Textile manufacturing is a trillion dollar industry, however, its operations still largely lean on manual labor. This puts human workers in ergonomically uncomfortable conditions, opens up workers to risks of respiratory diseases from poor air quality and injuries from fast moving machines, and prevents the US from re-shoring this growing industry. Beyond risks for consumers and workers, this also creates national security vulnerabilities with the US being unable to rapidly produce defense supplies created from textiles like tents, parachutes, life preservers, PPE, and others. And with imports representing more than 97% of the clothing sold in the US, we also lose out on significant economic opportunities.
The use of robotics and AI would lead to safer working conditions, create new opportunities for workers to take on meaningful roles working alongside robotics rather than completing manual labor, and enable the US to finally re-shore this critical industry.