A Tapestry of Change: Unveiling Dynamics in the Textile Industry

The textile industry, a colossal presence in the global market, is currently undergoing a transformative journey, navigating through a mosaic of challenges and innovative trends. As of 2024, the industry's valuation stands at an estimated USD 748 billion, poised to ascend to USD 889.24 billion by 2029, showcasing a robust and consistent growth rate of 3.52% annually. However, this trajectory has not been without hurdles, especially considering the disruptions brought about by the seismic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Impact: Crafting Resilience Amidst Turbulence

In the tumultuous year of 2020, the textile industry faced unprecedented challenges in the wake of the global pandemic. Asia, a linchpin in the textile market, bore the brunt of prolonged lockdowns and a sudden plummet in international demand. The International Labour Organization (ILO) reported a staggering collapse in global textile trade during the first half of 2020, with exports to major regions such as the European Union, the United States, and Japan plunging by approximately 70%. Further complicating matters, the industry grappled with disruptions in the supply chain, notably facing shortages of critical raw materials, including cotton.

Key Players: Anchors in a Dynamic Landscape

In the intricate tapestry of the textile industry, four major players emerge as key anchors: China, the European Union, the United States, and India.

China: Undoubtedly, China stands as the preeminent global producer and exporter of both raw textiles and garments. Its robust industry infrastructure positions it as an undisputed force in the market.

United States: Holding sway in raw cotton production and export, the United States claims the title of the leading importer of raw textiles and garments.

European Union: Comprising economic powerhouses like Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal, the EU commands a substantial share, contributing over one-fifth to the global textile industry.

India: Emerging as the third-largest textile manufacturing industry globally, India shoulders over 6% of the total textile production, adding a dynamic touch to the industry's landscape.

Market Trends: Riding the Crest of Transformation

1. Increasing Demand for Natural Fibers

Natural fibers, including cotton, silk, linen, wool, hemp, jute, and cashmere, are currently enjoying a surge in demand. Renowned for their strength and lightness, these fibers find diverse applications in garments, apparel, construction materials, medical dressings, and even automobile interiors.

Global Impact: The abundance of natural fibers, particularly cotton, in countries like China, India, and the United States, acts as a propellant, steering the global textile market toward unprecedented growth.

Versatility: Silk, valued for its finesse, graces upholstery and apparel. Meanwhile, wool and jute, celebrated for their resilience, elasticity, and softness, emerge as quintessential textile materials.

Consumer Preference: The increasing consumption of natural fibers is expected to act as a catalyst, propelling the global textile market forward throughout the forecast period.

2. Shifting Focus Toward Non-woven Fabrics

The textile industry is witnessing a deliberate shift toward non-woven fabrics, driven by evolving demographics and changing consumer preferences.

Demand Drivers: The burgeoning demand for hygiene products, such as baby diapers, sanitary napkins, and adult incontinence products, is fueling the need for non-woven fabrics.

Applications: Nonwovens, extending beyond personal care products, are making significant inroads in road construction as geotextiles, bolstering the durability of roads. In the automobile industry, non-woven fabrics are increasingly employed for both exterior and interior parts due to their inherent durability.

Market Growth: A positive outlook in the automobile and transportation industry, coupled with the cost-effectiveness of nonwovens, is expected to propel substantial growth in this segment.

The Road Ahead: Opportunities and Challenges

The textile industry stands on the precipice of a transformative era, driven by factors such as rapid industrialization and the relentless evolution of technology.

Rapid Industrialization: Both developed and developing nations are experiencing a whirlwind of industrialization, playing a pivotal role in modernizing textile industry installations, fostering higher efficiency, and augmenting revenues.

Technological Evolution: Recent innovations in textile technology assume a pivotal role in shaping the industry's future. The adoption of advanced technologies is anticipated to further elevate the efficiency and capabilities of textile production.

Conclusion: Navigating Change with Innovation

As the textile industry threads its way through challenges, it is the innovative trends that paint a promising tableau for the future. The resilience displayed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a strategic focus on natural fibers and non-woven fabrics, vividly demonstrates the industry's adaptability.

