News & Blog
Fashion retailer C&A has announced the opening of its Factory for Innovation in Textiles (“C&A’s FIT”) in Mönchengladbach, Germany, set for autumn 2021. The state-of-the-art production site will initially focus on manufacturing jeans using the latest digital technologies in a carbon-neutral production site. We got exclusive insights into the automation of C&A’s FIT and can’t wait to share it with you!
The German fashion company is working with scientists from Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, the North Rhine-Westphalia Textile Academy and RWTH Aachen University, as well as pioneering start-up companies, on the new development.
FIT will first focus on the production of jeans. The ambitious plan is to initially produce around 400,000 jeans per year in Mönchengladbach, and later it will be 800,000. The first jeans will be available in stores in 2022.
With this opening, C&A is generating new impulses for the textile industry in the middle of Europe. Besides, it makes the bold statement that sustainable fashion must not be a niche product – which is why this manufacturing site is about production in larger numbers.
Betty Kieß, Head of Corporate Communications Europe C&A, exclusively shares with us some examples of automation used at C&A’s FIT:
Betty Kieß also tells us that they are working closely with the universities in the field of robotics with the goal of eventually using robots to feed parts into the production.
…definitely exciting news coming soon!
As a long-standing visitor to MUNICH FABRIC START and BLUEZONE, C&A will of course be back in Munich in autumn to view and order the collections and innovations of our international exhibitors – we can hardly wait to greet our visitors and exhibitors again at our physical fair under the motto RISE allowed to!
Modularity is not a new concept. For decades, it has shaped architecture, furniture and industrial design. Applying it to soft textiles, however, opens up an entirely new discussion.
Creativity and curiosity have always been our driving force. Our work evolves through prototypes—never finished, always raising new questions about materials, processes, and possibilities.
Both the fashion and textile industry often celebrates creativity. Yet many of the industry’s creative decisions are made long before a designer ever begins designing. Colour being one of them. The thing is, by the time a designer selects yarn, someone else has already determined the available colours, sequences and combinations. Choice exists, but only within boundaries.
“Through hands-on experimentation, I explore the potential of new surfaces and alternative forms of leather, aiming to reconnect human life with the natural world as an interconnected fabric.”
