World in Disruption: Loom with a View

Before the Industrial Revolution, the concept of buying ready-made clothing was virtually unheard of. Clothes were either homespun or meticulously crafted by tailors to individual specifications.

Cotton mills and power looms hailed a shift in apparel production, which has since evolved into a highly automated industry powered by advanced sewing machines, precision cutting tools, and sophisticated computer-aided design.

Despite this technology, little has changed over the years in how clothing is produced. The journey of a garment from fabric to the storefront remains labour-intensive with a trail of carbon emissions.

Take, for instance, a pair of trousers: the fabric must be sourced, shipped to a factory, produced, designed for each body shape, cut, sewn, detailed, and then delivered across borders.

Altogether, these processes contribute to the 10% of greenhouse gas emissions that the fast fashion industry accounts for, as well as 20% of the world’s water use, according to the UN Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTD).

In an era where 3D printing is reshaping industries such as factory 4.0, and healthcare, 3D weaving firm unspun is hoping to apply the tech to cut carbon emissions and achieve efficiencies in the fashion sector.

According to founders Beth Esponnette, Walden Lam, and Kevin Martin  the aim of the tech is to streamline production, enhance efficiency, and significantly reduce waste, heralding a new, greener age of ready-to-wear clothing.

Spinning a yarn

The name ‘unspun’ came from the fact that any piece of clothing made on its machine ‘Vega’ can be unwoven from a singular piece of thread.

Explaining how a garment is created on its 3D weaving Annika Visser, unspun’s brand lead, says “Thousands of yards are fed into Vega where they are woven in a circular pattern to form a seamless 3D tube.”

The process is computer-controlled and runs off a digital, autogenerated design, which also allows the weave to produce different patterns such as jacquard or stripes.

Then, the 3D tubes can be made into garments such as trousers, tops, and accessories with a few additional steps – attaching two pant leg tubes at the centre seam or adding a button and a pocket.

Unspun claims that this process reduces carbon emissions by just over 50%, energy consumption by nearly half (49%), and water by almost 40% – all in its ability to manufacture on demand, and streamline and localise supply chains by placing ‘micro factories’ locally.

Crucially, the clothing’s ability to be unwoven means that the thread can be reused to create second-life garments.

“Our main goal is to address waste in the fashion industry,” continues Visser, “We are concentrating on mitigating the environmental effects of overproduction and assisting brands in decarbonising their global supply chains.”

Made in Hong Kong

Back in 2017, Esponnette and Lam, both with backgrounds in apparel, Esponnette in textiles and design, Lam in retail strategy, came together to find a solution to tackle waste in the fashion industry.

With the vision that on-demand manufacturing could be a solution, Esponnette and Lam brought Martin, an engineer, on board to help create a solution.

The start up started out in The Mills Fabrica, an incubator and workspace for sustainable solutions, with offices in London and Hong Kong.

“Our relationship with unspun began in Hong Kong,” explains head of Europe at The Mills Fabrica, Amy Tsang, “That’s where we first incubated them and supported their business growth in the very early stages.”

This included housing the team, connecting unspun with its network of partners, and helping them raise brand awareness.

“From day one, we’ve been building the hardware,” says Visser. “Given that hardware invention is a slower process than software creation, we initiated software development while waiting for hardware to reach commercial readiness.”

The software is used to create a 3D rendition of the items of clothing which will then be created through the machine: “Our focus lies in using software to create better-fitting, size-inclusive clothing, while also minimising waste and overproduction.”

“Vega, however, is a physical weaving machine that employs a combination of hardware and software tools that produce seamless 3D clothing directly from yarn. This eliminates the need for large order quantities and inventory,” Visser adds.

Brands

To date, unspun has launched six partnerships, including a collaboration with the H&M-owned retailer Weekday in 2020. Over nearly two years, customers in the retailer’s Stockholm store could have their body scanned to discover their ‘true’ jean size.

It has also launched its own project, allowing customers to scan their body using their mobile app and receive a completely custom-made pair of jeans.

While it benefits the customer with a perfect fit, it also reduces waste by not having to predict what customers want to buy, over-ordering for inventory, and reducing the number of ill-fitting returns.

