As a child, Jeanine Fry loved to play dress-up. Since then she’s enjoyed shopping and expressing herself through different clothes, but after several years of working in the apparel industry, she came to realize how wasteful the industry really is.
Excessive production and overconsumption dominates the apparel industry, with 30% of clothes made around the world never getting sold. During production, roughly 25% of the fabric used during the cut-and-sew process becomes wasted scraps. Just behind fossil fuels and agriculture, the apparel industry is the third-largest polluting industry in the world.
To combat this waste, Fry founded Loom3d. Rather than making the fabric and then cutting and sewing it into a garment, Loom3d combines these production steps to develop seamless, whole garments.
The Raleigh-based startup was accepted to this year’s NC IDEA MICRO grant cohort, which awards $10,000 project-based grants to early-stage startups. Loom3d plans to use the grant money toward legal fees and further product development.
“It’s been a great opportunity,” said Fry, who is the company’s CEO. “I am very grateful that they think the idea has potential.”
Another highlight from this year was winning a $2,000 award at N.C. State’s Venture Pack Challenge. Fry completed her master’s degree at N.C. State’s Wilson College of Textiles and is currently working toward her Ph.D., where she is researching the technology that Loom3d uses.
Loom3d focuses on making seamless woven apparel, which is different from knit apparel. Knit clothing is stretchy (think leggings or t-shirts) and already has seamless options on the market. By contrast, woven clothing such as denim is more stiff, and there has been much less progress developing seamless garments in that sector.
The technology that Loom3d uses (which Fry developed with help from Abdel-Fattah Seyam and Janie Woodbridge) is designed to employ traditional weaving machine methods, modifying the process to develop a three-dimensional whole garment on a loom as opposed to a two-dimensional piece of fabric.
Loom3d also creates its garments with “just-in-time” production, which addresses overproduction and waste issues by producing exactly the amount of material needed at the time customers need it. Traditional apparel brands often design apparel 1-2 years ahead of the time it will be in stores, but Fry said it is difficult to predict consumer demand and trends that far in advance. Most manufacturers require minimum order quantities, but Loom3d plans to produce less at a time and instead replenish its stock more quickly.
“Think about 3D printing, but for your clothing,” Fry said.
In addition to enabling a less wasteful production process, Fry said seamless clothing is more comfortable to the wearer, with a better fit and drape than clothing that has seams. She also said Loom3d’s product may be helpful to those with sensory sensitivities, such as people on the autism spectrum who may not like wearing rough, tight-fitting fabrics.
“We have a really cool opportunity that we are at the beginning of the development of this,” Fry said.
Currently in the product development stages, Loom3d has developed several prototypes for seamless woven denim jeans.
Moving forward, Fry plans to take a B2B approach, developing clothing lines with apparel brands such as Under Armour or Levi’s. Eventually, Loom3d will license its software to other apparel companies, which will then be able to use the seamless design technology to create new garments.
Fry said she hopes to launch Loom3d in 2025. So far, the startup has raised about $18,000.
