The sorting of secondhand garments is shifting from labor-intensive to technology-intensive operations. At the Texprocess exhibition in Frankfurt, Swedish textile machinery maker Eton Systems unveiled its aUPS module, capable of sorting hundreds of garments per hour—compared to dozens by hand—driven by an AI vision system and modular conveyor technology.
Event Background
The aUPS module is not built from scratch. It is based on Eton's proven UPS material handling system, already widely used in garment factory overhead lines. The newly added ETONingenious AI engine identifies garment type, color, wear level, and even brand logos, then directs hangers to the appropriate collection zone.
Live demonstrations at the show showed a used T-shirt being sorted in seconds. For sorting centers processing tens of thousands of tonnes annually, this could cut labor costs to less than a third of current levels. Eton's membership in TMAS, the Swedish textile machinery association, also lends standardization credibility to the technology.
Industry Impact
The global secondhand garment market is growing at roughly 15% per year, driven by fast fashion overstock, rising consumer environmental awareness, and mandatory textile recycling regulations in regions like the EU. However, sorting has long relied on manual labor, creating a cost and efficiency bottleneck that limits the scaling of recycling.
The aUPS module's direct value lies in enabling sorting centers to handle larger volumes of mixed garments while maintaining accuracy. For downstream recycled fiber mills, this means purer and more consistent feedstock, leading to higher-quality recycled yarns and better pricing.
For Chinese textile clusters like Keqiao and Shengze, which have heavily invested in recycled polyester capacity, the impact is significant. Current collection systems are fragmented and lack standardized sorting. If automation solutions like aUPS gain traction in China, they could force upstream collection to become more centralized and standardized.
However, high equipment costs and integration with existing collection logistics remain real obstacles. A single aUPS module may cost over one million RMB, and only operations with sufficient throughput can justify the investment. In the short term, large brand-owned recycling programs or government-led regional sorting centers are more likely to be early adopters.