As a teenager growing up in Portugal, Gilberto Loureiro spent his summers standing beside thundering machines in a textile factory. His job was repetitive and grueling: watching for flaws in woven fabric as it sped by at 15 to 20 meters a minute. Those long days left him with mixed emotions. He loved the textile industry’s complexity, but the inefficiencies and waste left him frustrated. Years later, after earning a master’s degree in physics, Loureiro co-founded Smartex, a startup using AI-powered cameras and computer vision to automatically detect defects in textile production. His goal was clear: eliminate waste before it happens.
In just three years, Smartex’s technology has reportedly saved one million kilograms of fabric from going to waste.
The fashion industry desperately needs solutions like this. A truckload of clothing ends up in landfills or gets burned every second, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. With brands like Inditex (owner of Zara) consuming over 678,000 tonnes of raw materials in a year, even a tiny improvement in fabric efficiency—like Smartex’s 0.37% gain per kilogram—adds up fast.
Closing Fashion’s Digital Divide
Despite being one of the most polluting industries, fashion remains largely untouched by modern tech. Loureiro sees that as a huge opportunity. Apparel production is complex and fragmented, involving raw material sourcing, weaving, dyeing, designing, and sewing—often across multiple countries. The rapid pace of fashion makes digital transformation even harder.
But that complexity is exactly what drew investors to Smartex. In 2022, H&M Group backed the company, while Tony Fadell, the visionary behind the iPod and Nest thermostat, led a $24.7 million round through Lightspeed Venture Partners. Loureiro admits that investing in this space isn’t for the faint-hearted. But with fashion forecasted to become a $1.8 trillion industry by 2025, the upside is massive.
Amazon also took notice. Through its AWS Compute for Climate Fellowship, the tech giant has supported Smartex with advanced computing resources and AI model training to improve fabric flaw detection. This program supports climate resilience startups tackling complex problems with new science, tech, and business models. AWS plans to support 20 startups this year with $4 million in funding.
Fast Payback and Factory-Wide Vision
Loureiro spends much of his time visiting factories in Bangladesh and Vietnam, meeting owners who want fast proof of return on investment. If he can’t show the cost will pay off within 30 seconds, he’s out. Most Smartex installations cost “a few hundred thousand dollars,” but clients typically see returns within 9 to 18 months, according to the Apparel Impact Institute.
Smartex isn’t just a defect detector. Loureiro envisions it as an operating system for the global fashion supply chain—tracking where garments are made, where they are in production, and how much water or electricity was used. These are simple questions, but most brands still struggle to answer them.
Fadell believes Smartex could become the Apple of manufacturing. “It’s not just about one device,” Loureiro said. “It’s about building an entire ecosystem—where everything works together and delivers far more value.”
