Sewbo

San Francisco, United States

Founded 2016

About Sewbo

Sewbo is a San Francisco-based startup founded by Jonathan Zornow that has developed a groundbreaking approach to robotic garment manufacturing by temporarily stiffening fabrics, allowing off-the-shelf industrial robots to easily build garments from rigid cloth as if they were working with sheet metal. The technology impregnates fabric with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a non-toxic biodegradable polymer that makes limp fabrics rigid enough for robotic handling. The stiffened fabric can be welded, molded, grabbed, and sewn by robots in a repeatable manner, with the PVA simply rinsed away with warm water from finished garments. Zornow studied economics and studio art at Brandeis University, where he created Robotecelli, a fresco-making machine, for his sculpture thesis. Sewbo has partnered with Siemens Technology, Bluewater Defense, and UC Berkeley on the ARM Institute-funded Robotic Assembly of Garments Project. Vietnam-based denim manufacturer Saitex, led by CEO Sanjeev Bahl, is preparing to install experimental Sewbo machines in a 52,000-square-foot jeans factory in downtown Los Angeles. If successful, the technology could enable large-scale jeans manufacturing to return to the United States. Sewbo is currently focused on blue jean production as they commercialize, addressing the trillion-dollar clothing industry that remains the last major manufacturing sector not yet automated.