The collaborative efforts of major players like China, the European Union, the United States, and India form the warp and weft of the global textile landscape. With a keen eye on sustainability, versatility, and technological advancements, the textile industry stands poised not only to overcome present challenges but also to emerge as a dynamic force in the years to come.

Learn and enable yourself to analyse the Textile Industry in India through facets like its operation, competitive positions, opportunities in PLI as well as Textile, and a lot more. And learn how to pick textile stocks.

Synthetic Leather Market | A Comprehensive Analysis of the Global Landscape

The global synthetic leather market is anticipated to reach USD 66.24 billion by 2030 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.87% from 2024 to 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing awareness among consumers regarding animal exploitation, aided by programs run by organizations such as PETA, has played a major role in increasing the demand for leather alternatives. The growing supply-demand gap in the natural leather industry is also a major factor responsible for manufacturers opting for synthetic or artificial leather. Furthermore, natural leather is obtained from animals, which has resulted in animal killings. There have been various guidelines and laws established by various countries to protect animal rights. Animal rights laws have become a major hurdle for natural leather manufacturers in several countries.

Synthetic Leather Market Report Highlights

The automotive application segment is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% over the forecast period.  Synthetic leather is used in several automotive applications such as upholstery, dashboards, headliners, seat belts, airbags, and floor & trunk carpets. It is employed in passenger vehicles, light & commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, and buses & coaches as it is lighter than real leather. Its high elasticity enables passenger comfort in addition to providing resistance against hot & cold temperatures and spillage. The product also increases the durability of automotive interiors and reduces maintenance requirements

The PU synthetic leather segment held the largest market share of 60.8% in 2023. PU leather has good elasticity, resistance to solvents, high tensile strength, and skin abrasion resistance. These properties have been a major help in increasing its market penetration in the automotive, footwear, and furnishing sectors

Asia Pacific dominated the synthetic leather market. China is the largest market for synthetic leather in Asia Pacific. It is also among the major consumers of leather in primary application segments such as automotive, furnishing, and clothing. Automotive and footwear industry, which are vital application segments for synthetic leather, are witnessing a rapid growth in the country. China mainly imports synthetic leather from India, Korea, and Italy

In December 2021, Dow, a U.S.-based company, announced the launch of LUXSENSE, a silicone synthetic leather. It is the world's first high-end silicone synthetic leather material designed to meet specifications in furniture, wearable devices, fashion, transportation seating and interiors, and consumer electronics, offering unique features

For More Details or Sample Copy please visit link @: Synthetic Leather Market Report

Manufacturing activities of natural leather, especially tanning, lead to pollution of the nearby surroundings. This is another major reason leading to the shift in preference toward synthetic leather. Stringent environmental laws and government regulations have been influential in promoting the demand for synthetic leather.

India is among the world’s top five producers of leather. However, the Central government of India has banned the slaughter of cows for meat and leather, which has adversely affected the leather industry in the country. Most of India’s leather and meat industry comprises unorganized players, owing to which a reduction in the annual production from these industries is not feasible to estimate. The market situation has widened the demand-supply gap of genuine leather, which is expected to supplement the India PU market’s growth over the forecast period.

Flameproofing Futures: Navigating the Fire-Resistant Fabrics Market Landscape

The global fire-resistant fabrics market is witnessing growth and is projected to reach USD 5.9 billion by 2030. This growth can be credited to the increase in the demand for such materials from the chemical, oil & gas, and construction sectors. Credited to the severe guidelines for workplace safety in advanced countries. On the basis of type, the industry is divided into treated and inherent…

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Global Viscose Staple Fiber Market Is Estimated To Witness High Growth Owing To Increasing Demand For Sustainable Fibers

