Re:Sears Hasn’t Fared Better After Bankruptcy
by mywittyname on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @03:28PM
(#21262648)
Do you really benefit much from having robots do the cutting? I suspect most of the skill and costs are in the assembly.
Modern Tailor offers MtM clothing starting at like $50.
Re:Sears Hasn’t Fared Better After Bankruptcy
by mncharity on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @07:46PM
(#21265397)
It's mass-production sewing, just with non-uniform stock. The customized pattern cutting provides the customized fit. Instead of boxes full of identically-cut pieces to be assembled, there's a packet with someone's customized pieces. Which is why the US getting out of mass-production apparel manufacturing was a problem.
Perhaps this was a niche in which US apparel manufacturing might have remained viable, with customization and shipping proximity supporting the extra US costs. It seems regrettable that the possibility wasn't better explored.
That was a startup two decades back. Built on automated pattern cutting. MVP was customized khakis. You'd enter detailed measurements on a website; machine-cut parts were assembled "manually" the next-ish day; then FedEx. Had a little tag with a number, so you could order "just like N, but let out a 1/2 inch". It was nifty.
It was acquired by Levis, which mismanaged it into nonexistence. Last-ish factory in the US providing that assembly closed, plus the patent, and that was the end of that. IIRC.
Perhaps in China? Years back, if you needed a new wardrobe of suits, it was worth a trip to HK just for that.