Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the No Ordinary Cloth podcast, where we stitch together a rich tapestry of textile innovations, one episode at a time. I'm your host, Millie Tharakin, a textile innovator and researcher. And in this podcast, I'll give you a glimpse into the future, shedding light on innovations bubbling up at the intersection of textiles, emerging technology, craft and sustainability. Join me as I sit down with pioneers who are radically reimagining the very way we make, use and remake textiles. In today's episode, we're asking the big question. Can we design waste out of the design production process?
Speaker: What if instead of accepting offcuts and dead stocks and overproduction as a given, we re-engineer how garments are made so that the waste never exists in the first place? Gratia Audrin, the founder and CEO of WEFIN, is inviting us into a world where fabric weaving and garment constructions are condensed literally into one step, where sleeves and pockets and collars are flat-packed and woven inside the fabric.
Speaker: and the cloth that comes off the loom magically unfolds into a shirt or a jacket. I know all that sounds really crazy, but this is cutting edge technology that is complex yet at its heart so beautifully simple like origami folding.
Speaker: Wefin is creating a new design language for fashion, reshaping the supply chain and unlocking possibilities for the Jacquard loom that we never thought were possible. These almost otherworldly garments that she makes are no more little prototypes, but they are hanging in stores in major fashion capitals around the world. This episode is absolutely going to blow your mind.
Speaker: And if you're a weaver, especially, it may well keep you up all night trying to figure out how on earth she's done this. It's an incredible story. Let's dive right in and catch up with Gratia.
Speaker: Hi, Gratia. It is absolutely wonderful to have you with us on the No Ordinary Clot podcast. i remember meeting you a couple of years ago at the Future Fabrics Expo, where you had a few samples there on a table. There was this 3D woven shirt. I remember it was like olive green. um i think I still have a photo of it, actually. And I remember being quite blown away by it. I felt like you had...
Speaker: I think cracked a code um that opened up a whole new world for weavers and our very understanding of what is possible on a loom or specifically a Jacquard loom. And I remember telling myself, I need to keep a close eye on this one because this is pretty radical. And it's coming up to just two years since that day.
Speaker: And you have gone from a couple of samples at ah ah at an event in London to having 3D tailored suit in retail stores of the couture brand Balenciaga as part of their spring summer 2026 collection. Oh my gosh, that is so exciting. i really I want to give you a big hug right now. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. And so congratulations on this. What you have achieved is remarkable amazing.
Speaker: in so many levels. So I have a lot of questions to ask you about this journey you've had over the last two, three years. So let's get right into it and unpack what happens at the intersection of weaving, origami and garment construction.
Speaker: And before we start geeking out on the technology, give us a quick introduction about yourself and is there a story behind the name of your company Wefin? Tell us about it.
Speaker: Yeah, well, firstly, thank you so much for having me. I'm also very excited to have the opportunity to talk about the journey that we've come on because it has been quite an insane growth in the past ah year. But yeah, just as just a little introduction to me, I'm kind of a textile designer and textile engineer that has specialized in weaving. I went to Central Saint Martins. That was where I kind of first was introduced to weaving. And it's been pretty much my research focus for the past six years on three d weaving um manufacturing processes and 3D weaving methodology. WEFN was founded in 2020, I think. So it's been really a long time in purely research and development. But yeah, in the past year, as you mentioned, we've had the big commercial launch with Balenciaga, which kind of proves out this way of making at scale. So the commercial feasibility was a huge moment for us. In terms of the name, it's kind of a funny name.
Speaker: I spent a long time thinking about, well, I just love weaving. That is number one. I geek out on weaving. I've spent the past six years researching weaving. So the name kind of came from weaving, weft, warp, you know, all of these like wooa woa words. And then in German, Waffen is actually means weapon.
Speaker: I thought it was a cool word in just like the weapon of like sustainable change or like, you know, the tool, what is a weapon is a tool. And so, yeah, it was a made up word in all of these explorations of Waffen, Weffen weaving, things like that. yeah i are So interesting. So interesting. I'm glad I asked you that. Yeah, it's a random one. But I always say like, oh, weapon means the weapon of sustainable change. You know, like that's the, that's the.
Speaker: Perfect. I love that. So you are creating 3D woven or sort of origami folded garments. And this is a whole new category or method of garment construction, right? So can you explain in the simplest way possible to our listeners what that actually means? Yeah.
Speaker: It's a funny one. It seems complicated, but actually fundamentally it's it's quite simple when you break it down. But what we do, it's this 3D weaving technology, which sounds super fancy and super complex, but it's just a way of actually embedding the garment shape directly into the fabric as it's being woven. So it's how we do it. Our methodology is basically through this flat folding, as you mentioned, origami approach, where we actually take the garment shape and we flatten it down into its kind of 2D state. And actually through the 3D weaving technique, we can actually weave it into the fabric essentially at the same time. So it's it's really about kind of baking and flat packing the garment shape into the fabric. And then we have a process of cutting to release the garment shape out and it becomes its 3D form. So it's kind of going from like a 3D shape into a 2D and back out to three d I would say the reason why we 3D weave is that we actually can use... It's a way of reducing fabric waste before it's even created, really. The process in itself is extremely... Well, yeah, it reduces waste quite significantly. So in this kind of flat packing way and embedding the garment into the fabric... we're able to actually use less yarn. So we actually reduce the fabric footprint. And then on top of that, we use and we waste less fabric. So it's a way of using less yarn and wasting less fabric as well. I would say the notable thing in our process is that we use existing weaving machines.
Speaker: So that's a really exciting point for us. um And it means that we can go into any fabric mill and kind of transform their existing Jacquard machines to weave garments instead of just fabric. So yeah, that's a real exciting point on what we do.
Speaker: So going back to the fabric footprint, so I understand that, you know, the footprint traditionally that one shirt requires the amount of fabric that's needed to make one shirt. You're able to sort of pack in five shirts into the same material footprint. if that If I can even get my head around that, which is mind blowing. so what's actually happening here, you know, in that full logic, which allows you to sort of pack so much into that same amount of fabric?
Speaker: Yeah, no, that was a case study that we're actually working on at the minute that was just mind blowing for us as well. When we put together the data, we were like, that's quite impressive. So if you think traditionally pattern pieces like, you know, the front of the body, the the front of the sleeve are all individual pattern pieces that are placed on top of the fabric. Normally that process kind of wastes a lot of off-cut waste, which is like the unused fabric, as well as a lot of fabric meterage. So it takes you know two meters or one and a half to make a shirt because all of those pieces are individually placed separate from each other.