The global Viscose Staple Fiber market is estimated to be valued at USD 12.34 billion in 2022 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.3% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Market Overview: Viscose Staple Fiber is a type of regenerated cellulose fiber that is primarily used in the textile industry. It is made from wood pulp or cotton linters and is known for its softness, breathability, and absorbency. Viscose Staple Fiber offers several advantages such as excellent drape, good color retention, and high moisture regain. These properties make it suitable for various applications including apparel, home textiles, non-woven fabrics, and industrial textiles. The growing demand for sustainable fibers is one of the key drivers for the Viscose Staple Fiber market. With increasing environmental concerns and the need for eco-friendly alternatives, there has been a shift towards more sustainable materials in the textile industry. Viscose Staple Fiber is considered a sustainable choice as it is made from renewable sources and is biodegradable. Market Key Trends: One key trend in the Viscose Staple Fiber market is the increasing adoption of recycled viscose fibers. Recycled viscose fibers are produced from post-consumer waste or pre-consumer waste generated during the production process. These fibers offer similar properties to virgin viscose fibers but have a lower environmental impact. The use of recycled viscose fibers helps in reducing waste generation, conserving resources, and minimizing carbon footprint. For example, Aditya Birla Chemicals, a leading player in the Viscose Staple Fiber market, offers a range of sustainable fibers including Birla Viscose Eco and Birla Viscose EcoSoft. These fibers are made from pre-consumer waste generated during the production of virgin viscose fibers. They have the same quality as virgin fibers but with a reduced environmental impact. PEST Analysis: Political: The Viscose Staple Fiber market is influenced by political factors such as government regulations on environmental protection and labor laws. Regulatory policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable production practices can impact the overall market dynamics. Economic: Economic factors such as GDP growth, disposable income, and consumer spending patterns play a significant role in the demand for Viscose Staple Fiber. A growing economy and increasing disposable income drive the demand for textiles and consequently, the Viscose Staple Fiber market. Social: Changing consumer preferences towards sustainable and eco-friendly products is a major social trend that impacts the Viscose Staple Fiber market. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions and are opting for products that align with their values. Technological: Technological advancements in the manufacturing process of Viscose Staple Fiber have helped increase production efficiency and improve product quality. Innovations such as closed-loop production processes and the use of solvent recovery systems have contributed to reducing the environmental footprint of Viscose Staple Fiber production. Key Takeaways: 1: The Global Viscose Staple Fiber Market Size is expected to witness high growth, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.3% over the forecast period, due to increasing demand for sustainable fibers. Consumers' preference for eco-friendly textiles is driving the adoption of Viscose Staple Fiber in various applications. 2: Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing and dominating region in the Viscose Staple Fiber market. The region is a major textile manufacturing hub, with countries like China, India, and Bangladesh contributing significantly to the market growth. The rising population, growing middle-class income, and favorable government policies are driving the demand for textiles in the region.

🔍 From Cotton to Wool: Analyzing Textile Market Trends 🔎

Discover the evolving landscape of the textile industry as it transitions from cotton to wool. Explore consumer preferences, sustainability, technological advancements, and market dynamics.

Read more: 

https://fibre2fashionpvtltd.blogspot.com/2023/06/textile-market-trends.html

The Business Research Company offers smart textiles market research report 2023 with industry size, share, segments and market growth

Smart Textile Market Scope and overview, To Develop with Increased Global Emphasis on Industrialization 2030| By R&I

The report is titled as ‘Smart Textile Market: Opportunity Analysis and Future Assessment 2020-2028’. An overview of conceptual frameworks, analytical approaches of the smart textile market is the main objective of the report, which further consists the market opportunity and insights of the data involved in the making of the respective market. The smart textile market is expected to grow with significant rate in the near future.

The global smart textile market in 2020 is estimated for more than US$ 26.2 Bn and expected to reach a value of US$ 37.0 Bn by 2028 with a significant CAGR of 4.4%.

Request a Sample Copy of this Report @: https://reportsandinsights.com/sample-request/1250

Smart Textile Introduction

Basically, a textile is a product shaped and created by weaving yarns or threads into fabric. In the first place, the weaving threads were obtained from plant-based or natural animal fibers. Then as time passed, technology upgraded and modernized, and synthetic fibers replaced the natural fibers as they were stronger, durable, and flexible.

