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Silicon Angle: Automating Couture

Automating couture could be among the defining movements for today’s generation, creating on-demand fashion as readily as a Netflix episode. A departure from the mid-century revolution of mass production, mass customization revels in cheap technology scaled for the home. Given the global market for textiles and garments is estimated to be worth some $300 trillion, it’s a prime industry for automation. Yes, even the fashion industry is being taken over by robots. What’s that mean for shoppers, designers, and the people being replaced by machines?

These are questions to be discussed at this month’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX, with SoftWear Automation Inc. CEO KP Reddy. Creating fully automated robots for cutting and sewing garments, Reddy is looking to disrupt a labor-intensive industry with technology for higher returns and to bring more jobs to the U.S. (the U.S. is currently the largest importer of garments in the world). Ahead of his SXSW presentation, Robotic Manufacturing Will Deliver Customization, I caught up with Reddy to learn firsthand the developments in high-tech fashion.

Read the full article on Silicon Angle.