Speaker: What we're doing is we're actually combining and stacking. So the front of the body is stacked on top of the back of the shirt. you know Those two pattern pieces are stacked and then overlapped with another piece um like the sleeve head, and we're actually kind of condensing the space that it occupies into a smaller footprint through stacking and folding, if that makes sense.
Speaker: And so that way we can reduce the fabric usage because it's all being kind of flat packed together. So then, you know, if a listener is not used to sort of working in the textile industry or garment manufacturing, you kind of wonder, wow, that seems like a lot of effort. You know, how much, how much waste, how much fabric waste are we really saving? What is the big problem that we're trying to solve here with this technology?
Speaker: Well, I guess the real mission of why Weffen was founded was really looking at waste as a design flaw. And that actually the way that we produce our clothes has waste inherently baked in. i think it's about 15% of all fabric is just wasted in offcuts minimum. So that's...
Speaker: ah a production system that is just baked in with waste as ah as a rule of law. And what we realize is those unused fabric bits are just because of how we are making clothes, like how the process of manufacturing is going about. And we realized that if we are able to solve the problem at the design stage, we kind of eliminate waste before it's created.
Speaker: And that's really the thing is how can we take a design led approach to reduce waste before it's created? In terms of the complication of making this type of garment, it's inherently simple for everyone who's interacting with us. And that's kind of where we're placed. We have the technical expertise and the domain knowledge to simplify it for a customer.
Speaker: So currently we're kind of working in a service model in that we work with brands like Balenciaga to you know develop interesting new design shapes. They wanted a tailored suit. So we do all of that work internally as part of our design lab. But what we're actually developing and the the long-term vision of WEFN is actually baking this into a design and production software. So actually allowing people to use these types of design methods without having to know how to 3D weave, that all of these things would be baked in. And so it'd be ah from a user experience, a very straightforward way. It's a normal way of designing. It just has that inherent kind of knowledge baked in.
Speaker: So we'll come back to how you have become partly a software designer and developer ah from starting off as a textile weaver. But kind of going into slightly more juicy part of this technology, you said this is a service that you can provide a brand. So they come to you. do they come with ah with a little sketch?
Speaker: From a designer, or where what is the starting point? And from that sketch of a suit that they want to make, can you talk us through what are the steps all the way to what happens, you know, on the loom? And then the moment where you have this cut and release, which is where all the magic happens that...
Speaker: that shirt sort of unfolds in front of you and becomes a shirt rather than it being sort of folded and layered up, which sounds really fun, by the way. i want to come to your studio and see that happening. But yeah, just to help a brand understand what that process and journey looks like.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. And that we have always baked in a level of flexibility in how we design with or engage with design teams because so many different fashion brands work in so many different ways.
Speaker: So we can go, as you mentioned, from a sketch or just ah a mood board, you know, of like, this is the garment that we're thinking about. And part of our service is that we actually develop the whole design for them.
Speaker: Most of our, for example, if I walk through the Balenciaga collaboration, What they have is they have a really classic tailored suit jacket that they know well and know kind of how much waste there is and things like that. And they come to us um essentially wanting to reduce waste in this style or develop something entirely new from an aesthetic point of view.
Speaker: So they come with ah an already baked design. And what we do is we kind of reverse engineer it. So we take that tailored suit jacket and we offer a range of different, we call them construction concepts that have varying different impact concepts.
Speaker: analysis. So it's, do you want to have this kind of style, it reduces waste by 55% or this style is 63%, you know, so we give kind of a range of different concepts. And then from there, they select the one that kind of has the aesthetic qualities that they want and the waste impact that they, it's those two decisions. And then we kind of act as a design development service, you know, so we go all the way from the concept through to production. So we do sampling, however many rounds they want to do, fittings, we're getting measurements right, yeah, getting the sample perfect. And then we go to production. And in that way, we have a network of partner manufacturers. So as I mentioned, our kind of competitive advantage is that we can go into any fabric mill and transform their Jacquard machines.
Speaker: That means that we can actually build out networks in different regions. So we have one in the yeah UK, we have one in Italy, you know, growing into Asia. And through these networks, we can actually go and produce the garment. So it's really a service that goes from concept all the way through to production and engaging with them throughout it.
Speaker: Fantastic. You just make it really easy for brands to journey with you on this, what could seem like quite a scary new way of making their garments. But I'm curious if the three d for example, the tailored suit that you've made, does it look exactly like a cut and sew one or or where is it similar? How is it different because of the way it's manufactured?
Speaker: And this is actually a really exciting design innovation in that the way that the garment is made, we call it like there's seamless design constructions around, you know, a pocket. We've actually engineered the pocket directly into the shirt. So you get that seamless pocket innovation that is just otherworldly. People are like, but how is it done? You know? Yeah. And then the way that the garment is kind of flat folded actually means that there's kind of variable fabric densities. So you actually get different fabric qualities throughout the garment that can be engineered for durability or engineered for performance. And that's part of the service that we provide is actually engineering certain things um for yeah performance or durability or monomateriality. If we look at a the shirt example that we talked about previously.
Speaker: We can actually engineer um a thicker fabric around the col the collar stand and the cuff that normally has to be thicker. And there's like fusing. um So it's like a multi-material garment, which is really hard for like recycling and things like that. So we're actually engineering different fabric densities in specific areas to actually eliminate the fusing. So we can offer like a fully monomaterial circular garments, 100% cotton without any fusing. So those are kind of the design led innovations that we can offer. The garment does look different. And I think that is what designers are really appreciate with this type of weaving, or I guess this way of making clothes is that the aesthetic outcomes are unachievable without 3D weaving, that there's this actual kind of unique trademark to the garment that has a visual identification of this has been 3D woven because it has a specific kind of fray line or there's a seamless transition in this area and like all of these little details. So currently, i feel like we kind of sit in you know, those kind of like denim heads that are like, so they nerd out on like Japanese selvage denim because it's got those like red yarn on the seam, you know, like there's these specific design led innovations that are, if anyone nerds out on like garment construction, it'll be evident to them.
Speaker: And that's, I think where we are right now when it's such a new way of making and a new approach to aesthetics. Yeah. it becomes kind of like a cult item. think that's originally why Balenciaga under Demna was super interested in this idea. had been exploring 3D weaving technologies before we were introduced. And it was again, because of this otherworldly new aesthetic that can't be achieved anywhere, in any way else. So yeah, that was kind of an interesting thing.
Speaker: Another bit of detail that I was so impressed by was how you get these, the seamless pattern matching that you're able to achieve. You know, if it's a stripe or whatever, it just, there's a continuation, which when it comes garment construction and sewing, that's a real skill to kind of align all the lines together and make it perfect. And you're able to do that on the loom, which tell us more about this. That's an extremely exciting design innovation that we're yeah super excited about.
