Microfactory musings
By Centre of Excellence Director, Lisa Lake
Hands up if you love Australian fashion?
We do, too.
And if you’re like 43.4% of Australians you also want that fashion produced locally. Perhaps you’re also like the more than 40% of Australian shoppers who say sustainability drives their fashion purchase decisions.
How would you feel about supercharging the sustainability impact of your clothes by ensuring the garments are produced in a facility using renewable energy, and created on-demand, meaning there is no excess fashion production? And what if we told you the garments could be ready the same day you place your order? Too good to be true? Not necessarily.
Microfactories using advanced manufacturing equipment can enable this Australian fashion future.
Seamless knit machines, like UTS’ recently acquired Shima Seiki WHOLEGARMENT machine, are operated by highly-skilled technicians manipulating specialised computer programs to produce a wide range of knitwear. Due to the nature of production, with each machine producing one whole garment at a time, it is very straightforward to create garments on-demand.
We envision a not-so-distant future when microfactories using this technology are set up throughout Australia – from our capitals’ inner cities to regional centres – providing well-paid work for the technicians managing the machines.
These microfactories would mean that it would be possible for retailers to have physical spaces with limited samples available for viewing – enabling the customer and brand experience without the excess inventory. Once a garment was purchased, production would be set in motion through a local microfactory, ready for collection the same day. Though, a physical retail location won’t be a requirement. The advancement of virtual garment renders using 3D design technologies, as we’ve seen in the AFC FashTech Lab program, mean we can view garments online that look just like the “real” thing. In that case, an online order could start production for a new garment, no retail bricks and mortar required.
This is just one type of microfactory that could support the local industry in onshoring manufacturing.
Next on our wish list? Spinning machines and digital jacquard looms. We want these for our own R&D microfactory, so we can aid in the creation and testing of novel sustainable fibres and textiles. But we also want these to learn alongside local raw material producers about what is needed to onshore more material processing and textile production.
If you would like to dream about microfactories with us, or have a yarn about spinning and weaving technologies (sorry, we couldn’t resist that pun), please reach out anytime.