Repair textiles or apparel
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 5 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 5 occupations that perform it.
- Prepare pointe shoes, by sewing or other means, for use in rehearsals and performance.
- Repair or alter items by adding replacement parts or missing stitches.
- Repair and recondition leather products such as trunks, luggage, shoes, saddles, belts, purses, and baseball gloves.
- Remove stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades.
- Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread.
- Tape or twist together thread or cord to repair breaks.
- Repair or replace soles, heels, and other parts of footwear, using sewing, buffing and other shoe repair machines, materials, and equipment.
- Fit, alter, repair, and make made-to-measure clothing, according to customers' and clothing manufacturers' specifications and fit, and applying principles of garment design, construction, and styling.
- Stretch shoes, dampening parts and inserting and twisting parts, using an adjustable stretcher.
- Repair or replace defective garment parts, such as pockets, zippers, snaps, buttons, and linings.
- Re-sew seams, and replace handles and linings of suitcases or handbags.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
5 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Sew garments or materials”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Sew clothing or other articles | 8 |
| Operate sewing equipment | 7 |
| Sew materials | 1 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.