Speaker: On one front, it's a super wasteful process to actually match um patterns. So if you think of a stripe, you have to perfectly seamlessly match the pocket onto the the shirt front or even the side seams. It takes a highly skilled seamstress and it consumes a lot of fabric. So on those two fronts, we can actually... because it's woven fabric inherently, you can actually design the weave pattern into the garment, you know, so you can do two at the same time. And so, you know, when you talk about the pocket, that's embedded on to the shirt front. And so that has that seamless transition already baked in, or the side seams are fully fashioned. And we actually have what we call three d woven seams, which are basically the the whole fabric coming together in kind of like a selvage type way. So we don't have to sew that area. And so the pattern seamlessly wraps around the body. So on those areas, we're actually able to reduce waste and fabric usage by quite a lot. In one case study with the shirts, I think it was fantastic. 55% that we reduced in the textile offcut waste, but then we're also, it was a 28% reduction in the actual fiber use. So like the amount of fabric used. So yeah, because of this pattern matching innovation.
Speaker: Gosh, those are big numbers when you look at how much fabric that is, it saves, because you're making multiple of any of these, right? And I'm trying to just imagine how this happens on the loom. So is it you have a whole shirt, you know, the width of salvage to salvage, is there one shirt or sort of five alongside each other? Yeah, so that's actually part of our team and what we do as well as we kind of nest the pieces in the most optimal way. So it's really about packing it into as as tight a footprint as possible.
Speaker: That's kind of a standard practice. A lot of, I mean, even conventional manufacturing, they want to use every square inch of of the fabric. So they nest the pattern pieces in the right way. Our a ability is that we can actually get the whole shirt in that same stack, you know, so it's really about opening up the depth of the fabric rather than just the length. But yeah, if you can imagine, the shirt is just two shirts can be stacked along the full width of the fabric and then multiples from there. So it is really kind of seeing like a shirt in the fabric. I know it's it must be so hard for listeners who haven't actually seen this. and You know, I've seen your sample and it is quite, like you said, it's quite otherworldly when you look at it. You know, you're like, how is this made? It really kind of puzzles you. So this roll of fabric comes off the loom and it's got these multiple shirts that are sort of in it already, ready. And then you you do this cut and release thing.
Speaker: step which kind of unfolds the shirt. Is there any other step that's needed once it comes off the loom? I'm guessing you need to add some buttons to it, any other detailing that needs to be done?
Speaker: Yeah, so we say about like 70% of the garment is actually baked into the fabric. So sometimes it's actually garment shapes. It'll be like a fully fashioned sleeve, but that has to be attached into the body. So there is actually still finishing. And then as you mentioned, there is the buttons and certain um finishing details that have to be constructed. So there is that finishing step once it's been cut to release that is standard practice and just kind of follows standard tailoring techniques. But I'm imagining the amount of time, not just resources, materials, but the time that you save in making a garment using this technology is huge. Have you tried to quantify that a little bit?
Speaker: Yeah. So in that actual, the SHIRT case study, we actually found that we were able to reduce Well, actually, we can point out to the Balenciaga impact. So because the jacket and the trouser were quite fully fashioned and in a lot of the elements, we were able to reduce sew time 28% in it was 30% in jacket.
Speaker: trouser and i think it was thirty percent in the jacket so that's on time. And then also on the weaving time, we're able to reduce that time as well because we're actually weaving less fabric, if that makes sense. So standard, you know, it might be like six meters to produce this jacket. um You would need six meters of fabric. We were actually able to condense it down into three meters. So the actual time that the machine is running is a lot less.
Speaker: So both on the sewing time and the weaving time, we can really reduce production as a whole. And I think and ah a lot of what we talk about is kind of in ah production lead times. And so many people are really interested in like on-demand manufacturing. And there's just so much waste in fabric buying, you know, like because fabric production takes so long, there's pre-ordering of fabric, which ends up being waste in some warehouse somewhere. So what we...
Speaker: Our kind of tackle of the kind of on-demand and the wasteful fabric overproduction system is around really reducing our production lead times. So we're essentially merging textile and garment manufacturing into one workflow.
Speaker: So even in that seamless pattern matching that we talked about, you know, we can actually design the fabric and the garment at the same time. So there's like really a collapsing of those processes into one step. Yeah.
Speaker: Gosh, it's fascinating. you You mentioned about working with people you've upskilled in UK and Italy and other parts. um So I'm guessing these are Jacquard technicians, weavers that you've worked closely with. What was that experience like when you brought this to them, this idea of, you know, sort of what they used to is maybe... weaving flat fabric, maybe tubular fabric to some extent, but really just layering it up in such a complex way. What was their response, reaction, ah questions, doubts, fears?
Speaker: I find it always really fun because, you know, we work with people that have been in the weaving industry for like 40 years. And then we kind of say like, oh, have you thought about multilayer weaving? And their minds just get blown, you know?
Speaker: And for them, it's super exciting because it's kind of a totally new way of designing and and doing things. So they normally are very receptive and super hungry to get, you know, working on it. So that's the same with the kind of garment factories as well, that they are they are trained in this really kind of like assembly line process of just focusing on, you know, sewing a straight line. And all of a sudden we're asking them to think in this kind of three-dimensional way and really almost unfolding a garment. And it's a mind exercise that I think they feel really empowered and engaged again with how things are made instead of just kind of that rote machine-like process of just doing this one thing over and over and over again. It's really about...
Speaker: yeah, kind of empowering them to to think about things differently. So I think in both cases, they've been extremely receptive and super excited by this kind of way of making.
Speaker: In terms of the actual like upskilling portion of things, we've actually found that, especially on the weaving side, it actually doesn't take a lot of time in calibrating their jacquard machines or upskilling them. And that's part of our technical expertise and our domain knowledge is we make everything very easy for them to engage with. The design team on a fashion brand, again, they don't have to know how to 3D weave. They just need to think about what styles and aesthetics they want. you know Same with the Jacquard manufacturer. They don't have to understand the weave structures and the weave codes, as we call them. We hand them all of the package, the production package. And so they're able to
Speaker: you know, be excited by the thing without kind of having the constraints and the roadblocks that we've spent six years working on. So we've done all the hard work. Yeah. and i love I love that you don't have to do much to the Jacquard looms themselves. You know, it just works with what is there. um In an earlier episode, we had interviewed Beth Espinessa of Unspun, who have developed a 3D weaving loom, which is a very different approach to the same problem.