And now, in the present-day world, the advent of programmed communications technology has reached the point where the intensely thin fibers that run through advanced devices such as smartphones and communicate data can be intertwined into cloth textiles. Ultimately, this is what is known as a smart textile comprising a cloth that has advanced computer-based technology interwoven into it.

Smart textiles are the fabric that allows the wearer to involve digital appliances and functions to be equipped in them. The smart textiles are designed with technologically advanced and innovative methods that have the potential to add value and allow the wearer to oversee the movements and several other applications.

Moreover, smart textiles also have the capability to change their color or utilize energy. Owing to which, smart textiles are projected to witness significant demand in the near future.

Smart Textile Market Dynamics

The constantly advancing technology in present times and penetration of modernized technology in various industries has resulted in the development of smart textiles that comprises an advanced computer-based technology woven into it.

Along with that, there has been huge demand among the population for smart technology such as smartphones, smart wrist-watches, and other devices, which is also acting as a positive factor that is expected to fuel the growth of the global smart textiles market in the near future.

In addition to that, smart textiles have an exhilarating demand in several different industries such as in military & defense applications, the healthcare sector, and the sports sector, which further propels the growth of the global smart textiles market.

Apart from that, the unification of principles of nanotechnology in the textile industry is also one of the key factors that are estimated to give a positive boost to the growth of the global smart textiles market during the forecast timeframe.

Furthermore, the growing demand for the miniaturization of electronic elements as well as sophisticated gadgets is also expected to accelerate the growth of the global smart textiles market in the near future. Although the enormous cost of production and no collaborations between market players may restrict the growth of the global smart textiles market in the coming years.

MMC Overview on Smart Textile Market Report

The non-identical approach of Reports and Insights stands with conceptual methods backed up with the data analysis. The novel market understanding approach makes up the standard of the assessment results that give better opportunity for the customers to put their effort.

A research report on the Smart Textile market by Reports and Insights is an in-depth and extensive study of the market based on the necessary data crunching and statistical analysis. It provides a brief view of the dynamics flowing through the market, which includes the factors that support the market and the factors that are acting as impedance for the growth of the market.

Furthermore, the report includes the various trends and opportunities in the respective market in different regions for a better understanding of readers that helps to analyze the potential of the market.

Wish to Know More About the Study? Click here to get a Report Description: https://reportsandinsights.com/pressrelease/global-smart-textiles-market

Smart Textile Market Segmentation

The smart textile market is segmented on the basis of function, type, end-user industry, and region.

By Function

Sensing

Energy Harvesting

Luminescence & Aesthetics

Thermo-electricity

Others

By Type

Passive Smart

Active Smart

Ultra-Smart

By End-User Industry

Military and Protection

Architecture

Healthcare

Sports and fitness

Fashion and entertainment

Automotive

Others

By Region

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East

Africa

Smart Textile Market Key Players

Some of the key participating players in the smart textile market are:

Google Inc.

Intelligent Clothing Ltd.

International Fashion Machines, Inc.

Interactive Wear AG

Schoeller Textiles AG

Textronics, Inc.

Vista Medical Ltd.

Gentherm Incorporated

Sensoria Inc.

To view Top Players, Segmentation and other Statistics of Smart Textile Industry, Get Sample Report @: https://reportsandinsights.com/sample-request/1250

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Brian Merchant’s “Blood In the Machine”

Tomorrow (September 27), I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine. On October 2, I'll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab.

In Blood In the Machine, Brian Merchant delivers the definitive history of the Luddites, and the clearest analysis of the automator's playbook, where "entrepreneurs'" lawless extraction from workers is called "innovation" and "inevitable":

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

History is written by the winners, and so you probably think of the Luddites as brainless, terrified, thick-fingered vandals who smashed machines and burned factories because they didn't understand them. Today, "Luddite" is a slur that means "technophobe" – but that's neither fair, nor accurate.

