Unmade

Market position

Unmade describes itself as a world leader in custom and made-to-order production serving leading apparel and sportswear brands, and was characterised in 2015 press coverage as one of London's most disruptive start-ups in knitwear. Investor commentary from Octopus Ventures positioned the company as a pioneer in demand-driven manufacturing in an industry marked by waste from mass production. Awards cited include D&AD, Drapers Best Digital Innovation 2020 and inclusion in Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies 2019. [0][3][4][6][7]

Unmade contrasts its offering with alternatives that visualise only, arguing that its platform both visualises and drives manufacture, uses a brand's existing systems, infrastructure and team workflows instead of dedicated custom production lines, replaces manual processes with automated workflows, and makes small batches cost-effective at volumes from one to 10,000-plus units on a subscription basis with updates included. The company cites patented and proprietary technology and eight years of product development, and describes the design-to-manufacturing-data conversion engine in UnmadeOS as its key innovation. [0][2][5]

Technology

UnmadeOS is cloud-based software combining a rules-driven product configuration layer, cloud rendering for photo-realistic, 3D and on-model visualisation accessible via API, and a conversion engine that generates manufacturing data including print, knit and cut files with automated grading, seam allowances, cut marks, notches and cross-panel pattern matching. Operational modules cover bulk product templating (including an Adobe Illustrator plugin), internal and roster-based ordering, e-commerce storefronts with multi-currency and multi-language support, factory management with automatic assignment of orders to machines and factories and intelligent batching, item-level tracking, and API integrations to e-commerce and ERP systems for purchase orders and invoices. The company states the technology is patented and proprietary, and originated in software that controls existing industrial knitting machines automatically on a per-item basis. [0][2][7]

Go-to-market

The company markets directly to large apparel, sportswear and fashion brands and retailers through demo requests, published case studies and platform content on its website, and works with manufacturing partners; its 2019 funding was earmarked for global expansion and technology development, and its 2024 acquisition gives it access to Hi-Tech Apparel's customer base, resources and expertise. [0][4][5][6]

Large apparel, sportswear and fashion brands and retailers offering customised, personalised and teamwear products, together with their manufacturers and factories; named brands include New Balance, New Balance Team Sports, Rapha, Decathlon and Ralph Lauren, with earlier partners including Opening Ceremony, Farfetch, Christopher Raeburn and Selfridges. [0][4][6]

Geography

Unmade is headquartered in London and retained a UK-based team after its acquisition; in its early knitwear phase it was based at Somerset House in London and operated a pop-up shop in Covent Garden. Its acquirer, Hi-Tech Apparel, is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, with 13 manufacturing facilities across Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and expansion into Egypt. [3][4][7]

History

The company was founded in April 2013 as Knyttan by Ben Alun-Jones, Kirsty Emery and Hal Watts, who met while studying at the Royal College of Art in London; Unmade was initially the brand under which Knyttan sold customisable knitwear, including a Covent Garden pop-up shop in December 2015 and collaborations with designers and artists such as Christopher Raeburn, Kate Moross, Malika Favre and studio Moniker. A 2024 company announcement gives the founding year as 2014 and the founders as Hal Watts, Kirsty Emery-Laws and Ben Alun-Jones. By 2019 the London team had added print customisation to its knitwear solution and signed its first teamwear customer, Rapha Custom, and raised a £4.75m round led by Octopus Ventures. Decathlon first invested in 2021. In July 2024 Unmade was acquired by Thailand-based garment manufacturer Hi-Tech Apparel after two years of partnership, with the UK team led by CEO Hal Watts and COO Simon Rea remaining in place. [4][6][7]