Speaker: What made you go down this path of developing a software and weaving using existing technologies that have been around for centuries? I think that is mostly due to my background and also the background of the team. We are all kind of very design-led and super textile design focused. So our understanding of fabric is really deep. And so I knew when we are talking about 3D weaving,
Speaker: One, that's there's a range of types of 3D weaving in terms of like actual methodology. And you don't need a whole new machine to do what, yeah, to make clothes. I always thought that it's always such a shame with kind of like sustainable innovation that you know even like mushroom leather and things, they're asking customers and brands to adopt an entirely new supply chain. And these technologies and infrastructure have been, one, invested in over hundreds of years, but also it's a huge CapEx requirement, like ah a big ask to to ask people to invest in a totally and pivot.
Speaker: So it's always been a goal of mine to look at evolution rather than like revolution, you know, that really innovation can happen through modifying and yeah, modification is kind of ah a thing. So that was just inherently an approach. And it was also an understanding of textiles from its fundamentals that actually three d weaving fundamentally doesn't need in the type of 3D weaving that we do. That's one thing. The methodology that we use, we don't need a whole new machine and we can actually get a bigger range of flexibility with garment types if we used existing jacquard machines. So one of the things that we...
Speaker: say to brands and you know that Balenciaga was just head over heels with is that in one production run with no machine hardware setup or recalibration we're able to weave the tailored trouser the tailored suit jacket a shirt and a coat all in the same run Wow. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And in different, you could say different colors, you could, you could engineer different fabric qualities. So in terms of the flexibility in the production run from a just economic standpoint, that's ah really impressive from a design standpoint as well. It's also super exciting because you can have a whole collection made in one run, you know?
Speaker: My word. i mean, that is just so beautiful, Gracia. Sorry. i mean, it's just, you know, you build technologies, but this is what makes technology should be just just like magic. It should just delight you and it should just work. And I feel like you've really thought through that end user and what are they going to have to do and change to adopt this technology? You You lived inside their head and I feel like you are you were on the other side. You were the end user of ah a solution like this and you really brought to the table something that they could just say, oh obviously, em mean I barely need to do anything differently and look at all the... the benefits that I get out of it. And I think that's a beautiful solution. So yeah, again, congratulations on doing that. And it's, for me, I get excited because I feel like, you know, you really bring together that deep expertise and in textiles, in the craft of weaving, understanding that at such a granular level, and then bringing in concepts like origami into it. And of course, the whole layer of digital technology to support that.
Speaker: So very exciting. Yeah. And I think that was always part of the goal and how I see Wefin is that we're actually bringing like technology and craft together. Like even in the way that the seamstresses are working, it's high skilled labor. It's really empowering a level of craft from the weavers to the makers. And, you know, when we talk about like, oh, we're automating and we're making it more efficient.
Speaker: Yes, we're doing that, but still working. while keeping a very craft-based approach. And I think that's really the future is kind of supporting the craft whilst, you know, future-proofing it. i mean, this is, for me, this is genius. It really is.
Speaker: You mentioned a few types of garments that can be made. Are there any limitations of this technology? Is there, I don't know, skirts or dresses or something else that is just really difficult to crack on this system? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And I think with every thing that seems like magic, there's always kind of like, once you dig in deeper, you realize, oh, it's not all that great. I'm joking. But yeah, there are with any kind of new technology, there's obviously some constraints. With us, we go to kind of a fabric weight ah range. So for example, we can't really do like a ah heavyweight denim fabric weight that would kind of be out of our remit of the fabric range that we can do.
Speaker: What's exciting, so we kind of say that we can do like 100 GSM to like 250. So it is quite a large range in terms of fabric weight. So in terms of garment type, that really is any type of garment type. So we mostly speak of the fabric types rather than the garment types because...
Speaker: really um a shirt can be made out of silk and so can a skirt, you know, so it's about the weight of fabric of that silk fabric that is the important part.
Speaker: In terms of the garment types that we have tested, um and this is kind of our growing database of information that um would then be part of the software in terms of kind of a material and design library that people can access. We've been working a lot in ah shirts. Shirts are a really good quality for for us. Jackets, as you've seen, trousers, tailored trousers more like, and coats. We've done different coats and looking at kind of like more sportswear coating, kind of windbreakers and things like that.
Speaker: So really, it's just as that's kind of what we're mostly focused on is actually through these brand engagements and getting more fashion brand collaborations, we can explore a huge range of different materials and garment types. So we're just looking for more and more kind of collaborations because it's exciting for us, you know.
Speaker: Absolutely. Talking about collaborations, this one with Balenciaga, I understand this was probably like a two-year process to from the first time you started that conversation to having collection in the store. i mean, I think everyone wants to know, how did you how did you get to meet them, first of all, and what got them really excited about your technology? You shared a little bit about that, but what made them sit up and say, oh my goodness, I wanted i want to really try this out? And also, what was maybe some of the challenges you had through that collaboration, whether that's technical or business challenges, working with multiple teams, bring that um collaboration to life for us.
Speaker: I would say, firstly, i have to really thank the support for um the Caring Material Innovation Lab. So Caring has this program called the Material Innovation Lab, and they act almost as ah an incubator, or a support system around early stage innovations or innovations being brought forward to their portfolio of brands. So it was really through them that we got introduced to Balenciaga. And...
Speaker: The engagement, I mean, as I mentioned, Demna and the creative director at the time was very interested in three d weaving as a concept. And so he always, he had that kind of way of thinking already. And when we met with the design team, they were super excited by the innovation being kind of a design led innovation. So as I mentioned, all of these really cool different design things that we can do, we can do seamless pockets and we can pattern check and we can have like elimination of fusing in the cuffs. Like there's all these super from a garment making standpoint, like a really exciting thing for designers. So I think there was an immediate, it almost felt like so aligned and there was a synchronicity to everything, you know, it was such an easy pitch. yeah So yeah, it was, it was really fun. It felt like being in a playground and just exploring so many different ideas and shapes. And, you know, we were really
Speaker: Balenciaga was so amazing in allowing the support and time to really go into all these different areas. You know, like we looked at shirts that never went forward and coats that never, you know, we really did all sorts of crazy things.
Speaker: I would say the the biggest challenge for us was really that commercial push. So getting this methodology and this way of making into a commercially producible in a very tight timeline. So that kind of yeah production is a whole other animal than, you know, just sampling and things like that. And I know the production was very quick. I think it was faster than than most. They wanted us to cut the production time in half, which we were able to deliver on, but not without losing a bit of hair. Yeah. um So I think that for most innovations, I think that's kind of like the valley of death is getting kind of a an idea really into commercial validation and, you know, shipping to a global store kind of thing.
Speaker: So I think this collaboration proves that it can work at a couture level. The next question is whether it works at volume. You know, what are the constraints of scaling a technology like this? And can high street brand think or dream about using this approach?
