Vienna-based Silana, a startup that has developed the world’s first sewing robot, aiming to counter the precarious working conditions in garment manufacturing, just raised €1.5 million.
The round is led by the renowned DeepTech investor SOSV, alongside participation in the hardware accelerator HAX in New York. Also involved are the OÖ HightechFonds, tech investor Material V, a US billionaire family, textile producer Tim Becht, waterdrop founders Martin & Henry Murray, sustainability expert in the textile industry Yoobin Jung, and Sequoia Scout and former N26 CGO Alexander Weber. The additional capital will be used to accelerate development, with the aim of delivering the first machines next year.
Currently, 100% of all clothing items are produced by hand. The high labor costs associated with this have led many producers to relocate to Southeast Asia—not without consequences. “A single T-shirt often requires 12-15 people working in slave-like conditions for up to 12 hours at a time,” said Michael Mayr (COO), whose family operates Austria’s largest fashion retailer, Fussl Modestraße, and emphasizes a responsible supply chain.
“The clothing industry is responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions. At the same time, over 90% of workers in manufacturing plants earn wages insu\icient for their survival. Nearly a third of produced clothing items cannot be sold and end up being shipped to already overflowing landfills in Africa,” explained Michael Hofmannrichter (CEO), highlighting the precarious circumstances in the fashion industry.
Founded in 2022, Silana aims to address this issue. With the help of Silana’s sewing robots, local producers can relocate their manufacturing back to Europe. Moving production closer to the point of sale not only minimizes lengthy transport by ship or plane but also significantly reduces resource consumption in manufacturing. “Overproduction can be e\ectively reduced to zero,” asserted Michael Mayr.
Automation engineer Anton Wohlgemuth (CTO) added that “a high degree of automation will make nearshoring garment production feasible again,” referring to consistent and predictable production costs comparable to those in Asia. Until now, high production costs and a severe shortage of skilled labor have been the obstacles preventing this.
Silana’s robot acts as the final piece in an optimized production puzzle, enabling fully automated production of every step from fabric roll to printed T-shirt, even in Austria. Each manufacturing step is performed by dedicated subsystems in individual robot cells within minutes. “We work with the most common fabrics and can, of course, also process sustainable viscose from Lenzing AG,” assured Michael Hofmannrichter.
Silana aims to revolutionize the textile industry. One billion garments should be produced regionally each year. Nearly 200 machines have already been pre-ordered by renowned producers worldwide, enabling the production of 30 million T-shirts per year with Silana’s SiBot. The product lines will be expanded to include polo shirts and other items in the coming years.
Silana was founded by Anton Wohlgemuth (CTO), Michael Mayr (COO), and Michael Hofmannrichter (CEO). The founders bring extensive experience in the textile industry. Michael Mayr comes from the founding family of Fussl Modestraße, which operates over 200 stores in Austria and Germany. Michael Hofmannrichter previously worked at B&C Industrieholding in investment management for the largest sustainable fiber producer, Lenzing AG. Anton Wohlgemuth, formerly a research scientist at TU Vienna, has extensive experience in software and hardware engineering.
The team has since grown to eight members. They are currently seeking ambitious hardware and software engineers to tackle the challenge of “automating the processing of flexible materials, a task that will fundamentally change our society,” emphasized Anton Wohlgemuth.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/05/vienna-based-robotics-startup-silana-raises-e1-5-million-to-optimise-the-clothing-production-puzzle/
