Unspun's 3D yarn-to-garment platform is stepping out of the microfactory and into full-scale production. The California-based, B Corp-certified fashion-tech company announced Monday a strategic partnership with Arvind Limited, one of India's largest textile and apparel manufacturers, to scale its OneWeave technology-formerly called Vega-in a production environment for the first time.
Two OneWeave machines are set to be deployed at one of Arvind's facilities as soon as December, with more than 30 additional machines to follow over the next year. Arne Arens, chair of Unspun's board and until recently its CEO, described the moment with parental pride and nerves: "We've nurtured this baby for so long, and now it's flying away."
OneWeave uses circular weaving to make seamless garments directly from yarn in what Arens called "one step," eliminating traditional fabric cutting and most sewing. According to Unspun, it runs 10 times faster than standard apparel manufacturing-one machine can produce both trouser legs in eight minutes, or roughly 27,000 pairs of pants a year.
Karan Ojha, CEO of Arvind, which makes more than 83 million pieces of knitwear, shirting and denim annually for retailers including H&M Group, Levi Strauss & Co., PVH Corp. and Inditex, said the technology could help build "a more agile, responsive and demand-driven manufacturing ecosystem." Arvind was also drawn to its potential to cut inventories and align production with actual demand instead of bulk-production economics with monthslong lead times.
The case is sharpened by the European Union's ban, effective July, on large companies destroying unsold apparel, accessories and footwear under its Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. The partners will pitch OneWeave to select Arvind customers to find where it delivers "meaningful value."
Ojha cautioned that integration means more than installing machines: consistent quality across product categories, competitive economics at scale, fitting into existing supply chains and building customer confidence all lie ahead, along with work on automating remaining assembly steps. Arens, a veteran of Nike and The North Face, recalled the old pain of forecasting demand a year out and being wrong 30 percent of the time-inventory that got discounted or burned. "I would have given my left hand," he said, to discount only 15 percent of units instead of 40 percent.
Originally reported by WWD