Weffan revolutionises the way clothes are made by creating fully-fashioned 3D woven garments, produced in one step, engineered on an automated loom. 3D weaving garments weaves the fabric and the structure and form of the garment at the same time, drastically reducing production time. Automating an otherwise laborious process into essentially one step.
Weaving whole garments on the loom shortens production steps, minimises fabric and resource waste, and builds a more dynamic, resilient, and transparent manufacturing supply chain. By designing 3D weaving garment technology, Weffan aims to align fashion industry incentives with sustainability goals by creating manufacturing efficiency and cost effectiveness using existing loom technology for easy adoption.
Weffan now has a proof of concept prototype ready to take to an MVP. The research and development of this 3D woven trouser will ultimately create a production model aimed at limiting pre-consumer waste, eliminating overproduction, and responding more accurately to demand. Weffan production method’s low cost of adoption could support near-shore manufacturing in the UK, lowering a garment’s carbon footprint and the risk of supply chain interruption on labour and business.
- Listing ID: 2064
- Contact: Graysha Auden
- What are your aspirations and plans for the future?: Weffan now has a fully-functioning 3D woven trouser prototype. With the help of Future Fashion Factory, Weffan can continue development into its Minimum Viable Product, developing more protectable IP, better garment fit and material experimentation, and a reproducible production method. Weffan is improving upon itself by developing an MVP from its initial prototype, then moving to building a production process around the trouser product with design variabilities and customisable elements. The current prototyping phase focuses on trousers, in that solving for the complexity in sizing, fit, materials, and recyclability of this garment is transferable to most other clothing. The ultimate goal is for Weffan to develop into a complete production system, with a network of partner manufacturers and suppliers, to offer fashion brands an opportunity to benefit and deliver a more efficient, automated, block-chain verifiable, certified sustainable product offering to their consumers.
- What types of projects are you interested in working on through Future Fashion Factory?: Weffan would be interested in collaborating with material researchers, material partners, laser cutters, zero waste pattern cutters, blockchain verified credentials, made to order infrastructure, and certification processes. Manufacturing partners should have industrial jacquard loom capabilities. Weffan would also like to research potential innovation with garment production on 3D weaving looms (even though Weffan focuses on existing loom technology for easy adoption).