Luddism has been steadily creeping into pro-labor technological criticism, as workers and technology critics reclaim the term and its history, which is a rich and powerful tale of greed versus solidarity, slavery versus freedom.

The true tale of the Luddites starts with workers demanding that the laws be upheld. When factory owners began to buy automation systems for textile production, they did so in violation of laws that required collaboration with existing craft guilds – laws designed to ensure that automation was phased in gradually, with accommodations for displaced workers. These laws also protected the public, with the guilds evaluating the quality of cloth produced on the machine, acting as a proxy for buyers who might otherwise be tricked into buying inferior goods.

Factory owners flouted these laws. Though the machines made cloth that was less durable and of inferior weave, they sold it to consumers as though it were as good as the guild-made textiles. Factory owners made quiet deals with orphanages to send them very young children who were enslaved to work in their factories, where they were routinely maimed and killed by the new machines. Children who balked at the long hours or attempted escape were viciously beaten (the memoir of one former child slave became a bestseller and inspired Oliver Twist).

The craft guilds begged Parliament to act. They sent delegations, wrote petitions, even got Members of Parliament to draft legislation ordering enforcement of existing laws. Instead, Parliament passed laws criminalizing labor organizing.

The stakes were high. Economic malaise and war had driven up the price of life's essentials. Workers displaced by illegal machines faced starvation – as did their children. Communities were shattered. Workers who had apprenticed for years found themselves graduating into a market that had no jobs for them.

This is the context in which the Luddite uprisings began. Secret cells of workers, working with discipline and tight organization, warned factory owners to uphold the law. They sent letters and posted handbills in which they styled themselves as the army of "King Ludd" or "General Ludd" – Ned Ludd being a mythical figure who had fought back against an abusive boss.

When factory owners ignored these warnings, the Luddites smashed their machines, breaking into factories or intercepting machines en route from the blacksmith shops where they'd been created. They won key victories, with many factory owners backing off from automation plans, but the owners were deep-pocketed and determined.

The ruling Tories had no sympathy for the workers and no interest in upholding the law or punishing the factory owners for violating it. Instead, they dispatched troops to the factory towns, escalating the use of force until England's industrial centers were occupied by literal armies of soldiers. Soldiers who balked at turning their guns on Luddites were publicly flogged to death.

I got very interested in the Luddites in late 2021, when it became clear that everything I thought I knew about the Luddites was wrong. The Luddites weren't anti-technology – rather, they were doing the same thing a science fiction writer does: asking not just what a new technology does, but also who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

Unsurprisingly, ever since I started publishing on this subject, I've run into people who have no sympathy for the Luddite cause and who slide into my replies to replicate the 19th Century automation debate. One such person accused the Luddites of using "state violence" to suppress progress.

You couldn't ask for a more perfect example of how the history of the Luddites has been forgotten and replaced with a deliberately misleading account. The "state violence" of the Luddite uprising was entirely on one side. Parliament, under the lackadaisical leadership of "Mad King George," imposed the death penalty on the Luddites. It wasn't just machine-breaking that became a capital crime – "oath taking" (swearing loyalty to the Luddites) also carried the death penalties.

As the Luddites fought on against increasingly well-armed factory owners (one owner bought a cannon to use on workers who threatened his machines), they were subjected to spectacular acts of true state violence. Occupying soldiers rounded up Luddites and suspected Luddites and staged public mass executions, hanging them by the dozen, creating scores widows and fatherless children.

The sf writer Steven Brust says that the test to tell whether someone is on the right or the left is simple: ask whether property rights are more important than human rights. If the person says "property rights are human rights," they are on the right.

The state response to the Luddites crisply illustrates this distinction. The Luddites wanted an orderly and lawful transition to automation, one that brought workers along and created shared prosperity and quality goods. The craft guilds took pride in their products, and saw themselves as guardians of their industry. They were accustomed to enjoying a high degree of bargaining power and autonomy, working from small craft workshops in their homes, which allowed them to set their own work pace, eat with their families, and enjoy modest amounts of leisure.

