Changing Face Of The Apparel Industry By Incorporating Industry 4.0 And Paving Way For Industry 5.0

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the economy of the entire world. One of the deeply affected units was the apparel industry, which was worth almost 1.4 trillion U.S dollars. With social distancing, panic and fear in the minds of everyone, it became apparent that digitization brought about by Industry 4.0, is the new normal. The evolution of all the five Industrial Revolutions is discussed in this paper. It also highlights how the apparel industry has incorporated emergent technologies of Industry 4.0 like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, 3D-Printing, Cloud computing and Data Analytics in its manufacturing and marketing units. The impact of the pandemic has made the stakeholders of all businesses to halt, ponder and progress towards a new horizon for sustainability. The challenges of Industry 4.0, how and why the transition of the apparel industry from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 took place is highlighted in this paper. This article represents a theoretical aspect and proposes a novel foundation for incorporating Industry 6.0 in the wake of the pandemic.