Impact of Shoe Making Machines on Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable fashion means products of fashion clothing, shoes and accessories produced, marketed and consumed in the least damaging way to the environment and poor people in the world. The pillars of sustainable fashion include the following; decrease in environmental footprint in production and consumption, decent working conditions during production, and circular economy.

Due to increased awareness of the effects of fast fashion which is cheap, and made in a short time, sustainable fashion has gained traction. Yet, creating genuinely sustainable mass-market fashion is not a simple task, as it implies innovations in materials, production processes, business models, and consumers’ behavior. Specifically, there is still a large potential for improving sustainability in shoe production, like with BSM India’s shoe making machines.

Sustainability of Shoe Making Machinery

Recent technological development in automated shoe making machines present hope towards improvement in environmental sustainability of shoes. Automated shoemaking on the other hand has the potential to revolutionize the current unsustainable globalized industry through localized production, minimum material wastage, support for circular manufacturing, and technology upgrades.

Automation for Efficient Shoemaking

Shoemaking is a very strenuous process that requires a lot of work and many resources. Earlier, it comprised risky tools and equipment and also a lot of effort was put through manual work. New generation Automatic shoe manufacturing machines are therefore changing the ways production is done, in the interest of the employees and the environment. Key innovations include:

Automatic cutting machines that are operated by computers in order to minimize wastage by cutting leather and other materials in the right sizes.
Produces automated stitching and bonding machines that perform the joining of shoe parts efficiently and with no heat damage.
3D printers and injection molds which make it possible to develop small quantities or customized production to discourage overproduction.
Innovative applications of smart factory technology in the contexts of energy, water, logistics and quality management.

There is high initial cost for brands when they decide to employ automated equipment in the production of their shoes, but the process makes productivity higher, cost per unit lower and the shoes produced through more sustainable processes in general.

Use of Eco-Friendly Materials

Some of the new machines employed in shoemaking are tailored to work with materials that have a decreased negative impact on the environment as compared to leather or synthetic materials based on fossil fuel plastics. Options include fabrics made from:

Recycled plastic bottles
Plant-based “leathers”
Organic cotton, hemp and other natural textiles
Pulp and other cellulose based materials

The adaptability of automated cutting, stitching, and molding equipment allow for more trials of other sustainable fabrics. Another beneficial effect of the automation is that the production of shoes made of recycled, plant based and compostable materials is easier and cheaper when scaled up.

Circular Business Models

The technology that is revolutionizing contemporary shoemaking brings new possibilities for introducing circular economic systems, where products are recycled or repurposed into new chains of production. Ideas in development for shoe brands include

Shoe collection programs that encourage customers to return used shoes
Disassembly capabilities on automated machines
Equipment for sorting and reprocessing of recyclable materials
Surface scanning and modeling to allow for refurbishment/updates
Products’ parts harvesting systems to deliver fixes and remanufacturing

The fashion industry will need to shift from purely linear ‘make, use, dispose’ paradigm to circular strategies in the future to minimize waste. Used shoes recycling and recycling machines will likely be used in high turnover of pre-consumer and post-consumer shoes and other materials.

The New Frontier of Additive Manufacturing

Also known as 3D printing, additive manufacturing entails processes that build objects layer by layer without relying on molds or cutting tools. One of them is 3D printing which has infiltrated many industries including footwear industry in the last decade. Benefits of 3D printed shoes include:

Personalization based on the shape and the preferred style of the feet
Reducing the number of materials used in the production process in attempts to reduce wastage.
Flexibility in fixing or replacing certain components of the shoe
Measures available to recycle raw materials and bring them back to the printing process

This concept of 3D shoes is still a young market, but this is one of the directions that can change the approach to shoe making to be more sustainable and personalized. Technological tools such as robotic 3D printers help reduce the amount of work and effort needed to produce individualized shoes in large quantities.

Conclusion

It is therefore evident that the possibilities of fully automated shoemaking could help eradicate these sustainability issues. Nevertheless, mainstream adoption has limitations such as high costs of machinery, training workforces, developing local supply chains, and changing consumer awareness. This means that industry investments and policy incentives will be important in spurring the wider shift to sustainable automated footwear production as a new standard. In sum, the shoe making machines are a perfect opportunity to steer the entire fashion industry towards a less wasteful and more sustainable future. To begin today, visit BSM India!