The factory owners' cause wasn't just increased production – it was increased power. They wanted a workforce that would dance to their tune, work longer hours for less pay. They wanted unilateral control over which products they made and what corners they cut in making those products. They wanted to enrich themselves, even if that meant that thousands starved and their factory floors ran red with the blood of dismembered children.

The Luddites destroyed machines. The factory owners killed Luddites, shooting them at the factory gates, or rounding them up for mass executions. Parliament deputized owners to act as extensions of law enforcement, allowing them to drag suspected Luddites to their own private cells for questioning.

The Luddites viewed property rights as just one instrument for achieving human rights – freedom from hunger and cold – and when property rights conflicted with human rights, they didn't hesitate to smash the machines. For them, human rights trumped property rights.

Their bosses – and their bosses' modern defenders – saw the demands to uphold the laws on automation as demands to bring "state violence" to bear on the wholly private matter of how a rich man should organize his business. On the other hand, literal killing – both on the factory floor and at the gallows – was not "state violence" but rather, a defense of the most important of all the human rights: the rights of property owners.

19th century textile factories were the original Big Tech, and the rhetoric of the factory owners echoes down the ages. When tech barons like Peter Thiel say that "freedom is incompatible with democracy," he means that letting people who work for a living vote will eventually lead to limitations on people who own things for a living, like him.

Then, as now, resistance to Big Tech enjoyed widespread support. The Luddites couldn't have organized in their thousands if their neighbors didn't have their backs. Shelley and Byron wrote widely reproduced paeans to worker uprisings (Byron also defended the Luddites in the House of Lords). The Brontes wrote Luddite novels. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was a Luddite novel, in which the monster was a sensitive, intelligent creature who merely demanded a say in the technology that created him.

The erasure of the true history of the Luddites was a deliberate act. Despite the popular and elite support the Luddites enjoyed, the owners and their allies in Parliament were able to crush the uprising, using mass murder and imprisonment to force workers to accept immiseration.

The entire supply chain of the textile revolution was soaked in blood. Merchant devotes multiple chapters to the lives of African slaves in America who produced the cotton that the machines in England wove into cloth. Then – as now – automation served to obscure the violence latent in production of finished goods.

But, as Merchant writes, the Luddites didn't lose outright. Historians who study the uprisings record that the places where the Luddites fought most fiercely were the places where automation came most slowly and workers enjoyed the longest shared prosperity.

The motto of Magpie Killjoy's seminal Steampunk Magazine was: "Love the machine, hate the factory." The workers of the Luddite uprising were skilled technologists themselves.

They performed highly technical tasks to produce extremely high-quality goods. They served in craft workshops and controlled their own time.

The factory increased production, but at the cost of autonomy. Factories and their progeny, like assembly lines, made it possible to make more goods (even goods that eventually rose the quality of the craft goods they replaced), but at the cost of human autonomy. Taylorism and other efficiency cults ended up scripting the motions of workers down to the fingertips, and workers were and are subject to increasing surveillance and discipline from their bosses if they deviate. Take too many pee breaks at the Amazon warehouse and you will be marked down for "time off-task."

Steampunk is a dream of craft production at factory scale: in steampunk fantasies, the worker is a solitary genius who can produce high-tech finished goods in their own laboratory. Steampunk has no "dark, satanic mills," no blood in the factory. It's no coincidence that steampunk gained popularity at the same time as the maker movement, in which individual workers use form digital communities. Makers networked together to provide advice and support in craft projects that turn out the kind of technologically sophisticated goods that we associate with vast, heavily-capitalized assembly lines.

But workers are losing autonomy, not gaining it. The steampunk dream is of a world where we get the benefits of factory production with the life of a craft producer. The gig economy has delivered its opposite: craft workers – Uber drivers, casualized doctors and dog-walkers – who are as surveilled and controlled as factory workers.