Speaker: Yeah, and I think that's where the software comes in. The way that we scale is through taking essentially our technical expertise and our domain knowledge and putting it into something and an interface that is more people can use than just engaging with us. So the big the big scaling point is having that design and production software in place. And then on just the production side and the manufacturing side,
Speaker: Yeah, luxury end of the market that we're currently focused on is really because of our production partners. So one, we have this bespoke design service. So obviously that bespoke service is lengthy in time. So it requires a lot of resources So that is kind of a barrier of entry for some fashion brands, but we're looking at making internal workflow automations um to actually speed that up. So it isn't this huge two year development cycle that we could do it in six months. So that's one of our main goals, but also so it's about finding production partners that cannot meet a cheaper kind of fabric. Well, just cheaper prices.
Speaker: So different markets, different areas that, but that's just kind of a standard practice in a lot of things when you want to take a garment from a luxury price point to a more premium mid market, you know, you you normally change factories. So we're also looking to expand that network into different price points.
Speaker: I guess you're looking to license your software in the future. is it a fashion Is it like a brand that's buying the software and the fashion designer who's using it? Or is it a textile manufacturer that's using it? i Because you're kind of merging so many jobs, skills together into this. So who's actually working on the software? I think what's exciting is that we actually have quite a range of customer profiles that would use that. And you've kind of hinted at it as well.
Speaker: Most obviously it is the design team using it to make the garments. um It's the product development teams within fashion brands to actually just put together the garment specs and things, but it's also um garment factories. There's a lot of garment factories that are kind of like fully factored production. So they go from design through to production for brand. They can go from a mood board, you know, all the way through. So it's those customers too, those factories that actually have those design services already baked in. So they have those workflows where they use design software and then match it to their, you know, cutting machine and things like that. So those workflows already exist and it would be just embedding within those workflows. So yeah, the customers are garment factories. It can be mills that are vertically integrated and have a garment side to things. um And it can be fashion brands who obviously want to design in a different way and reduce waste ultimately. Yeah. And I guess a thing to mention kind of with what we're building is the design component of the software is a huge innovation in itself, but we're actually...
Speaker: the underlying manufacturing process and the partner network that we're building is actually going to be part of um a platform. So essentially a fashion designer can go onto our platform and be matched with the right manufacturer that can make their shirt and things like that. So it's really about building what we're doing in the the real world is what it will be replicated in the software world, which is about developing that ecosystem. you know So partnering with manufacturers, partnering with this ecosystems of brands and manufacturers and connecting them will just be brought into a digital kind of space.
Speaker: Where do you see WEF in about five years time? What's the future? I guess I kind of hinted at it as well as is really that platform. So it's developing that ecosystem of connecting the designer with the manufacturer and having that commerce in place.
Speaker: And really, I mean, it's ah it's around reducing waste at the design stage. you know i think our entire kind of mission of why Weffin was founded was that this design led, this you know deep technical understanding of textiles and how fabric is made, but also understanding that like production was designed and can be redesigned, like the actual supply chain of how things are done. So really focusing on waste at the beginning stages. And we know that, what is it, that crazy thing where it's like 80% of a product's environmental footprint is decided like at the design stage. So the materials we use, how it's made, what how it operates through a supply chain, those are all design decisions ultimately. So we're kind of focused and we hope that the software makes it easier for designers to feel empowered to make the right choices, to actually see the impact of their design choices from the beginning.
Speaker: And that's really where, I mean, that's the service that we're providing at the beginning, even the initial stages of concept development with a brand. We're showing the impact of their design decisions. You know, they tweak an angle of the sleeve that's going to affect how it sits in the production layout. So those things um we're currently doing essentially manually, the vision is to put that in an interface that actually has that real-time feedback of that impact at the design stage.
Speaker: How much of this do you think needs to go back to sort of education level and universities preparing designers and product developers, helping them understand and providing them with the tools that they need to make those right decisions. Because I'm sure none of them want to be making things which is going to waste huge amounts of fabric, but they don't really understand that or know that or can quantify that when they're studying. And even when you start working, really, you don't know. so you're making all that much more transparent and that decision making be more calculated. Have you been engaging with universities at all or with students about this?
Speaker: To answer your question, that is the fundamental challenge is really, but I think everyone's already focused on it. I mean, sustainability programs within universities are cropping up left and right. Everyone's understanding that a new way of doing things has to be taught from the ground up. So thankfully, we've got the wind at our back. You know, we're not fighting against a current. Everyone's seeing the problem.
Speaker: um In terms of speaking with universities, of course, I mean, we were partnered with the University of Leeds. We had a research partnership with them from the very beginning. We have always known that it it comes from the bottom up and, you know, that the reason that we have so much domain knowledge and technical expertise was because of our education. So education is a huge part of this. And that's why we're hoping um once we have, you know, a working prototype of our software, we could bring it to universities. They can trial it out with their students and kind of get that feedback from those students.
Speaker: But did Weffen sort of evolve out of your master's program at Central St. Martins? Or was this something you were working on before? Was university the the starting point for you as well?
Speaker: Yeah. So it really was in university where I was given the time and space to just read and explore and yeah research. I think like now I feel like we don't even have time to research anymore. yeah um So it was born out of my final year at Central St. Martins.
Speaker: I'd actually been introduced to 3D weaving in a very random way. i went to a conference. It was called the Textile World Conference. Yeah. Anyway, and I was given a tour. I randomly joined a tour of the 3D weaving innovation center, which had a 3D weaving Magiba machine.
Speaker: And it was there that it was explained that this could create like composite materials and that you could do T-joints. And it was like, and this could be really easy. Like it was a picture of a T-joint that was made fully fashioned.
Speaker: The composite 3D weaving world is more for like additive manufacturing and like automobile and aerospace industries. But they had a T-joint that was fully formed on the loom. And that T-joint just had a picture of a T-shirt next to it. And was like, and it can be applied to garment making. Yeah.