Now with Vega at the ready, unspun is able to initiate partnerships with retail giants such as Walmart, which is using its 3D weaving tech to make on-demand chinos.

“Two main sources of pre-consumer waste are excessive inventory and production scrap,” explains Visser, “We aim to use our technology to help Walmart reduce waste and localise their supply chains.”

She says that the apparel industry discards about 20% of unsold garments due to long lead times in manufacturing and forecasting difficulties.

“Our technology reduces this lead-time to a week, allowing brands to respond to trends and only produce what’s needed, eliminating waste.”

Unspun finds that its ability to take over cut-and-sew manufacturing techniques means it reduces cut-waste from between 8 to 15% to just 3% by weaving the yarns directly into 3D garments.

Cutting waste isn’t the only upside to unspun’s technology. At first glance, the 3D-woven chino won’t look any different from a traditionally manufactured pair, but – according to Walmart, there are features only achieved with 3D weaving.

There will be no leg seams in the 3D-woven chino, making for a stronger and lighter product, and labels will be woven into the garment instead of sewn in, creating greater comfort.

Unspun’s on-demand model also allows for potential customisation and brings the manufacturing process much closer to home through localised production.

The disruptive start up’s long-term vision is to commit to improved sustainability by establishing multiple microsites closer to retailers and lessening supply chain emissions.

“By establishing more 3D-weaving powered microfactories, we can shorten global supply chains, enabling brands to manufacture products locally and near their customers,” explains Visser.

With a more efficient turnaround of design-to-shop floor, brands can also order less inventory with confidence and can cater to any demand and, in turn, allow for less unsold inventory waste.

Challenger brand

Circular 3D weaving currently exists in industries such as medical textiles, but for the retail industry most firms are early stage.

Fledgling outfits include Weffan, which is in partnership with the University of Leeds in trialling 3D weaving. The UK firm has received supported from the government’s Innovate UK; research and development organisation Future Fashion Factory;  The Prince’s Trust social enterprise as well as the European Commission.

Other firms such as 3DLook and Fit:match offer scan-to-fit software – yet unspun claims that it is ahead in terms of taking both its hardware and software to market.

“Several academic projects are exploring 3D weaving, some using jacquard looms to create 3D woven elements, but none have reached our stage or approach 3D weaving in the same way,” Visser claims.

She adds that unspun’s unique value proposition includes highly accurate fit analysis, auto-generating patterns for production, and eventual integration with its 3D weaving machines for a seamless purchase-to-manufacturing process.

“Our differentiation lies in building a supply chain from scratch, focusing on sustainability, and offering made-to-measure, on-demand apparel—all made possible by our novel technology.”

Future fit

The firm’s very first microfactory sits in Oakland, California, which also now serves as its HQ and will be the home production of its brand partnerships.

In the mid-term, unspun aims to integrate Vega into its brand partner’s existing production facilities as it scales: “the ecosystem and know-how of these seasoned apparel manufacturers will be a critical part of Vega’s success,” Visser says.

“Long-term, we envision localising these 3D weaving micro factories essentially anywhere where there is existing delivery infrastructure – just outside large cities and within range of next-day delivery” says Visser – meaning that no international shipping or cross-country trucking is required.

She adds that the aim is to have 350 Vega machines across the US by the end of 2030 so that products in New York, or instance, can be made within the city, with the microfactories small enough to fit into existing commercial warehouses.

The Mills Fabrica’s Tsang enthuses that eventually the technology will be deployed globally and adopted by “the biggest brands on the planet.”

“With zero inventory, zero waste, reducing carbon emissions, and efficient production, it makes total sense for brands to embrace unspun’s innovation and use it to accelerate their sustainability efforts,” says Tsang.

The start up plans to establish a presence in Europe by the end of this year and has secured its first major commercial partners in the US and the EU.

“There’s still a lot to accomplish, but with supportive legislation, we believe that brands and manufacturers are realising the need for changes in their production methods,” says Visser.

“Relying solely on material innovation won’t suffice; we must alter the way we manufacture garments.”