Zornow has created a process by which a robotic arm guides chemically stiffened pieces of fabric through a commercial sewing machine. Sewbo has used an industrial robot to sew together a T-shirt, achieving the long-sought goal of automation for garment production. Sewbo's technology will allow manufacturers to create higher-quality clothing at lower costs. It will shorten supply chains and lessen the long lead times that hamper the fashion and apparel industries, helping to reduce the complexity of today's intricate global supply network. Despite widespread use in other industries, automation has made little progress in clothing manufacturing due to the difficulties robots face when trying to manipulate limp, flexible fabrics.

After Gov. Jerry Brown announced a proposal this week to ratchet up the state's minimum wage 50% by 2022, business groups warned that the rapid increase could actually hurt the people Brown was trying to help. In addition to laying off workers and moving jobs out of state, they predicted, companies would move more aggressively to automate, replacing at least some of the people on their payroll with machines. That's not an idle threat, especially for low-skilled labor; the number of tasks that computerized devices can perform at least as well as humans grows every year. But automation isn't necessarily bad for workers -- just look at what's happening in the U.S. garment industry. Competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam and other low-wage countries has been devastating to U.S. apparel jobs, as many domestic manufacturers have moved their factories overseas to slash their labor costs.