Uniqlo robots pick up packaged T-shirts and put them in a box
ft.com
ft.com
One last step to automate...
[1] https://www.chidry.com/products/cascade-automatic-linen-sepa...
They don't show what I assume is the more challenging part, which is to actually fold a t-shirt.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=h1_aZhmL5vw...
I use hangers for most of my SO's clothes, because women's clothing is just to inconsistent to be handled otherwise.
They don’t do this for all their lines, but it would be good if they could abandon such superfluous packaging altogether or at least switch to using sustainable, biodegradable materials.
I got a recipe book with a Japanese toaster, in addition to like 9 other pieces of paper or cardstock, in addition to the regulatory pamphlet.
I think most places in Japan have pretty extreme recycling policies. I wonder what came first, the excess of trash or the ability to deal with it?
I had no idea Japan had high humidity until today. Thanks!
It’s not as bad as Japan, but when it comes to produce in supermarkets, the UK shares this “wrap everything in plastic” mentality.
The environmental costs of production, transporation, storage, promotion, and display of each of their t-shirts would dwarf 1000 times the environmental cost of the plastic wrapper. So much so that removing it would be a moot point -- like optimising a function that the code spends 0.01% of its time in. Removing it would be just the environment theater / token gesture companies love.
What's worse, the "fast fashion", "consume clothing/throw it away/don't hand it down/don't keep it longer" mentality necessary for Uniqlo and others to show growth year after year has even worse impact on the environment.
The majority of their products are unbranded essentials with far greater durability and build quality than your typical “fast fashion” retailers.
And true, there are worst clothing companies than Uniqlo.
Although, from the uniqlo website, I can find "Our commitment to making great clothing begins with sourcing ethically produced materials, minimizing environmental impacts, putting workers first, and developing new materials and technologies with better futures in mind."
Sadly, I don't think any of it is true.
I don't have anything against Uniqlo though. They make affordable basics (and some nice collab releases). It is just shameful that it has high environmental and human costs.
> If you can afford, on some principles there are better options.
Absolutely, whether you are after quality, ethical sourcing, treating your worker correctly or even style, there are some awesome alternative. Unfortunately, you have to be able to afford it.
It's not exactly fast-fashion, but not the opposite of it.
When the short-term effects are bad, is it really necessary to wait to figure out the long-term effects?
Primary contrasts with secondary; the former is emitted directly as microplastics, the latter become microplastics by degradation of larger pieces. According to that report, "in some countries benefitting from advanced waste treatment facilities, primary microplastics releases even outweigh that of secondary microplastics." p. 5.
All of which is to say, if that plastic bag is properly disposed of (and perhaps even if not), the primary concern might be to avoid synthetic fabrics. That's increasingly difficult considering that so many brands are replacing all-cotton fabrics with blends.
Microplastics are not just in the ocean, this is in London air.
plastic wrapped t-shirts is literally the least environmentally damaging thing about their business.
Recycled wool is also common.
I hope they would do better, but I am not surprised that they don't even try to reduce single use plastic usage such as this.
With raising minimal wage in the US. We are likely looking at $10/hr in various markets. These robots run 24/7 so that is 1024365 = $87k saved per year. Even with depreciation counted in, it sounds pretty economical to me.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/uniqlo-founder-yanai-resigns...
I don’t like the existence of that kind of wealth while people are dying from lack of insulin.
Now remember that the offer starting this thread was to pay a flat $5k to own a machine. Even with running costs and repairs, that's less than a tenth of $5k per year.
Giving obvious advice is both patronising and almost always unhelpful.
And, I've seen parents do all sorts of time-suck things that would be actually teaching kids self sufficiency, but instead the parents are losing their own time and handicapping their children. E.g. a friends mom in high school would still clean her room, and now - no surprise, 15 years later she lives in a pig sty except for the few times a mom visits her apartment and gives it a deep clean. Maybe some patronizing advice like "make your kid clean their own room" would have helped.
Kids from 5 onwards are perfectly capable of doing various chores around the house and until recently in history, it was expected of kids to start contributing to household work as soon as they're old enough to.
But after the post-war age of abundance, americans are like oh no our bubby 10 year old can't handle washing the dishes and folding their own clothes.
No, they're not. They're telling of the fact that people fundamentally trust that others are doing the best they can in the situation they find themselves in, and have probably considered the obvious alternatives.
GP's not getting downvoted because people don't think children should do chores (that's not a particularly common opinion, unless you're looking to bash Americans), but because it's a callous and self-important opinion that their friend's mother had never considered getting her kids to do chores, and that a reminder from a busybody would have solved the issue.
People don't think twice about buying new cars for much more, so why hesitate when there are clear benefits?
Seriously though. Laundry folding is the last of the endlessly tedious household chores to not fall to automation.
When I was living in France, I had a house cleaner coming every other week.
(IIRC half of what you pay your house cleaner can be deduced from your taxes, making this service relatively cheap)
Their first task was always to iron my shirts ... a chore I was very happy to do not have to do anymore.
I don't mind at all washing them myself but ironing feels like it takes way too much time.
I think it’s important to keep in mind where products come from, especially if the source is from modern day, holocaust-esque, concentration camps.
I'm aware of the terrible things happening in Xinjiang, but now I realise the implication is (I think) that Uyghurs are being forced to produce things.