How many home-sewn coats before the labour cost per coat settles?
research/garment-learning
How many home-sewn replica coats until labour cost settles? On a Wright learning curve (assumed first coat 4× an experienced operator, rate 0.85) it takes 20 coats to get within 2× of factory time; the first coat stays under $50 only if your time is valued at ≤$1.45/h. Learning parameters assumed. Stylised.
What it found
Applies a Wright learning curve (unit time falls by a fixed share per doubling of output) to the replica trench coat of garment-teardown ($43 materials, 76 experienced-operator minutes). With an assumed first coat 4× experienced time and an 85% rate it takes 20 coats to get within 2× of experienced time; with 8× and 90% it takes about 9,100, so the answer is set by the two assumed parameters. The first coat stays under $50 only if the sewer’s time is valued at $1.45/h or less ($4.28/h for the 100th). In a factory run the learning surcharge is under 8% after 200 coats. Stylised: learning rates are assumed, not measured.
A figure from its own output
Paper, code and results
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Produced with AI assistance (Claude). Results are from the code in this repository and are simulated or stylised unless the abstract says otherwise; nothing here implies affiliation with or endorsement by any lab, researcher or company cited. MIT licensed.