When Fast Fashion Becomes Faster
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Interestingly enough, similar to the way fashion manufacturing was one of the first industries to be mechanized by machinery in the late 1800s, the industry has now become one of the first to become subject to the rise of automation.
Garment production requires plenty of skill and dexterity, previously only held by humans. But now, automated machines are able to operate in much more complex and agile ways. Although automation in sewing processes may not be as far along as automation in driving technology, for example, significant progress is being made due to advancements in AI and machine learning technology. However, some severe economic concerns come along with this stream of automation within garment production.
When we think of AI and automation, the names of highly developed countries like the United States and China come to mind. But much of the world’s clothing is produced in developing countries, such as Bangladesh, which has 3.5 million citizens working in garment factories. The majority of the workers are sole, breadwinning, women who depend on their jobs to support their families. Many workers are illiterate and possess rudimentary math skills, and thus do not have many other opportunities. These people are at high risk of possibly using their entire livelihood due to automation within their work. Bangladesh needs to add 2 million jobs per year to keep up with the expanding labor force, but the number of jobs added in the garment industry within the country has fallen to 60 thousand per year. In fact, some countries may encounter losses of up to 80% of jobs in the garment sector; automation within clothing production is not making this number any better. One solution to the problem may be for developing nations to focus more on education within such countries, such that the labor force can re-skill and perform higher-level work once their manufacturing jobs are replaced. Actions like these need to be expedited, however, as many companies are making large strides in garment production automation. Based out of Japan, Yoho has developed effective machinery that automates the time-consuming processes of clothing manufacturing (although its high costs have prevented it from becoming pervasive in developing nations). Another business in Arkansas called SoftWear is close to creating a fully automated manufacturing process that requires no human assistance whatsoever.
So, we are keen to ask ourselves: How will the workforce of developing nations be impacted by the rise of automation within the garment industry and how should these nations respond? If/once the entire manufacturing process becomes automated, where will it be hosted- advanced, western nations, or the same developing countries?