Speaker: And I went, wait, what? First of all, what is 3D weaving and how can you make a t-shirt out of it? And so that was really the beginning of like the exploration. Yeah. so that was really the crutch. I think it was in 2017, 2018 when my, the research began. And I remember my final collection was mostly theory because I didn't have access to an industrial Jacquard machine. All I wanted to do for my final collection was weave a pair of trousers, like just 3D weave a pair of trousers, but there was machine constraints. We only had a small TC2 prototyping Jacquard machine, so it wasn't able to do what I wanted it to do. And so I made these little baby trousers,
Speaker: that at the time felt like such a failure. And I, you know, I was just like, oh, I just wish i could make a full pair of trousers. And I feel like Weffen and everything was founded in this just drive, this hyper-focused drive of, I want to make a 3D woven trouser yeah with the right machine and the right network and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: So yeah, that was, that was the drive. mean, it's amazing how just seeing something, seeing a machine can spark so many ideas. And I'm so glad you decided to be a bit hyper-focused about this and stick with that gut feeling that you wanted to unpack it and figure out how this can be done. It feels like 3D weaving is, there's a lot more of that in conversations these days, a lot more technology being built around it. And like, as you rightly pointed out, a lot of it is being used in sort of composite advanced manufacturing for automotive and aerospace. And you're trying to bring that into the fashion world. Where do you see the future of 3D weaving technology in general? How is that technology going evolve into the fashion sector? And what do you think, I guess, garment manufacturing factories of the future would look like?
Speaker: and That's a great question. It's like putting together a wishlist of the future that we will be building. So stay with us. Yeah, I think garment factories are actually going to turn into kind of textile and garment factories, that this merging of fabric production and garment production will actually be kind of made into one. So you could see garment factories having a jacquard machine. And what we're trying to do is actually collapsing even more of the steps into one. So, you know, we say that 70% of the garments made in the fabric and we still have this cutting to release and then finishing and things like that. Really our five, 10 year vision is getting those processes back into that one step. And so that's a lot of the kind of like hardware innovation that we're focused on and yeah, taking those processes and combining. So it's really about collapsing steps and and seeing that things can be merged and made in one step. Why do we make fabric and then make garments? Why, why not make them at the same time? Yeah. Yeah. So you're almost knocking off a couple of tears along the way of from fiber to the final garment. We're going to zoom out a little more.
Speaker: Grisha, what is a conversation that the textile or fashion industry desperately needs to have at the moment, but it isn't? There is a lot of conversations happening. i think, unfortunately, what's happened is the whole sustainability drive has kind of shifted gears a bit into reducing waste, but reducing cost, you know, that everyone is so focused on the bottom line. And we're seeing that as well in our own kind of engagements is we used to be kind of pitching like, oh, we're reducing fabric waste. And there's this whole um vision of like a holistic sustainability approach. And now it's being like, oh well, we actually reduce the amount of yarn used so we can reduce cost and we can favor that side of things, which seems unfortunate. But I understand the push around that, you know, just the riskiness of of these innovations and scaling them. You know, it's just, it's a hard thing to do, but I would say, yeah it's mostly around that. I think keeping our intentions and our business models in the correct way, really understanding what does sustainability mean and how can we do that practically without, you know, focusing on the, on the less exciting things. Yeah. Right. Yeah. There's a finance guy sitting somewhere and thinking, that's very exciting for me. Yeah, exactly. um But I don't think they're listening to this podcast, so that's okay. That's okay.
Speaker: So, you know, you have this line out in the retail stores now. Can we expect, you know, something more that's out in the stores soon? Do we have to wait till spring, summer 2027? Is there anything sooner? Are you able to share about any other collaborations that you have ongoing at the moment?
Speaker: Unfortunately, we currently have everything under strict and NDA. Yeah. So as much as I'd love to talk about the things that we're doing, um it's more of a stay tuned. Things will come out. okay Yeah. So currently the big commercial launch, of course, is the Balenciaga. I believe it's still in stores um in some locations. It's been sold out in London and Paris and i think randomly in Taipei, which wow I don't know. random But yeah, it's it's in Milan and Rome. So if you can get some, let me know. So yeah, that's kind of the big the big thing of the year. But what we're currently focused on is engaging with more brands, getting more different types of garments and different types of materials and getting those understandings. So we're always looking for more brand collaborations to kind of grow the knowledge base.
Speaker: um On the jacket, actually, you have a little label note saying that this is 3D woven. i mean, i'm I'm so excited to hear that it's sold out. What do you think is a factor that is getting people to buy it? Is it because it's 3D woven? Is it because of this new aesthetics the jacket's got? What's the reason people are actually paying for it? Yeah, it's interesting. And that we're still waiting to hear back on like the actual feedback from the stores and like the sales managers from Balenciaga.
Speaker: Our anecdotal evidence, you know, from going to Paris and London is that they really, customers really loved how it looked, that there was this, it it is a different kind of um aesthetic and they just love that essentially the way it's made, you know, this 3D weaving, like what is that and how does it come together and things like that. So there's some that come to it from, wow, this seems like a crazy technology and look how cool It is some that just like the shape and just think that's very cool. And then others who I know that one of the sales assistants in London at Dover Street Market, when we said this was one of the last collections that Demna did in his kind of, he was always a big supporter of like sustainable innovations and just innovative technologies. um So, you know, we did mention that this was one of the last collections he did in that in that respect. And they immediately had like 50 clients that they knew that would have just bought that just for the sake, like the cult following of of of him. So that was very nice to to be aligned with that. So, yeah, I think it's it's kind of many touch points, you know, it's an interesting garment in in all these different ways. Yeah.
Speaker: And I think that's what we want is to delight the customers at the end, the people who are going to enjoy it, both for, yes, the technology behind it, getting them excited about that, but really because of how beautifully it's made. And it's something really unique and different that they want to talk about.
Speaker: And it's such a conversation starter as well, isn't it? And how they can kind of go into the conversation about waste, when which people don't really talk about when they're having coffee, meeting friends. But this becomes a really interesting point. Grisha, now to zoom out a little bit more and get to know you a little bit personally as well. Where are you from and where did you grow up? What shaped your interests and curiosity when you were growing up? yeah um Yeah, no, that's a good question. I have kind of an interesting background in that I'm kind of from a lot of different places. I was born in Germany. um I've lived most of my life in London, but I did, my mom's American and I did have like a seven year stint in Texas. okay
Speaker: my My mother decided she's lived in Europe most of her adult life. And then she had this moment of, I want to be a cowgirl and live on a ranch. And she brought us along in her yeah journey. fun! So yeah, i part I say I'm part cowgirl, um but yeah. so kind of Texas and London have been like my two places of kind of where I feel at home.
Speaker: In terms of how I got to where I am, i think my background is, like my mother was in the fashion industry, my grandfather's an artist. design, fashion, art have always been a part of kind of like the air I breathe. But I've always been interested in how things are made and kind of the systems in which they are made. So I think textiles came from that interest in fashion, but really in that kind of technical fabrication of fashion. So less on the design. And like I used to say, I don't want to just design pretty stripes. You know, I want to do something that how are things made? Like what is the underlying systems that are
Speaker: propping us up. And I would recommend, I actually, every time I go to like a university and do a talk with students, I recommend them to read this book if they're ever interested in textiles. It's called um The Fabric of Civilization, How Textiles Are Made. I don't know. I think it's Virginia, something Virginia. But yeah, The Fabric of Civilization.
