Avery Dennison, a leader in pressure-sensitive, functional materials, branding, weaving and labelling solutions for the retail apparel market, and SoftWear Automation, a developer of autonomous sewing worklines, have teamed up to help apparel manufacturers create a fully-digital supply chain that enables speed in the manufacture of apparel and textile products.

Through this partnership, Avery Dennison says it is leading a transformative change in the apparel industry, ushering in innovation that is in keeping with the company’s history of pushing boundaries to create positive change across the supply chain.

“At Avery Dennison, we recognise that the apparel industry is changing. As consumers continue to demand fast, customised solutions, the apparel industry is challenged to respond. Innovation is in our DNA, and this partnership, combined with our expertise and unique position in the value chain, is part of our broader strategy to help factories and brands get their customers the products they want, when they want it,” said Michael Colarossi, vice president of Innovation, Product Line Management and Sustainability at Avery Dennison.

Sparking change

Automating and simplifying production processes is key for speed to market and new levels of customisation, which are increasingly in demand by consumers. The success of fast fashion retailers is a testament to growing consumer expectation for more choices, at rates greater than ever before.

“You can’t make an on-demand, made-to-measure garment if it needs to travel through the global supply chain. It will never be fast enough. We have to rethink how we deliver apparel to customers to match their demand for speed, variation and quality,” said Palaniswamy Rajan, Chairman and CEO of Softwear Automation. Digitising the production portion of the supply chain presents exciting new opportunities for manufacturers and suppliers.

SoftWear Automation’s digital T-shirt Sewbot workline is a fully autonomous, single operator system that produces one complete T-shirt every 22 seconds – twice as fast as manual sewing.

Advancing sustainability through automation

In addition to the business value delivered by supply chain automation, there is also great potential to advance sustainability, according to Avery Dennison. “In a world where garment manufacturers only make product that is needed, and in the markets where it would be consumed, the amount of waste and greenhouse gases generated could’ve be significantly less than what is produced today,” continued Mr Colarossi.

“Sustainability is a core value of Avery Dennison, and this partnership aligns with our ongoing efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our operations and the broader industry. Automation allows manufacturers to drive greater productivity and create new, higher-value opportunities for brand owners to better service their consumers.”

“We can solve a lot of what ails fashion if we only make the goods when the order is made. Local, on-demand, made-to-measure manufacturing presents an enormous economic opportunity to tackle the priorities that will help make fashion more sustainable as outlined by the Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group,” added Pete Santora, Chief Commercial Officer for SoftWear Automation.

www.averydennison.com

Further reading

Sewbots to bring local production of sewn goods to Europe

Automated Sewbot to make 800,000 adidas T-shirts daily

Li & Fung joins forces with Softwear Automation