The Flexible Automation of Garment Assembly

The manufacture of garments is important in many countries, not only because of economics but also because of the social and political issues arising from the employment of large numbers of people, often concentrated in particular districts. In addition, the production of textiles is often economically and geographically close to garment manufacture. Indeed some major companies have a policy of vertical integration of the two activities. In Europe in 1990 the clothing industry employed about 1 million people and an extra 0.5 million in the knitting industry. The figures for the UK were 213,000 and 72,500 respectively, with exports increasing in the value of over £2 billion by 1992.