NaturalDyers · Textile mass-personalisation and process-automation, integrating the textile value-chain to deliver scalable ‘Virtual Giga Factory’ production of biodegradable woven textiles.

The supply-side value-chain of the textiles industry is highly fragmented, with difficulties in planning and scalable production of biodegradable material and produce bio-based yarns. Additionally, the sector is not verticalized on the supply-side, so powerful actors on the demand side control the supply-chain, whether big retailers or luxury Haute Couture design houses. The textile industry is a massive market employing millions, the majority being SME or self-employed professionals. Climate Change and other natural phenomena are further destabilising the regular supply of raw bio-based material. Small players are struggling in the face of further industrialisation, automation and consolidation of power. Big players mostly focus on chemical-based materials, so they can plan high-scale production - they struggle to find a way out from the major social and ecological challenges upstream. Consumers, designers, ateliers and other agents increasingly demand higher-quality customisable textiles with stricter sustainability criteria. Policy makers are pressing for better social and eco-efficiency practices.The emergence of digital technologies (connectivity, cloud-platforms, Internet-of-Things, and emergence of Smart Factories) is enabling a new era that will transform the way the textile industry is organised, redefining the bargaining relationships across the entire supply chain, and promoting organised mass-production of biodegradable fibres. Digitisation is promising new methods that make biodegradable production of fibres and natural dyes predictable and scalable, mitigating climatic risks, seasonality, and organising supply of raw material, promoting a circular bio-based economy.Digitisation provides democratisation to thousands participating in the value-chain, enabling co-organisation and cloud-based process-automation.NaturalDyers promises to disrupt the traditional value-chain and relation structures to address the important challenges faced by the industry.