Zund UK have partnered with Fashion-Enter to demonstrate a sustainable micro-factory concept in London, using Zund D3 digital cutting technology.
Fashion-Enter is a not-for-profit social enterprise which strives to be a centre of excellence within the fashion and textile industry, providing sampling, grading and production expertise as well as opportunities for learning and skills development.
The partnership has come about as a result of the increasing pressure for sustainable and on-demand production in the fashion industry. From fast fashion to sportswear, digitisation and automation are destined to play a pivotal role in apparel manufacturing, with single ply cutting providing the solution to changing demands across the textile industry.
In an increasingly digital production environment, order sizes are smaller, order cycles shorter, and the degree of customisation keeps increasing. Single orders, fast fashion and mass customisation are among the hottest trends in the industry and the plan is for Zund’s high-performance digital cutting systems to enable fully automated digital cutting with minimal manual intervention as part of a broader solution for these trends.
‘The project is aimed at brands and retailers; we want to demonstrate to them how they can create a sustainable manufacturing facility in the UK,’ explained Dean Ashworth, sales and marketing director at Zund UK. ‘We believe onshoring apparel manufacturing will support the growing trend for made-to-order and ethical production.
‘Furthermore, technology and production strategies are developing to deliver the capabilities needed to reshape the fashion industry. Zund single-ply cutters are setting new standards in speed, efficiency, and accuracy. The Zund D3 cutter delivers ultimate performance and productivity with two cutting beams operating simultaneously with sophisticated nesting algorithms increasing material yield and helping to keep production costs low.’
Jenny Holloway, chief executive officer at Fashion-Enter added, ‘In light of the recent unprecedented demand for make in the UK, the timing of our unique partnership is excellent. In the last week alone, we have had five major retailers and e-tails contact FEL for speed of response fashion and now, thanks to Zund’s outstanding cutting technology we can commit to leaner and more efficient manufacturing.
‘Zund is particularly effective on one piece flow which is the future of garment manufacturing working within the parameters of a micro factory which in time we will extend to our Welsh site too in Newtown Powys. We would like to say a genuine thank you to the amazing team of Zund who spent the last week installing and calibrating the D3 cutter. Now this really is state-of-the-art-manufacturing.’
