Before the machines, the production of clothes was slow and expensive, weaving , dying , stitching ; every shirt, coat or dress was handmade. Tailors spun thread, wove fabric, cut patterns and stitched garments one seam at a time. Production scaled linearly. One person could only make so much. Time was the hard limit. This was not efficiency as craftsmanship. Sewing machines changed everything. They allowed more clothes to be produced in less time. A tailor could now do the work of many, and factories could supply towns and cities with ready-made garments. Jobs shifted from making entire garments by hand to mastering sections of the process and operating machines. Production exploded while the human element remained essential, but transformed. The invention of the sewing machine in the mid-19th century transformed the textile industry. What had previously required days or weeks could now be accomplished in hours. Factories emerged to capitalise on this technologic...
Where attention meets strategy, insights for the digital age.