Eton Advances Automation in the Expanding Second-Hand Market
Innovative Microfactory Project Automates Sorting and Handling of Reused Garments
Eton Systems is helping drive the future of automated textile reuse through advanced material handling and AI-powered garment processing as part of the Microfactories System Innovation project.
Eton Systems, a member of TMAS – the Swedish Textile Machinery Association – is actively participating in the ongoing Microfactories System Innovation project, which aims to create a fully automated process for managing second-hand garments.
As part of this initiative, Eton is providing its proven material-handling transport system. The collaboration also includes experts from the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås, the Automation Region innovation cluster at Mälardalen University, and the national innovation platform iHubs Sweden.
Hampus Götlind, systems engineer at Eton Systems, assembles drives before delivery.
Rising Market Volumes
According to ThredUp’s 2025 Resale Report, the global market for second-hand apparel is already valued at $256 billion this year and is projected to grow by 10% annually, reaching $367 billion by 2029.
Meanwhile, the online resale segment alone is expected to double in the next five years, hitting nearly $40 billion, driven by a growth rate of 17%.
Jan Molin, CEO of Eton Systems.
“The volumes are now so large that handling must be automated for it to work,” says Jan Molin, CEO of Eton Systems. “The new EU regulations requiring separate collection of textiles are having an impact, but we are also seeing an increasingly positive attitude towards reuse and greater awareness of the textile industry’s environmental impact.”
AI-Powered Categorisation
A test facility has been set up at Science Park Borås, where garments are placed on custom carriers within an Eton Systems conveyor line and guided through a sequence of processing stations.
Using a vision system, each garment is inspected before AI is used to classify it by details such as brand, model, and size. The system also identifies any damage and proposes repair options.
“The collected information is fed into a calculation model that, based on market data, makes suggestions for a sales price,” Molin explains. “Finally, the garment is photographed for marketing and then transported to a warehouse awaiting sale.”
Used clothing items are photographed and analysed in the project’s test facility at Science Park Borås. © Vasilios Bartziokas.
A Legacy of Automation
Eton’s material-handling technology was first developed in the 1960s to support the company’s own shirt production in Gånghester. At that time, material handling accounted for as much as 80% of manufacturing time.
The company’s Unit Production System (UPS), an automated ceiling-mounted conveyor that moved shirts individually through each operation, enabled a shift from mass production to single-piece workflow.
“It provided many benefits, including shorter lead times, greatly reduced material handling time and better ergonomics for operators,” says Molin. “Quality defect costs were also reduced because defects could be detected on individual products instead of at the batch level.”
The UPS concept became so successful that in 1967 it was spun off into the standalone automation company Eton Systems, now operating from a modern production facility in Nordskogen, Borås. Its global customer base includes apparel manufacturers, home textile producers, and furniture companies. The system is also used for handling plastic components in the automotive industry.
The drives circulate the product carriers so that they reach the various workstations
Growing Opportunities for Swedish Industry
Overproduction continues to be a major environmental issue in the textile sector, with brands producing large volumes and unsold items either being heavily discounted or destroyed.
The Microfactories System Innovation project builds on earlier work focused on small-scale, local, demand-based production. The current focus is on the rapidly expanding reuse market.
“We see enormous potential in second hand,” says Molin. “It is an area that is growing rapidly and where there is room for innovation and new business models. There is also the opportunity to move technology from other industries.”
Launched in 2024, the project will run for four years. For Eton Systems, involvement provides opportunities to test new uses for its technology and strengthen its innovation capabilities.
“Collaboration with universities and innovation environments helps us to be at the forefront,” says Molin. “We can participate in freer and more visionary development, without having to take on all the work ourselves. But above all, it is about contributing to a more circular industry, where materials can be used for longer and in a smarter way.”
Driving Circularity
“It’s very encouraging to note this growing willingness by many consumers to embrace the second-hand market as an important component of the drive towards accelerating circular systems,” adds TMAS General Secretary Therese Premler-Andersson. “Automation and digitalization as developed by Swedish companies like Eton are increasingly innovating ways in which this market – and more generally textile manufacturing and retailing – can be sustained and made ever more efficient in the general fight against textile waste.”
The Microfactories System Innovation project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, Region Västra Götaland and Region Västmanland.