Innovations in clothing manufacturing driving change in the fashion industry

With more pressure on clothing manufacturers to find eco and sustainable manufacturing methods than ever before, technology is working hard to come to the rescue.

We took a look at some of the innovations in clothing manufacturing to find out just how much technological advancements are changing the clothes we wear.

Tackling mounting clothing waste

With large amounts of clothing going to waste each year, it is great that there are processes to turn unwanted or unusable materials into something beneficial. In the past, discarded garments would end up in landfill even though just under a quarter of items would be suitable for recycling, and so Fibersort stepped in to stop this from happening.

Textiles must be sorted so that there are no mixed materials, and doing this by hand is labour intensive, and people are prone to making mistakes. However, artificial intelligence is making the process quicker and easier in the form of fabric sorting machines. These machines can sort through approximately 900kg of fabric per hour and separate materials based on scanning the item with infra-red rays to detect its characteristics. It then compares this with an inbuilt library of materials and sends the item to the correct sorted area.

This technological advancement is making it more viable to sort unwanted items and convert them into new clothes.

The development of moving renders reduces carbon footprint

Traditionally, clothing would be made in many different versions before a final design was agreed upon. Each of these draft versions would use materials and skilled workers to tweak and change a design, resulting in hundreds of options being sent to landfill after the final design was approved.

One way that this is now being avoided is with the use of 3D imaging technology. This technology not only reduces the significant waste of fabric and time, but it produces lifelike renders that can be adjusted and considered long before a final design is agreed upon. According to the Hainsworth website, this advancement in technology can then be converted into a design that the manufacturer can use to create the garments. Not only does this save a lot of wastage, but it also streamlines the process and makes it easier for design teams to get right before production begins.

Long-lasting, biodegradable denim

When you think about something being biodegradable, you would normally assume that it will be easily broken down and not last for long. However, Candiani Denim is taking the traditional denim and turning it into a biodegradable solution that has a long lifespan.

The denim produced by Candiani Denim is a stretch fabric made from organic cotton that is wrapped around natural rubber. Plus, to ensure that wearers never lose the stretch comfort that they love, the brand has worked hard to come up with a yarn that is fine enough to produce the results we want to see.

Not only will this denim help you to support the environment, but it offers better stretch than any other denim on the market. Sadly, it is around 25% more expensive to manufacture at this time, making it a luxury fabric that will take time to be seen on the mainstream high street.

Slowly saying goodbye to fast fashion

With the ever-increasing pressure on the fashion industry to banish fast fashion, we can see that change is coming. Using technological advancements, better quality materials and innovative ideas in clothing manufacturing, sustainability seems more likely than ever before.