Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Size:
The textile and apparel robotics market is predicted to witness steady growth during the projected period.
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Key Highlights:
- Rising adoption of robotic sewing systems to automate labour-intensive apparel production tasks.
- Increasing investment in AI-driven textile inspection and quality control solutions.
The textile and apparel manufacturing industry is transforming, robotics and automation revolutionising core manufacturing processes. Using robots for sewing, cutting, folding, inspecting, and packaging allows companies to streamline production and reduce reliance on human labour, along with precision. This hybrid approach to manufacturing not only speeds up the processes but also helps with consistency and less material waste. With the rising costs of labour and the need for faster turnaround with high-quality production, companies are turning to robotics for increased productivity and profit. With development happening in artificial intelligence, machine vision, and collaborative robotics, companies are benefiting from smarter, more flexible automation in even the more complex or finer tasks, such as fabric handling or quality inspection. There is also the opportunity to integrate these developments into more digitally based systems, enabling brands to become more responsive and therefore sustainable. These changes are most visible in regions where there are strong supply chains for textiles and increasing pressure for efficiency and traceability. It is anticipated that robotics through automation and digitalisation is now an essential component of the textile and apparel manufacturing world rather than an experimental concept.
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Overview & Scope
The textile and apparel robotics market is segmented by:
- Type: The market is segmented into sewing robots, cutting robots, folding robots, finishing robots, inspection robots, and others. Sewing robots are a specialised technology designed to allow the automation of notoriously difficult stitching processes that require extensive manual labour. To automate the sewing process, sewing robots rely on dedicated machine vision to navigate fabric variation, as well as precision actuators to handle seam placement and perform stitching. Adoption of sewing robots is increasing due to continued labour shortages in apparel production, cost savings, and desires to move closer to production to shorten lead times. Adoption of sewing robots is still maturing in some areas, but they represent a significant technological advancement in the output of an automated garment manufacturing process.
- Function: The market is divided into material handling, assembly, welding and cutting, quality inspection, packaging, and others. Material handling robots are robots used for moving fabric, components, and finished goods from one part of the production line to another. Material handling robots improve the workflow process by limiting physical strain on workers and by eliminating physical barriers between parts, which leads to a seamless process. In high-volume operations, the benefits of automating material handling increase significantly, and errors mean more than just wasted time. Throughout, it must be consistent, and contamination must be eliminated during transport. Many material handling systems are outfitted with sensors and artificial intelligence to allow them to engage in adaptive movement, which is most necessary when humans must share space. Material handling automation is a vital component of successful and integrated process flows, especially when multiple processes are occurring simultaneously.
- End User: The market serves the textile manufacturers, apparel manufacturers, fashion & retail brands, and others. Apparel manufacturers have become a large segment of robotics adoption because of the explicit need for mass production, the quick turnaround of garments, and the efficiency gained. Robotics can provide scale - that is, they support consistent quality and work to eliminate bottlenecks in the production process. Automation will always provide benefits to help manufacturers, where there are risks with repetitiveness or illuminated precision.
- Region: Geographically, the market is expanding at varying rates depending on the location.
Top Trends Shaping the Textile and Apparel Robotics Market
- Increased Integration of AI and Autonomy
Smart robotics is increasingly used alongside AI, machine vision and IoT to manage difficult textile processes like fabric recognition, defect detection and adaptive stitch sewing, all of which help increase flexibility and accuracy in production.
- Swarm Robotics Development
Cobots are getting a foothold in garment manufacturing because they can be used alongside humans safely. Their small size, flexibility, and ease of programming make them well-suited for sewing, folding, and inspection jobs in small batch or mixed production environments.
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Growth Drivers vs. Challenges
Drivers:
- Rising Defence Modernisation Programs: Manufacturers face more labour pressure due to shortages and rising wage costs. Robots provide robust, consistent, 24/7 capability with reduced rates of faulty work. A sewing robot line, for example, can reduce labour cost by up to 60% and achieve payback in just 18-24 months in high-wage environments like Europe and North America. The ROI case for automation is compelling.
- Demand for Border and Maritime Surveillance: The push to smart factories, where robotics is integrated with digital software and AI, predictive maintenance, IoT and other smart industry initiatives, creates demand. Manufacturers implementing these systems report increased throughput, increased energy and material efficiency, and waste reduction by aligning capital investments in automation with sustainability and operational control priorities.
Challenges:
- Ethical and Legal Concerns: Advanced robotics systems designed for textiles are high-cost systems and often create prohibitive entry costs for small to mid-size manufacturers with limited access to capital or long payback periods.
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Regional Analysis
- Asia-Pacific: The Asia-Pacific region excels in the textile and apparel robotics market, supported by its large manufacturing base; specifically, China, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, which are major textile exporting countries with rising labour costs and an increasing demand for faster production cycles. The growing use of robotics is helping to improve efficiency, quality and scale of production. Programs related to government initiatives that promote smart manufacturing, such as “Made in China 2025” and India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) promotion programs, are an additional contributor to the rise in automation use and development in this region. Furthermore, the presence of global brands outsourcing their production to this region is also compelling factories to modernise their operations to be competitive on a global scale by incorporating AI-powered sewing, cutting, and inspection systems.
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Key Developments:
- Li & Fung & SoftWear Automation: Li & Fung, a world leader in supply chain, partnered with Soft Wear Automation to launch fully automated Sewbot work lines into apparel manufacturing. The mission was to digitise the T?shirt supply chain, where one operator can now create a finished shirt every 22 seconds, doubling the pace of manual sewing to create a fully digital and local horizontal apparel supply chain.
- HKUST, Crystal Group & HKRITA: In August of 2025, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Crystal International Group, and HKRITA formed a strategic partnership to focus on AI for textiles. Their collaboration focused on building a Textile AI Innovation Hub and Textile?GPT, a large-language model designed for the apparel industry. The aim is to provide integrated AI technology across design, smart manufacturing, quality control, and sustainable supply chain.
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Scope:
| Report Metric |
Details |
| Study Period |
2021 to 2031 |
| Historical Data |
2021 to 2024 |
| Base Year |
2025 |
| Forecast Period |
2026 – 2031 |
| Report Metric |
Details |
| Growth Rate |
CAGR during the forecast period |
| Study Period |
2020 to 2030 |
| Historical Data |
2020 to 2023 |
| Base Year |
2024 |
| Forecast Period |
2025 – 2030 |
| Forecast Unit (Value) |
USD Billion |
| Segmentation |
- Type
- Function
- End-User
- Geography
|
| Geographical Segmentation |
North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific |
| List of Major Companies in the Textile and Apparel Robotics Market |
|
| Customization Scope |
Free report customization with purchase |
Textile and Apparel Robotics Market Segmentation:
- By Type
- Sewing Robots
- Cutting Robots
- Folding Robots
- Finishing Robots
- Inspection Robots
- Others
- By Function
- Material Handling
- Assembly
- Welding and Cutting
- Quality Inspection
- Packaging
- Others
- By End-User
- Textile Manufacturers
- Apparel Manufacturers
- Fashion & Retail Brands
- Others
- By Geography
- North America
- United States
- Canada
- Mexico
- South America
- Europe
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Others
- Middle East and Africa
- Asia Pacific
- Japan
- China
- India
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- Others
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