US based robotic sewing pioneer SoftWear Automation is collaborating with European manufacturers, brands and retailers.
The aim is to encourage production of sewn goods in Europe. The plan will start with T-shirts and create automation capability within European manufacturing. The company then plans to build those capabilities across a wider range of products, including footwear, since Europe has historically been a focal point of footwear.
SoftWear, which launched in 2012, aims to change the current inefficient market environment by creating autonomous sewn goods work lines for home goods, footwear and automotive sectors. With its patented fully automated sewbots disruptive technology, the company aims at geographically shortening the distance between manufacturer and consumer by utilising the benefits of disruptive technologies.
Sewbots use a combination of patented high-speed computer vision and lightweight robotics to steer fabric to and through the needle with greater speed and accuracy than a human. Using sewbot work lines customers are expected to be able to increase productivity while decreasing their overall defect rate.
The company’s newest sewbot work line is available for global pre-order. The patented sewbot pick-place-sew automation has been expanded to fully-automated shoe uppers.
The fundamental problem in the fashion retail industry today is the wrong product at the wrong time and an oversupply of it. Localised manufacturing has to enter the strategic capability.
