London-based software company Unmade, has been acquired by global garment manufacturer Hi-Tech Apparel. The deal, valued at 10 times the company revenue, will see Unmade, which is working to solve fast fashion’s problems though tech-enabled customised clothing on demand, work with Hi-Tech to automate the fashion industry. This comes amid increasing demand for both sustainable and on-demand fashion.
Unmade has the “potential to change an industry known for waste through mass production and mass consumption”, Conor Scanlan, investor at Octopus Ventures said. “Unmade’s demand-driven manufacturing solution represents a bright future for fashion.” Unmade’s technology enables brands to turn designs into “manufacturing ready data”, which upends the traditional fast fashion ethos of producing huge order batches and lowers minimum order quantities.
The fast fashion industry contributed 1.92m tonnes of waste last year, with about 92 per cent of all garments produced going to landfill, according to the Earth Organisation . It has also been slammed for environmental concerns about emissions and workers’ rights .
Both companies aim to create a “digital, demand-driven supply chain” on a large scale, co-founder and chief executive officer of Unmade, Hal Watts, said, adding that he wanted the apparel industry to work in a more “on-demand and sustainable way”. Hi-Tech Apparel is a global fashion manufacturer based in Thailand, which operates 13 sites across South E.