Gig workers are dispatched by apps, their faces closely studied by cameras for unauthorized eye-movements, their pay changed from moment to moment by an algorithm that docks them for any infraction. They are "reverse centaurs": workers fused to machines where the machine provides the intelligence and the human does its bidding:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-centaur

Craft workers in home workshops are told that they're their own bosses, but in reality they are constantly monitored by bossware that watches out of their computers' cameras and listens through its mic. They have to pay for the privilege of working for their bosses, and pay to quit. If their children make so much as a peep, they can lose their jobs. They don't work from home – they live at work:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#toothless

Merchant is a master storyteller and a dedicated researcher. The story he weaves in Blood In the Machine is as gripping as any Propublica deep-dive into the miserable working conditions of today's gig economy. Drawing on primary sources and scholarship, Blood is a kind of Nomadland for Luddites.

Today, Merchant is the technology critic for the LA Times. The final chapters of Blood brings the Luddites into the present day, finding parallels in the labor organizing of the Amazon warehouse workers led by Chris Smalls. The liberal reformers who offered patronizing support to the Luddites – but didn't imagine that they could be masters of their own destiny – are echoed in the rhetoric of Andrew Yang.

And of course, the factory owners' rhetoric is easily transposed to the modern tech baron. Then, as now, we're told that all automation is "progress," that regulatory evasion (Uber's unlicensed taxis, Airbnb's unlicensed hotel rooms, Ring's unregulated surveillance, Tesla's unregulated autopilot) is "innovation." Most of all, we're told that every one of these innovations must exist, that there is no way to stop it, because technology is an autonomous force that is independent of human agency. "There is no alternative" – the rallying cry of Margaret Thatcher – has become our inevitablist catechism.

Squeezing the workers' wages conditions and weakening workers' bargaining power isn't "innovation." It's an old, old story, as old as the factory owners who replaced skilled workers with terrified orphans, sending out for more when a child fell into a machine. Then, as now, this was called "job creation."

Then, as now, there was no way to progress as a worker: no matter how skilled and diligent an Uber driver is, they can't buy their medallion and truly become their own boss, getting a say in their working conditions. They certainly can't hope to rise from a blue-collar job on the streets to a white-collar job in the Uber offices.

Then, as now, a worker was hired by the day, not by the year, and might find themselves with no work the next day, depending on the whim of a factory owner or an algorithm.

As Merchant writes: robots aren't coming for your job; bosses are. The dream of a "dark factory," a "fully automated" Tesla production line, is the dream of a boss who doesn't have to answer to workers, who can press a button and manifest their will, without negotiating with mere workers. The point isn't just to reduce the wage-bill for a finished good – it's to reduce the "friction" of having to care about others and take their needs into account.

Luddites are not – and have never been – anti-technology. Rather, they are pro-human, and see production as a means to an end: broadly shared prosperity. The automation project says it's about replacing humans with machines, but over and over again – in machine learning, in "contactless" delivery, in on-demand workforces – the goal is to turn humans into machines.

There is blood in the machine, Merchant tells us, whether its humans being torn apart by a machine, or humans being transformed into machines.

Brian and I are having a joint book-launch tomorrow night (Sept 27) at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-internet-con-by-cory-doctorow-blood-in-the-machine-by-brian-merchant-tickets-696349940417

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/26/enochs-hammer/#thats-fronkonsteen

Major Players: India's Hosiery Apparel Landscape

The apparel and textile sector encompasses the design, production, and distribution of clothing and fabric-based products. It involves a diverse range of activities, from raw material sourcing to fashion design and retail. This dynamic industry plays a pivotal role in global trade, fashion trends, and economic development.

Global Glycolic Acid Market: Trends, Growth, and Future Prospects

The glycolic acid market was valued at USD 309.3 million in 2021, and it is set to reach USD 604.4 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.7% between 2021 and 2030, according to a research report by a market research company P&S Intelligence. In 2021, the personal care and cosmetics category held the largest market share at 58.2%. this is due to glycolic acid being extensively utilized in…

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Smart Textiles For Military Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 15 % by 2027. Factors driving the Smart Textiles For Military Market are military powerhouses investing in soldier modernization and in the R&D.