Decathlon And SF-Based Fashion Tech Company Aim To 3D Weave Your Pants

Unspun, a fashion tech company based out of San Francisco and Hong Kong, has developed a unique 3D weaving machine it calls Vega. After nearly a decade in business, making limited collections for companies such as Eckhaus Latta and custom jeans, it’s now collaborating with global brand Decathlon. After a series B fundraise of $32 million, this B Corp is looking to scale.

Decathlon Pulse, the investment arm and startup studio of Decathlon is putting Unspun’s 3D machines in its own facilities throughout Europe — as well as investing in the tech.

The aim, Franck Vigo, CEO of Decathlon Pulse, says is to collaborate with unspun as an industrial partner and expand 3D weaving throughout Europe, serving multiple European brands.

Walden Lam, CEO and co-founder of unspun, is excited about the partnership, which has been years in the making. “Decathlon has been a great partner from the very beginning. This collaboration enables us to provide apparel products that have ben produced in a more sustainable way to mainstream customers in Europe.”

One of the big issues unspun is tackling through their own enterprise and collaborations such as these is textile waste. In the manufacturing process, waste is a natural byproduct. Excess material, yarn, and cuttings are a common sight in factories. But textile waste is also a result of excess production. Because companies tend to produce large quantities to meet minimum quantities or simply to ensure they have enough supply, there’s often leftover garments. And what’s not sold at discounted prices is then send to waste facilities.

Lam explains that while Decathlon may be a global force in athleisure wear and sports apparel, they do have smaller units doing production for them in Europe. And the company has taken steps to reduce their waste. That’s why they’re keen to invest in unspun and deploy the technology. “We want to pioneer local, low-waste, and low-inventory production in the region.”

Unpsun has been putting this technology to the test already. Its micro-factory in Oakland has been producing clothes in limited runs for brands. But now they’re looking for bigger players; earlier this year, unspun announced a pilot with Walmart in North America. Now, with Decthalon, they hope to serve the European market.

Co-Founder Kevin Martin says that he’s excited about “the intersection of profitability and sustainability. Our north start is to get to a 1% reduction in global carbon emissions. 1% is massive. That’s a, change in how woven products are made in the entire industry and have near 100% penetration on that. And then we start getting close.”

Beth Esponnette, Martin and Lam’s co-founder, had worked in the outdoor industry, and saw the waste firsthand. That led her to think about how robotics, 3D printing, and sustainability could all come under one roof. That led the trio to coming together, each bringing their own expertise to the table: Esponnette had worked for retail brands, Martin had a background in robotics and engineer, and Lam knew textile manufacturing. All three were disappointed to find out that so much excess product is simply dumped every year.

“We spend $200 billion a year making stuff, moving it around, and then lighting it on fire,” says Martin, referring to brands that have historically burned their excess production. “That’s such an obvious thing of, like, hey, what if we just didn’t do that? It means that there’s just such a massive financial capitalist upside to be had in figuring out how to not make this much stuff? Can you figure out how not to waste it? Or make it more efficiently.”

Unspun’s state-of-the-art 3D weaving technology, VegaTM, is challenging these manufacturing norms. It can produce semi-finished products directly from yarn. Human touch is still needed to operate the machines and to finish the garments fully. The technology’s design, he says, also allows companies to have on-demand production, reducing lead times, letting them experiment before doing a full run of a SKU, and having micro-factories in closer proximity to their offices.

Decathlon’s reach and global importance in fashion makes them an ideal partner, as they roll out machines in Europe. Initially, Decathlon and unspun will be working on a golf pant, using Vega’s tubular design (rather than traditional seams at joints), to perfect a staple garment. “But the possibilities are endless,” says Lam. “We’re not looking at just one material or garment but many. We want this to work across the board.”

Policy changes can also help drive unspun’s vision closer to a reality. The EU, for example, has outlined a set of targets to increase recycling for everyday materials like paper, plastic, glass and metal). But it’s also taking a closer look at textile waste, mandating EU states to have a separate collection stream for used clothing that’s typically just tossed into the trash by consumers. This will require changes from brands and manufacturers as well so that textile waste doesn’t end up in landfills or in the wrong waste streams. Similar policies may be coming to the States, with California taking the lead on textile recycling.

Changes in the textile industry seem to be on the horizon — even for big manufacturers. Anant Ahuja, Head ESG & Sustainability at Shahi Exports, India’s largest textile manufacturing company which produces clothes for brands such as Decathlon (among others like Gap and H&M), says they’ve been monitoring new innovations, such as unspun’s Vega machine, to see how they can fit into manufacturing in the future.

Anant’s older brother Anand Ahuja actually invested in unspun in 2017 after meeting with co-founders Martin and Esponnette in Los Angeles. “Anand had a clothing brand, Bhane, in addition to working at Shahi and was inspired by the team at unspun and what they were building so he invested in it. Today, at Shahi, we have an innovations team that’s looking at what’s next,” he says.

While Shahi Exports runs more than 50 factories in South Asia, primarily in India, Anant is keen to see how automation can fit into their model as well. While he predicts there will always be a role for human touch, there may be elements where machines can help streamline production — and he too iterates, reduce waste.

“We talk about all the issues of the fashion industry, and there’s all these social and environmental issues. But I think one of the biggest problems is just the fact that in the manufacturing process, there’s a lot of wastage. And if you can figure out how to leverage technology to not just be more efficient and faster, but also to reduce wastage, to preserve resources, that I think is gonna be really exciting to see.”

Unspun is betting on a “future where nothing becomes trash.” Could factories be redesigned, scaled down, and brought closer to the design teams — all while being profitable and even, perhaps, saving brands some dollars? That’s what the unspun team is hoping to build in the coming years.