Technology Readiness Levels / Society Readiness Levels
Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) are a systematic metric used to assess the maturity of a particular technology, from its initial concept to full market adoption. In the fashion industry, this involves evaluating technologies such as smart textiles, sustainable materials, and advanced manufacturing processes. Additionally, Society Readiness Levels (SRLs) gauge the acceptance of these innovations within society, ensuring that technological advancements are not only feasible but also embraced by consumers and stakeholders. This unit will explore how TRLs and SRLs are used to evaluate the feasibility, scalability, and market adoption of fashion innovations.
Case studies
Kornit Digital – On-demand digital textile printing for sustainable fashion
Kornit Digital develops industrial-scale, waterless digital textile printing systems that enable on-demand, nearshore production for fashion and apparel brands. By replacing batch-based, analogue printing with single-step digital workflows, their technology reduces overproduction, inventory risk, water use, and chemical discharge, illustrating how mature (TRL 9) production technologies can support circular, low-waste fashion ecosystems.
Project link
Colorifix – Biological dyeing technology for textiles
Colorifix uses engineered microorganisms to fix colour directly onto fibres, replacing conventional petrochemical dyes and auxiliaries with a biological dyeing process. The company’s industrial pilots with global brands demonstrate how moving from lab-scale bioprocesses to mill-scale implementation requires parallel attention to technological maturity and social acceptance of biotechnology in textile value chains.
Project link
Petit Pli – Garments that grow with the child
Petit Pli designs children’s garments from engineered pleated textiles that expand to fit multiple sizes, extending the period of use and reducing the volume of clothing required over a child’s growth. Their commercial collections show how advanced material design can move from prototype to everyday use, while parents’ acceptance of “one garment, many sizes” provides a concrete example of society readiness for sufficiency-oriented fashion innovations.
Project link
Vollebak – Frontier-material performance garments
Vollebak develops experimental garments that integrate frontier materials such as graphene, ceramics, and high-performance composites into apparel. Products like the Graphene Jacket translate materials previously confined to aerospace or electronics into wearable formats, making explicit the work of validating safety, durability, care, and desirability before such technologies can reach broader fashion markets.
Project link
Fashion for Good – Innovation Platform for scaling textile technologies
Fashion for Good operates an innovation platform that identifies, de-risks, and scales emerging technologies for sustainable textiles and fashion, including new fibres, recycling processes, and traceability tools. By connecting innovators, brands, and manufacturers through pilots and consortium projects, the platform explicitly manages both technology readiness and stakeholder readiness, accelerating uptake of high-impact solutions across the fashion system.
Project link
References
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Casciani, D., Renzi, C., Leali, F., & Andrisano, A. O. (2022). Exploring the nature of digital transformation in the fashion industry: Opportunities for supply chains, business models and sustainability-oriented innovations. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 18(1), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2022.2125640
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Kanwal, A., Chishti, M. Z., Khan, M. B., & Hussain, F. (2023). Digitalisation in the textile sector for circularity. In F. A. Sheikh, T. Hussain, & A. Bhat (Eds.), Textile science and clothing technology (pp. 155–179). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49479-6_8
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Ostermann, C. M., Nascimento, L. S., & Zen, A. C. (2021). Business model innovation for circular economy in fashion industry: A startups’ perspective. Frontiers in Sustainability, 2, 766614. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2021.766614
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Pal, R., & Jayarathne, P. G. S. A. (2022). Digitalization in the textiles and clothing sector: A general outlook. Textile Progress, 54(1), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405167.2022.2128401
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Sayem, A. S. M. (2022). Digital fashion innovations for the real world and metaverse. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 15(2), 139–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2022.2071139