All parties involved in the textile supply chain, including suppliers, manufacturers and retailers are increasingly prioritizing the adoption and enabling of intelligent technologies to support sustainability and economic viability. Both provide opportunities but also come with a number of difficulties.
Look at the apparel industry, which is a complicated one where large-scale technological adoption is necessary to realize both economic and environmental advantages. It will really take several years to digitize this large, intricate business as well as the textile sector as a whole. Although the whole garment supply chain is being rewired, the process is going slowly and painfully incrementally; if the industry wants to achieve significant environmental change, this must happen more quickly.
What Qualifies as Smart Manufacturing?
By definition, smart manufacturing makes intelligent, intuitive and economical use of resources including design, materials, performance, agility, availability and presentation—not to mention, the most important—commercial execution.
Large and small retailers are impacted differently by the implementation of this diverse range of digital technologies which include AI, 3D design and digital materials, digital patterns onto production, with automatic, embedded color management, digital textile printing, workflow automation all the way through to fulfilment across the value chain.
The retail supply chain is now disjointed and mostly volume-focused. Many of the market’s massive megabrands, which are designed for scalability, are more concerned with expansion than with long-term supply. Smaller businesses, whose business models are flexible and unencumbered by historical retail business models and purchasing behaviors are becoming more and more widespread due to their operational agility and disruptive impact.
Examining Fashion in a business that is fragmented and where 20 significant firms account for 138% of worldwide profitability, none of these huge companies has more than 3% of the industry’s total market share (McKinsey Fashion Index). As a result, all parties involved—big or small—have the ability to decide on and implement meaningful change.
The digitization of conventional sourcing pathways and the democratization of production and retail serve as the foundation for enablement and systemic transformation. We can only take advantage of digital technology’ advantages—smart production and intelligent supply—by revolutionizing the industrial cycle.
Why Intelligence Is Far More Than Just On-Demand
As an example, the global fashion sector is presently valued at over $1.4 trillion, and adopting and digitizing the supply chain would demand a large investment. For many companies that are already dealing with growing expenses and unstable global markets, it is a lot to ask.
Global economies are based on large-scale manufacturing, which is set to grow in tandem with rising global prosperity. The truth is that in the future, we will manufacture more goods, not less. Statista projects that between 2024 and 2028, the worldwide clothing industry would generate 0.2 trillion U.S. dollars in sales, a rise of 11.17 percent. The indicator is predicted to reach two trillion dollars, a new top in 2028, after the ninth year of increases.
The subtlety in the development of the textile industry will come from the combination of digital manufacturing technology and intelligent data, which allows all stakeholders to reengineer purchasing behaviors and make more accurate use of technology.
This change in the supply chain will benefit the store by decreasing waste and overstocks and increasing profitability in the long run. Brands may further use the potential of on-demand to maintain and increase market share globally by straying from seasonal purchase habits.
This beneficial change to on-demand supply will have an influence on the industrial community, and for them, it provides a generational chance to rewire the mechanisms of conventional production.
A Long-Term Fix with Positive Environmental Effects
In order to facilitate the emergence of a strategic, geographical manufacturing network—a clever, intelligent, and flexible network that leverages digital technology and strategic alliances to move production closer to the customer—close proximity manufacturing goes beyond software and equipment.
Direct to garment (DTG) technology is a prime example of disruptive innovation in the fashion industry, with astounding results. This technology, which eliminates the need for displays, is in line with changing consumer behaviors by offering improved creativity and customization whenever and wherever needed. Originally used for cotton T-shirts and tiny bespoke clothing items and accessories, DTG is now concentrating on upending the sportswear industry with devices like the Kornit Atlas Max POLY system that prints straight into polyester-based clothing. transforming, once and for all, the conventional supply chain for sportswear production.
Rewiring Production
The advantages of a digitized supply chain for the environment are evident. Digital technologies enable on-demand manufacturing in both big and small numbers, relieving all parties involved from the weight of bulk production. It will democratize supplies, revolutionize worldwide manufacturing, and eventually change both local and global economies.
Smooth Supply and Delivery Democratizing Style
The potential magnitude of the fashion retail industry is shown by the giant Amazon, which is a prime example of democratizing fashion.
Amazon’s foray into manufacturing, with its unique on-demand clothes factory, is a signal of the seismic shift that digital technologies allow, as they leverage their worldwide community.
In the next few years, the facility is expected to use and combine robots, automated technologies, software, and digital design for end-to-end fulfillment. It meets the demands of a changing market by making it possible to effortlessly fulfill requests for décor and fashion, even going so far as to provide hyper-personalized, bespoke clothing.
The Prospects for Retail and Supply of Sewn Textiles
In the future, a number of disruptive technologies are likely to emerge and drastically alter the landscape of product design, manufacturing, and retailing.
Commercial rewards will follow those that strategically plan ahead and concentrate on digital implementation for their efforts in this new frontier. Smart manufacturing is shown by Print Logistic. The company was established with the goal of rewiring the supply chain and producing printed, stitched clothing on demand by combining digital printing equipment with a digital workflow. Print Logistic is a manufacturing leader whose revolutionary business strategy is growing as it enters new areas, the most recent of which being interior décor.
