Robotized sewing and handling

Local textile industry in Denmark will reduce the supply chain, reduce transportation, and improve innovation through reshoring of product development in the fashion business with fabrication facilities. Moreover, novel design and robotic solutions will pave the way for more individualized and user-led products that in turn will reduce overproduction, returns and burning of excess clothes and stimulate longer use phases/circularity.

Reshoring of product development and production is a key element of the roadmap vision. Reducing the textile sector uptake of virgin resources with up to 75% by 2050 that is necessary for reaching climate goals will require closer-to-market, more diverse, and more agile collection- and product strategies that is better adopted to consumer needs and aspirations. Reshoring production will build more resilience in the DK textile sector and provide a push for better developed and market-adjusted products with better performance on the secondary market, less returns, and ultimately less waste. It is the only chance of restoring the innovation level of clothing products that got lost in the outsourcing of most production in Denmark by the late 1980’s, and this is only possible through part automated processes due to high salary levels of the DK work force.

Local sewing of cloth, which can be cost effective with sew-robots, can eliminate large quantities of excess production due to fast response to marked demands with a short supply chain. In Denmark 677 tons of unused cloth is burned due to excess production. It produces 45.000 tons of CO2. And return rates of clothing design is currently app. 60% due to standardized products that do not meet consumer needs. This can potentially be saved by local fast responding production and following innovation capacity.