Rewiring the Textile Future: Why Artificial Intelligence Is the Key to Europe’s Industrial Renewal

The tex­tile indus­try is one of Europe’s old­est and most resilient sectors—yet it faces grow­ing chal­lenges in an increas­ing­ly com­plex and com­pet­i­tive glob­al land­scape. At Gherzi, we are con­vinced that Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence (AI) is not mere­ly a tech­no­log­i­cal upgrade; it rep­re­sents a piv­otal enabler for reimag­in­ing busi­ness mod­els, rethink­ing val­ue cre­ation, and redefin­ing how orga­ni­za­tions operate—particularly in tex­tile pro­duc­tion and sup­ply chain man­age­ment.

To real­ize the full poten­tial of AI, tex­tile com­pa­nies must go beyond iso­lat­ed ini­tia­tives. Suc­cess requires strong lead­er­ship, a cul­ture of inno­va­tion, and a clear align­ment between AI deploy­ment and long-term strate­gic goals. This involves step-by-step eval­u­a­tion of tex­tile-spe­cif­ic work­flows to iden­ti­fy where AI can enhance process­es and empow­er peo­ple.

Lead­ers must also rec­og­nize a fun­da­men­tal truth: many employ­ees pre­fer sta­bil­i­ty over dis­rup­tion. Under­stand­ably, most want to com­plete their work­day with­out major change. Yet resis­tance to trans­for­ma­tion car­ries risk. In the ear­ly stages of the fifth indus­tri­al rev­o­lu­tion, com­pa­nies that fail to mod­ern­ize risk falling behind—becoming obso­lete in a rapid­ly evolv­ing ecosys­tem. For tex­tile man­u­fac­tur­ers and sup­ply chain actors, this risk is par­tic­u­lar­ly acute amid ris­ing glob­al com­pe­ti­tion.

Today’s landscape—shaped by geopo­lit­i­cal uncer­tain­ty, reg­u­la­to­ry com­plex­i­ty, and inten­si­fy­ing inter­na­tion­al rivalry—demands a bold, future-focused response. Now is the time to act deci­sive­ly. AI must be embraced not as an option, but as a strate­gic foun­da­tion for trans­for­ma­tion.

A Trusted Partner for the Path Forward

At Gherzi, we bring decades of expe­ri­ence in opti­miz­ing process­es and sup­ply net­works across the glob­al tex­tile indus­try. Through our strate­gic col­lab­o­ra­tion with Dr. Michael Gebert—digital strate­gist and Chair­man of the Euro­pean Blockchain Association—we are deep­en­ing our capa­bil­i­ties in Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence. Dr. Gebert’s exper­tise in AI, dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion, and inno­va­tion com­ple­ments our mis­sion to sup­port clients through change. Learn more at: www.michaelgebert.de

AI as the Productivity Engine of Tomorrow

The lat­est data from PwC’s Glob­al AI Jobs Barom­e­ter (June 2025) under­scores the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of AI:

• Indus­tries with high AI expo­sure have seen pro­duc­tiv­i­ty growth surge from approx­i­mate­ly 7% to 27% over five years.
• Employ­ees with AI skills earn, on aver­age, a 56% wage pre­mi­um. Job open­ings in AI-inten­sive sec­tors are growing—even in roles pre­vi­ous­ly con­sid­ered automat­able.
• The skills land­scape in AI-relat­ed fields is evolv­ing 66% faster than in oth­er sectors—highlighting the urgent need for upskilling.

For textiles—often per­ceived as a “low-tech” sector—this presents a strate­gic oppor­tu­ni­ty to leap for­ward, ele­vate val­ue cre­ation, reduce inef­fi­cien­cies, and build more empow­ered teams.

How AI Enhances the Entire Textile Value Chain

AI is not a sin­gle solution—it is a net­work of tech­nolo­gies that enhance each stage of the tex­tile life­cy­cle:

• Fore­cast­ing & Plan­ning: Pre­dict trends, antic­i­pate demand, and opti­mize sourc­ing using real-time AI mod­els.
• Pro­duc­tion Opti­miza­tion: Detect defects instant­ly, auto­mate adjust­ments, and imple­ment pre­dic­tive main­te­nance to min­i­mize down­time.
• Sup­ply Chain Inte­gra­tion: Achieve full trans­paren­cy and coor­di­na­tion across the val­ue chain through AI-pow­ered plan­ning and logis­tics.
• Sus­tain­abil­i­ty & ESG: Auto­mate ESG report­ing, cal­cu­late car­bon foot­prints, and sim­u­late cir­cu­lar econ­o­my strate­gies.
• Admin­is­tra­tion: Use intel­li­gent automa­tion to reduce man­u­al work­loads and refo­cus staff on inno­va­tion and strate­gic tasks.

At Gherzi, we see AI as a tool to enhance—not replace—human work. It reduces oper­a­tional fric­tion, accel­er­ates trans­for­ma­tion, and ele­vates work­force capa­bil­i­ties across the val­ue chain.

Key Technologies Empowering the Textile Sector

These tech­nolo­gies don’t just improve efficiency—they rede­fine what tex­tile teams can achieve.

Culture, Leadership & Mindset: The Human Side of AI

The great­est chal­lenges in AI adop­tion are not technical—they are cul­tur­al. To suc­ceed, orga­ni­za­tions must rethink their lead­er­ship mod­els, trust struc­tures, and inter­nal col­lab­o­ra­tion.

Every tex­tile com­pa­ny should con­sid­er the fol­low­ing:

• Are we treat­ing AI as a strate­gic core capability—or as a siloed tool?
• Do we encour­age inno­va­tion and experimentation—or pro­tect out­dat­ed process­es?
• Are our lead­ers pre­pared to dri­ve dig­i­tal transformation—or hold­ing onto lega­cy mind­sets?

At Gherzi, we sup­port clients not only in imple­ment­ing AI, but also in fos­ter­ing the cul­tur­al and gov­er­nance frame­works that ensure its long-term suc­cess.