Oakland based
company joins forces with DCVC to further reduce the fashion
industry's global carbon emissions
OAKLAND,
Calif., July 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today,
unspun, the industry leader in 3D weaving technology, announced
$32M in an oversubscribed Series B
funding round led by DCVC, with participation from Lowercarbon
Capital, E12, Decathlon and SOSV.
The funding will fuel the rapid scaling of unspun's innovative
3D weaving technology, Vega™—designed to help brands
realize a low-inventory, nearshore and automated supply-chain for
woven products, which represent 57% of the total apparel market,
—as the company expands its operations in Europe and North
America.
Vega™ is the world's first 3D weaving technology for
apparel. It takes thousands of yarns and weaves them into garments
in minutes, allowing for (almost) zero-waste, on-demand
manufacturing. This technology unlocks scalable on-demand or
low-inventory production.
Because 3D weaving drastically shortens supply chains and lead
times, brands and manufacturers can plug these machines into
existing supply chains for localized and automated production. This
opportunity allows traditional cut-make-trim facilities to
vertically integrate operations, offering a faster (4 times),
cleaner (53% emissions reduction, 49% reduced energy demand and a
39% reduced blue water consumption), more efficient (less than 3%
cut waste, compared to the industry average of 15%), and a more
agile supply chain that is more responsive to market demands.
unspun has signed multi-year agreements with multiple top
retailers like Walmart to deploy its Vega™ machines for
localized production in both North
America and Europe. This
demonstrates growing demand from major funds, brands, and retailers
seeking more sustainable and efficient manufacturing solutions amid
growing regulatory pressure and consumer demand for supply chain
transparency and sustainability. In Europe, where new rules proposing production
limits and waste bans are under consideration, local-for-local
manufacturing enabled by unspun's technology provides a clear
competitive edge for compliance. With Vega™ machines
vastly expediting the design-to-shelf process, brands will be
empowered to keep up with the ultra-fast cadences set by
fast-fashion disruptors while maintaining quality, profitability,
and low waste.
With this funding, unspun is taking the first step in rapidly
scaling its operations through licensing its technology to
established manufacturing partners in Europe.
With record levels of unsold goods circulating in the industry,
this has never been more timely. unspun partners with brands and
manufacturers who are committed to decarbonizing their fashion
supply chains with onshored, low-impact, and automated production.
Vega™ will also have circular supply chain applications,
and unspun is developing products and manufacturing techniques that
allow for garments to be unspun back into yarns, and re-woven into
new products.
"Overproduction has long been a taboo in fashion. It is now
recognized by top-tier climate-funds as a key issue to urgently
solve for the industry," says Walden
Lam, CEO of unspun. "We are overwhelmed with the
enthusiasm, and excited to be partnering with DCVC, Lowercarbon,
SOSV climate, Decathlon and many commercial partners to urgently
scale Vega™ to localize apparel manufacturing across
North America and Europe."
With Vega™ 3D weaving the product capabilities are
endless, and these high-performing jacquard machines can create
woven garments using almost any yarn. The current generation of the
machines is focused on producing high quality outputs for bottoms
(they can also create bags and hats) while future generations of
the machines will allow the company to expand into performance
categories, outerwear, shoes, tops, and dresses.
"unspun offers a tremendous economic and logistical unlock for
the fashion industry by eliminating costly overproduction and
radically shortening the supply chain. We think it's good business
to align profits and climate impact and are excited to help unspun
revolutionize the way clothing is made," says Milo Werner, General Partner at DCVC, who will
join unspun's Board of Directors.
This announcement follows unspun's recent reveal of a project
with Walmart, the world's leading omnichannel retailer. The project
aims to localize parts of Walmart's manufacturing and promote a
higher level of supply chain traceability in North America. Before this, unspun partnered
with the fashion label Eckhaus Latta. Together, they
introduced the first-ever 3D woven collection at New York Fashion
Week. These products are now accessible online through various
retailers and in stores globally. unspun's Vega™
technology continues to be a pioneering force in the fashion and
design industry, recently playing a crucial part in the launch of
designer Ana Kraš' lifestyle brand, Teget.
unspun's technological capabilities and vision for the future of
fashion have landed the company on America's Top Greentech
companies 2024 by Time magazine, Vogue 100 innovator's list,
Newsweek's Climate Change Innovators, TIME's Best Inventions, and
Fast Company's World-Changing Ideas.
About unspun:
unspun is a US-founded fashion-tech B-corp on a mission to
reduce global human carbon emissions by 1%. To accomplish this
goal, it is building the tools needed to realize zero-waste and
circular production—a future where nothing becomes trash. Its
invention, Vega™, is the world's first 3D weaving
technology for apparel. Vega™ weaves clothes from yarn
within minutes. It simplifies fashion supply chains into a vertical
operation, regardless of the location. This proprietary 3D weaving
and digital fit technology is the fastest, cleanest, and most
cost-competitive way to make woven apparel. Vega™
unlocks scalable production in a microfactory setting for local,
automated and on-demand manufacturing. unspun partners with brands
and manufacturers committed to streamlining and decarbonizing
fashion supply chains using automated, localized, and low-impact
production.
About DCVC:
DCVC is deep tech venture capital. Over
more than a dozen years, the firm has backed brilliant
entrepreneurs using computational approaches to solve
trillion-dollar problems in the real world across a broad set of
industries, especially those that haven't seen material progress in
decades. With billions of dollars of assets under management, DCVC
builds long-term relationships with the founders it backs. The firm
has been with many of its companies from their very start—and
through to their recognition by the public markets as
category-defining businesses. For more information, please visit
www.dcvc.com, or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter @DCVC.
Press Contacts:
Erin
Allweiss | unspun: unspun@thenumber29.com
Hailey Hiss | DCVC:
press@dcvc.com
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SOURCE unspun