On-demand custom clothing software company unfinished It was acquired by Hi-Tech Apparel, a major clothing manufacturer.
Founded in 2014 by Hal Watts, Kirsty Emery-Laws and Ben Alun-Jones, Unmade is a London-based SaaS company that provides apparel and sportswear brands with the digital infrastructure they need to unlock the full potential of their products, develop market opportunities and connect demand directly to production.
Unmade’s platform, UnmadeOS, uses patented automation and visualization technology to enable brands to become demand-driven and offer customization, teamwear and small batch production at scale.
UnmadeOS increases product variety and speed to market while reducing operational overhead, inventory and waste.
Unmade has raised more than $18 million in investment from investors including Decathlon and Octopus Ventures.
Hi-Tech Apparel is a global leader in garment manufacturing, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. The Group operates 13 manufacturing facilities with over 14,000 team members across Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and soon Egypt.
The acquisition combines Hi-Tech’s manufacturing and logistics expertise with Unmade’s technology to create a market-leading solution for brands and retailers looking for a better approach to teamwear and customization.
The Unmade team will also gain access to the resources, expertise and customer base of Hi-Tech Apparel, which has annual sales of more than $300 million and shares Unmade’s vision for automating the manufacturing process.
“We are excited to be working with Huawei to bring the tech to the market,” said Wason Vithanakorn, CEO of Hi-Tech Apparel.
“Unmade is perfectly aligned with Hi-Tech Apparel’s mission to build the digital infrastructure needed to enable manufacturing distribution across multiple geographies in a demand-driven industry.
We’ve worked closely with the incredibly talented Unmade team for many years and believe they have the capabilities to deliver the responsiveness our customers require, building on their already industry-leading software.”
Decathlon will remain a shareholder following the transaction, and Unmade will retain the power to work with any brand or manufacturer.
Unmade’s UK-based team, led by CEO Hal Watts and COO Simon Lear, will remain with the business to further develop its industry-leading digital solutions for personalised and customised apparel and will also receive a significant capital injection to drive growth through a series of new hires.
“Unmade is a game changer,” said Hal Watts, co-founder and CEO of Unmade.
“This marks a major milestone for Unmade and a unique opportunity to implement our technology on a much larger scale. From our first meeting, it was clear that Hi-Tech’s vision for digital, demand-driven supply chain solutions is very much aligned with ours.
We are incredibly proud of the business and grateful to the team who have built it over the past decade – particularly Ursula Davy, Simon Lear and the other founders who started with me and have driven the apparel industry to work in a more on-demand and sustainable way.”
Pierre Vernet, investment director at Decathlon, said:
“Decathlon is our first investor in Unmade in 2021 and believes strongly in the need for an independent, open platform that can serve an industry undergoing unprecedented change in terms of customer expectations and speed to market.
We look forward to building on this strong foundation and continuing to be valued partners for a bright future.”
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