Speaker: And it was probably the most pivotal book I've read thus far in my life. And it just talked about how textiles really founded culture and society. you know, like, I think they talk about how, like, accountancy came from trade in the Silk Road that was like double bookkeeping and, you know,
Speaker: All of these systems that we have in place came from textiles and really textile shaped politics, societies, culture and things like that. So when I read that book, I just immediately understood that textiles isn't just the nice, pretty fabric that you're wearing, that, you know, it's in the walls that you live in. it's in... so many different aspects. It's our entire world, you know, and that was, yeah, that's why I have been obsessed and love textiles so much.
Speaker: and Beautiful. And you're absolutely right. Textiles is such an intimate material for all of us. And I, you know, I really believe it has the power not just to fulfill our senses, but our soul as well. This is a question I ask all my guests. Could you share with us about a a garment or a piece of textiles that holds deep and personal value and meaning for you, something that you hold on to, something that's got memories? Yeah.
Speaker: Off the top of my head, I think it's those little baby trousers that I 3D that I wove for my graduate collection, because yeah I think at the time i was so upset with just how the project felt like a failure because I wasn't able to do like a actual fully fashioned woven trouser at the time. But I think it's a good reminder of it. You know, I look at it and I kind of cringe because it's just so simplistic in its idea. But it was really like the nut of something that is now, you know, become a lot of my life. So I think even small ideas, no matter how silly they look, you know, have the potential to really grow and grow and grow. And so it's, yeah, it's just ah a reminder of the journey and kind of seeing them as, as these little baby trousers that have now, you know, look where we are here. So it's a great reminder.
Speaker: Oh, that's beautiful. um I actually have a question about favorite failures. So you've answered that that in this one as well. You know, you're you're so young, and you've set up a team, you're building a company, it's pretty intense, I'm guessing. What have you learned about yourself in the last two or three years about building a company and also about being a leader?
Speaker: Oh, a lot. It's been a big learning curve. um I think the interesting thing that I used to be so timid around or almost apologetic around was my age. You know, I felt like when I went into meetings that I had to kind of seem and portray myself as older. I'm now realizing that probably my greatest tool is my naivete. Yeah. That because I'm so naive, I actually don't know see the huge mountains I have to move to be able to kind of do this thing that I'm kind of like, oh, well, why why couldn't we? You know, it's just that naive, like, but but why not?
Speaker: um And so I have gone into a lot of building and a lot of, yeah, groundwork from that, but why not? And I think I see that from... Even the the partners that were upskilling, lot of them have been doing this way of cutting for like 50 years. Their entire career has been like doing it in this approach. And then I've gone, well, why don't you just do it in that way? And they go, but that's not possible. And I can see their brain brain break in real time, you know? So I think...
Speaker: my, my youth is actually kind of an advantage where I can kind of come in and be like, let's rethink this. At the same time, though, I don't want to reinvent the wheel on everything, you know, like, I think there are some things that the the wisdom of of time affords you. And I think in terms of the team that you know we've put together and things, it's really, I'm so proud of the team and the people who are working because they really have that like garment. It's the technical expertise that we have, that real domain knowledge of like how garments are constructed and how textiles have been made that has given us that competitive advantage that we can come to a design team who probably doesn't know the inner workings of everything. And we can kind of say, well,
Speaker: no worries, I know you're busy, you know, like we can do this and the outcome will be a beautiful object because we are also designers. We understand that the value of things looking good, you know, and beautiful objects. So I think, yeah, it's it's really easy to lead a team, I put in quotation marks, because it's it's effortless kind of when when you have such a great team.
Speaker: But as the CEO and founder of an early stage startup, there's so much resting on your shoulders as well. Being the leader, being the one who sets the direction and vision for the company. And clearly you pour everything out into this company. Every second is involved thinking about Weffin. How do you take care of yourself in the midst of this, your physical and mental health?
Speaker: I think that that is a ongoing lesson. I'm not sure I've hacked it. Currently, it's it's very much just hyper-focused and really just working hard. But I would say that I have a lot of friends and people outside of work that allow me to just completely shut off. I think that's really useful, you know, is is just having the time. I'm always reminded of when I did my best working which was really when I had time to just kind of explore and read and, you know, just fall into random conferences and just connect things that I didn't have those connections in the beginning. So I always really put a lot of value in what is seemingly random. Like I was the only, at that one conference where I was able to see the 3D weaving Magiba machine, I was the only one woman and two women that was what, 20 at the time?
Speaker: And I was just like, where am I? You know, it's all just like six year old men and like recycling and manufacturing and and and I just, I didn't know what I was doing there, but it led to where I am now. So I really value kind of just random experiences and yeah, time to just explore. Like I feel like thinking is, and just walking and thinking are undervalued, you know, like being bored. I'm really focused on being bored at the minute. You know, not like consuming content all the time.
Speaker: i love that, being bored. So do you still get time to weave for pleasure when you're not trying to unlock 3D structures and all of that, but just purely for weaving sake and experiment on the loom and and have fun?
Speaker: I think that's probably going to be like one of my first purchases as um a little promotion to myself or something is as having a hand loom or something to to make again. Because I do, I miss it. Everything has now become so digital that, yeah, we don't, I don't have access to the same kind of making as is I once did.
Speaker: So yeah, it pains me. Yeah, I hear you. It's on my list that, ah you know, if I can find a bit of space in my home. Exactly. That's the first thing that I want to get is a little desktop loom for myself. Yeah, it'd be so nice.
Speaker: Is there a question you hoped I'd asked? Is there anything else that you wanted to add? I've got a couple more questions, but I just wanted to check with you if there's anything specific you wanted to mention that I haven't brought up yet.
Speaker: I think you've been quite thorough, which I really appreciate in in the kinds of questions. I think the main thing that I wanted to kind of mention is around, you know, that we're actively looking for brand pilots. That's kind of, we always want to engage with more customers and things like that. And also we are growing the team.
Speaker: So I don't know if there, I feel like the audience that are listening to this might be textile designers or textile engineers and things like that. So we're always looking to grow the team and take in more talent. So yeah, I just wanted to mention that for anyone listening, please reach out to me because yeah, that's an exciting thing.
