(Watch Cary Sherburne’s recent video interview with Shimmy founder Sarah Krasley.)

In 2018, McKinsey Apparel, Fashion & Luxury Group surveyed U.S. apparel executives and international procurement officers and projected that simple garment production will be fully automated by 2025, resulting in an 80% reduction in the labor force. Although 2025 sounds like it is a long way off, it isn’t. Six years is not a lot of time to transition an estimated 65 million workers to new career paths!

Enter Shimmy, founded in 2017 by Sarah Krasley, who had been working in product design and manufacturing for about a decade, primarily in the automotive, furniture and electronics segments. “I got excited about the apparel sector,” she says, “because it is an industry that is just beginning its digital transformation. People are just starting to use 3D design tools for full digital product creation. I felt it was a great place for someone with my skill set to help accelerate that transformation. It seemed like a good opportunity to come in and fill the workforce development gap.”