The fashion industry generates global sales of over $1.4 trillion dollars, while the décor marketplace is valued at $664 billion.
The textiles industry is a vast ecosystem and an exciting, vibrant, fast-paced sector of commerce, full of promising opportunities for manufacturers.
It’s also a growing marketplace, and one that’s predicted to flourish as global affluence increases alongside the world population, which will rise to 9.7 billion by 2050.
However, textiles are also the second largest polluter of our planet—and that must change. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of sustainability issues, and many actively seek to make conscious choices in their daily purchases. This is soon to be accelerated by a generational swing towards a more eco-conscious lifestyle, as a recent survey estimates that 62 percent of Gen Z consumers prefer to buy sustainable products.
Digital technologies are part of the solution. Innovation offers a clean, efficient option to the effluent-heavy, energy-consuming textile industry of the past, making for a sustainable present. We are also witnessing a sea change in consumer behavior and a swing towards customization and personalization; previous manufacturing processes and supply chains are no longer viable. As digital nomads, our manufacturing ecosystem is set for massive technological disruption—an evolution that’s critical if we’re to deliver the sustainable products consumers demand.
Welcome to a new generation of digital textile technologies, built to protect the future of our planet.
Digital textile printing uses less than 5 percent of the energy consumed by traditional processes. It also uses almost no water, offering a clean, efficient, sustainable solution by saving precious resources.
Highly automated and labor-efficient, digital textile production and its machinery demand a fraction of the footprint of traditional manufacturing. The technologies for the next Industrial Revolution are light on resources consumed, nimble in production and flexible in location. They offer the world’s manufacturing community myriad possibilities for centralized, nearshore production in order to reduce carbon emissions as many of the world’s brands move to become carbon-neutral.
As we enter a new era of digital production, how we manage our supply chain is of great significance. Using smart technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality in retail environments enables brands worldwide to deliver intelligent, real-time stock—building close, transparent relationships with suppliers for optimum efficiency, whereby products are manufactured just in time and delivered to a local distribution. All of this combines for a positive impact by reducing the volume of product in any brand’s workflow and further encourages nearshore production.
Data-driven digital manufacturing delivers products to the consumer in a sustainable manner, dramatically reducing both overstock and waste.
Utilizing clean, energy-efficient digital print technologies, successful brands of the future will control waste by printing on demand. This reduces inventory, lowers carbon emissions and preserves our Earth’s precious resources. Adopting new technologies dramatically reduces the waste of the past to offer a vibrant, clean and sustainable future for textile manufacturing worldwide.
Published On : 09-10-2019
Source : Sourcing Journal