Speaker: um So this is a question from my previous guest, cam Myers. And interestingly, Cam's also looking at sort of stitchless garment manufacturing of the future. So he's using very different approach, robotics, physical AI and pixel based adhesive technology, but starting with a flat piece of fabric, but constructing it without any hand sewing involved. um So and this is episode 28, if anyone's interested in listening to him. So his question was, how do you communicate your innovation in such a way that it can be understood by someone outside of the apparel industry or the textile industry and that they can really understand the impact of that innovation? You know, because your technology and a lot of the interviews that I've had, the innovation is really exciting for geeky people like us, but it can sound quite abstract and vague to someone who's not spending every minute thinking about a piece of fabric. Yeah. So how do you communicate your innovation to to someone?
Speaker: Yeah, and that's a real hard point for us. And what we're currently workshopping is really around the communication of it. Because it's exactly that, like how I mentioned with those design nerds that like nerd out on like Japanese selvage denim. And you know, it's a selvage denim because of this like little stitching on the side seam.
Speaker: That's currently where we are, like people who get it really get it. So if if you know, you know, kind of thing. Our way of approaching it is, Originally, I used to try and explain like the context around, like these are how garments are made and this is how what we do and how it's different and really going into, like it's origami folded and things like that. But I think it's still like, okay, but what? And it's still a tricky thing. And so what we've now kind of focused on is really just the impact of it. So it's the it's the why.
Speaker: It's touching on the how a little bit, but really focusing on why. You know, why does this matter? Why is it important? And so i mostly focus on the impact on waste and how we're really reducing waste at the design stage, how important design is in how a garment flows through a supply chain.
Speaker: And so more on, yeah, the the why of things and and getting them excited about that. And the how is this magical sauce that don't worry about it. We'll just do it. Love it. ah What question would you like to leave our next guest?
Speaker: Oh, that's so nice. So really what i think about a lot is like supply chains and production models. So my question would be like within the fashion supply chain, like what infuriates you? Because there's many things that infuriate me and there's so many inherent inefficiencies that are just baked in that are almost like rules of law. So my question would be kind of, yeah, what in within the supply chain or the industry that infuriates you? like That's a great question. Yeah. You know, building Wefin and pioneering a new manufacturing approach is a really demanding path. You make it sound really easy and lovely. That's just your personality. just You've done all the hard work, but we don't see it Can you share a moment when it felt really uncertain and and really scary or hard? And what or who helped you kind of stay committed to that vision in a way that might inspire someone listening to this and who's got this big, bold idea that they want to set off on a journey with?
Speaker: I think the most recent kind of just heart-wrenching like, ugh, around um the workload was agreeing to a tighter production window with Balenciaga knowing that we had to meet those deadlines. And, you know, it was our first production run through. So the risks involved, I mean, I remember doing the risk register, like, yeah, matrix and just seeing like where everything could mess up and just kind of sitting with that being like, oh God.
Speaker: And I think, yeah, really kind of like buckling down. And I remember at a so different time, but I had recalled it, is I watched this documentary around a mountaineer that's like hikes all of these insane, like ice glacial mountains.
Speaker: And he had broken his leg and fallen down a crevice and basically was just going to die. And i forgot what the documentary was called, but it was just so engaging. Basically, he had to crawl and he couldn't get himself up because he had broken his leg and he was really down, far down. And his only way to save or...
Speaker: to potential safety, he didn't know was to crawl further down the hole and hope that at the end of the tunnel, it would actually open up and it would be the ground. And so he actually went further down and i with his broken leg and just essentially going what he thought going down to his death, but he thought, well, there was no other way to do this.
Speaker: And he used, he basically said the way that he did it, you know, he was in extreme pain, he was basically going to die, et cetera, et cetera. He just focused it on the next 20 And so he just did everything in 20 minute increments. And I think I always go back to that. And I think the vision is really important. The strategy is so important from a bird's eye view. But once that's kind of agreed upon and that's the way you're going to approach something, I think really focusing on just the next 20 minutes, like just the next step and not being overwhelmed by the you Herculean effort that it can seem if you were to take a step back. So I think that's how I got through it is really just the next step.
Speaker: And I would recommend. That is amazing. That's such valuable advice for everyone, really. Yeah, such a beautiful note to end our conversation as well. Thank you so much, Gratia. It was absolutely wonderful speaking with you and also just... To see the journey you've made over the last couple of years, it's truly inspiring. What you've made, I'm going to call it magic. It really is magic. It's beautiful. It's it just, I don't know, anyone who geeks out on weaving, for ah they'll get it. It's just amazing. So exciting, so inspiring. And I think you've just unlocked a whole new world for all of us to explore as well.
Speaker: So thank you so much for that. And thank you also for just bringing the solution and share plug and play easy way to the industry as well, that it can be used and it can be implemented and people can see the real impact of this technology and reduce waste. And that's that's what we really want at the end of the day is to see how that technology can make a huge impact and your numbers are really quite mind-blowing. um So thank you so much for your commitment to the vision and taking 20 minutes at a time when you feel like you're at the bottom of the pit. We really appreciate your work and we'll definitely keep a close eye on your studio, but also out in the stores where we hope to see more of your garments out there. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the space and the time to talk about this. So thank you.
Speaker: What Weffin is doing is absolutely genius. Taking something as familiar and well-established as the Jacquard lube and adding a whole new dimension, being able to weave whole garments on it, flat-packed like origami, so that waste is designed out from the very start of the process.
Speaker: How incredible is that? Two things that really stayed with me from this conversation were firstly, the idea that waste is not an unfortunate side effect, but an actual design decision. And that by changing the design and construction logic, we can radically reduce the waste that is produced. And secondly, that this and isn't just sci-fi. This is happening right now. Gratia is making collections using this technology at scale and in collaboration with some of the most influential brands in the world. So this gives me a lot of hope of seeing more garments like this and this technology really being adopted by the industry.
Speaker: If this episode sparked something for you, whether you're a weaver, a designer, or just someone who cares about how clothes are made, I'd love for you to just sit with that question. What would it look like if in your corner of the industry, you're able to design out waste from the very beginning?
Speaker: i think if we all did our little part, it's going to be pretty powerful. If you're curious to learn more about 3D weaving or the latest Garmin construction technologies, check out episode 13 with Beth Espineta from Unspun on their 3D weaving loom. And then more recently in episode 28, we have Cam Myers from Create Me who talks about physical AI and robotics for stitchless Garmin manufacturing. I will put the links in the show notes for you.
Speaker: As always, please share this ah episode with friends and colleagues who might find it inspiring. If you enjoyed the episode, consider buying me a coffee using a link below in the show notes. It helps fuel those late night editing sessions as I bring you these stories.
Speaker: A review from you would mean the world to me and it also helps others discover this podcast. Thank you for joining me today. And don't forget to subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of textiles, technology, craft and sustainability. Until next time, I'm Millie Thuriken reminding you that there's no such thing as ordinary cloth.
Speaker: Every thread tells a story.
