Theme: The changes in technolog of Textile Industry
Looking beyond automation, these are some of the opportunities that are generated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution in this specific industry, in which the transformation comes precisely from those who create.
La International Labor Office (ILO) identified that the market intelligence, design, materials, suppliers and logistics, production, marketing, retail, and customer service they are the main areas in which technologies have the greatest potential for action.
1 3D printing
In 2015, designer Danit Peleg thought of a collection that could be made at home. She put herself to the task of researching, connecting with people who knew about technology, learning herself to achieve her goal. The result, skirts, blouses, dresses and more garments achieved with 3D printing.
Now how about using an app that works like Shazam? Select a dress at random, which tells you its designer, but better yet, buy it and be able to make your copy of that outfit at home.
2. New fibers, new raw materials
Science also has a lot to do here. It has already become usual to find some garments that are adapted to maintain a certain temperature, something very useful for athletes or people who face strong climates (very cold or hot) or who need resistant garments.
Making an analogy of spider web, artificial fibers and filaments that offer greater strength and durability, with flexibility and lightness, are increasingly sought after. So, in the textile industry there is an urgent need to increase the skills to manufacture new high-performance fibers made with polymers, carbon and even that can offer solutions to recycle waste.
At this point the so-called smart garments also come in, for example to improve firefighters' suits or garments for medical purposes, just to mention a few, that are capable of detecting, acting, storing, generating (energy for example) and communicating. Here 'wearables' and 'smart clothes' have a vast field of action and are joined with solutions such as the Internet of Things (IoT), data analysis (Big Data) or Artificial Intelligence, among others.
According to United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the fashion industry is one of the most polluting, even more than international flights and shipping together. Among some alarming findings, the UN points out the following:
7.500 liters of water are required to produce jeans.
The clothing sector uses 93.000 billion cubic meters of water each year, enough for 5 million people to survive.
The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of total water waste globally.
The production of clothing and footwear produces 8% of the greenhouse gases.
Every second, a quantity of textiles equivalent to a garbage truck is buried or burned.
Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014.
For this reason, and following the objectives of the Paris Agreement, leading companies committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, as reported by CNN. They also agreed to prioritize low-carbon transport providers and favor climate-friendly materials. It is a global commitment, many solutions are needed here from the ideation, the manufacturing, distribution, sale and disposal process. Here the circular economy is also key.
Sustainable fashion It is a new trend that is gaining strength, reusing garments. Big brands already implement programs for users to deliver their travel clothing in exchange for bonuses, in some cases, to then make new pieces of clothing.
4. Immersive experiences
If there is one thing that defines this era, it is personalization. Customers want specific things, molded to their liking and that they can experience before making the purchase; clothing is clearly no exception. In fact it is one of the fields that can offer the most solutions.
Immersive technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality they allow users to see and 'test' how they would look with a certain garment, if it is better in blue, red, green, longer, shorter or with prints. In other cases, the potential of voice assistants such as Alexa is exploited, who become fashion consultants.
Recognized brands already use Virtual Reality to sell in their stores. The user only needs to focus the phone to different points in the store and they will see a model with different brand clothes.
These are not the only innovations. Without a doubt, with the passage of time and the new demands of the world, this and other industries will have to keep moving, constantly transforming. The challenges of culture and training are transversal, it is necessary to understand the current environment and train people with new skills.
In a study published in 2016 by the 'European Technology Platform' entitled 'Towards a Fourth Industrial Revolution of textiles and clothing. A strategic research and innovation agenda for the European textile and clothing industry ' se outlined 3 trends that would be positioned in 2025: digitization and virtualization, collaboration and pay-per-use, and sustainability and circularity.
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