Textile Production is Now More Frantic
With speed to market and high-tech innovation reshaping every aspect of the apparel world, the winter edition of Sourcing at Magic – the Magic sub-brand that focuses on the global supply chain – showcased the devices and trends seen as leading this particular revolution. Most notably, it provided a window on the ways that e-commerce, social media and robotics are transforming the apparel sector.
Many of these changes were encapsulated within a working micro-factory set on the showfloor. This gave showgoers the opportunity to observe at firsthand the integrated, interactive opportunities on offer as the installation demonstrated its concept-to-creation capabilities.
Explaining the thinking behind this particular exhibit, Christopher Griffin, Sourcing at Magic's President, said: "We built a 2,000-square-foot-plus factory on the showfloor. This allowed us to highlight the latest in cutting-edge automation, including robotic-grabbing, autonomous transfer to the next production stage and print digitisation."
Although clearly something of a technological evangelist, Griffin didn't expect apparel brands to embrace the technology overnight, instantly becoming vertical operations. Instead, he sees it more as an asset for medium-sized businesses, with such a micro-factory facility allowing them to quickly complete small runs in-house.
Quality jeans tend to weather just about any trend, with their durability and perennial status establishing the denim category as a virtual petri-dish of innovation, one that unites automation, enhanced performance and environmental responsibility. In line with this, Levi Strauss, the San Francisco-headquartered jeans giant, has announced plans to use laser technology to engineer the holes, fraying and fading that gives its garments their ever-popular distressed look.
Previously, this traditionally labour-intensive process required sanding, chemical treatments and hand-finishing. The introduction of lasers, however, has cut the production time in half, while also reducing the number of chemicals required from more than a thousand to just a few dozen.
Many of these changes were encapsulated within a working micro-factory set on the showfloor. This gave showgoers the opportunity to observe at firsthand the integrated, interactive opportunities on offer as the installation demonstrated its concept-to-creation capabilities.
Explaining the thinking behind this particular exhibit, Christopher Griffin, Sourcing at Magic's President, said: "We built a 2,000-square-foot-plus factory on the showfloor. This allowed us to highlight the latest in cutting-edge automation, including robotic-grabbing, autonomous transfer to the next production stage and print digitisation."
Although clearly something of a technological evangelist, Griffin didn't expect apparel brands to embrace the technology overnight, instantly becoming vertical operations. Instead, he sees it more as an asset for medium-sized businesses, with such a micro-factory facility allowing them to quickly complete small runs in-house.
Quality jeans tend to weather just about any trend, with their durability and perennial status establishing the denim category as a virtual petri-dish of innovation, one that unites automation, enhanced performance and environmental responsibility. In line with this, Levi Strauss, the San Francisco-headquartered jeans giant, has announced plans to use laser technology to engineer the holes, fraying and fading that gives its garments their ever-popular distressed look.
Previously, this traditionally labour-intensive process required sanding, chemical treatments and hand-finishing. The introduction of lasers, however, has cut the production time in half, while also reducing the number of chemicals required from more than a thousand to just a few dozen.