Annex A3.
The proposal is complemented by two documents intended as "guidelines" or "best practices" about the following aspects:
· Footwear Measurements
· Footwear Design Terms
They cover several aspects of design on which consensus was impossible to find, and are intended as initial efforts to make the experts in the field converge.
In the following paragraphs a high-level description of the ShoeML data format is attempted. The format, as you will see, is made of simple and complex parts. The core of the proposal can be considered quite stable (BasicGeometry, Design, DesignPart, DesignGroup, Picture...), but many "extensions" will be needed to cover fully the needs of the sector. During the project this "extension process" was started by defining 4 extension schemas covering the "CAM interfacing" part, namely the exchange of business data between "pure design" activities and "production". This process is far from being complete, but the proposal contains the general structure of the extension mechanism, that will be used in the future as a guide to complete the coverage.