Made to Order: How On-Demand Manufacturing Changes the Apparel Circularity Equation

How does manufacturing exactly what customers need eliminate waste before it starts? What does it actually take for brands to shift from forecasting and overproduction to on-demand models?

The apparel industry’s biggest waste problem happens before anything reaches a customer: overproduction. Brands manufacture based on forecasts, then mark down, liquidate, or even destroy what doesn’t sell. On-demand and demand-responsive manufacturing flip this by producing garments based on real customer signals rather than forecasts, eliminating excess inventory entirely. This session explores what it takes to make the shift: what makes small-batch or single-item production economically viable, how operations and supply chains need to change, and whether demand-responsive models can work beyond premium price points. Hear what works, what’s harder than expected, and how manufacturing innovations like this reshape circularity from the ground up.