Custom-clothing on-demand software company Unmade has been acquired by garment manufacturing leader Hi-Tech Apparel.

Founded in 2014 by Hal Watts, Kirsty Emery-Laws, and Ben Alun-Jones, Unmade is a London-based SaaS company that provides apparel and sportswear brands with the digital infrastructure needed to realise the full potential of their products, unlock market opportunity, and connect demand directly to production. 

Unmade’s platform, UnmadeOS, uses patented automation and visualisation technologies to enable brands to be demand-driven, delivering customisation, teamwear and small batch production at scale. 

UnmadeOS increases product variety and speed to market whilst reducing operational overheads, inventory and waste. 

Unmade has raised over $18 million in investment by investors such as Decathlon and Octopus Ventures.

Hi-Tech Apparel is a global leader in garment manufacturing, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. The group operates 13 manufacturing facilities with over 14,000 team members across facilities in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and soon, Egypt.

The acquisition will combine Hi-Tech’s manufacturing and logistics expertise with Unmade’s technologies to create a market-leading solution for brands and retailers looking for a better approach to teamwear and customisation. 

Unmade’s team will also have access to Hi-Tech Apparel’s resources, expertise and customer base. Hi-Tech Apparel generates over $300 million in annual sales and shares Unmade’s vision to automate the manufacturing process.

Wason Vitanakorn, CEO of Hi-Tech Apparel, said: 

“Unmade perfectly aligns with Hi-Tech Apparel’s mission to build the digital infrastructure needed to achieve manufacturing distribution across multiple geographies in a demand-driven industry. 

We have worked closely with the hugely talented Unmade team for a number of years and believe in their ability to build on what is already industry-leading software to give our customers the responsiveness they demand.”

Decathlon will remain a shareholder following the deal, with Unmade retaining the autonomy to work with any brand or manufacturer. 

Unmade’s UK-based team, led by CEO Hal Watts and COO Simon Rea, will remain with the business to further develop the industry’s leading digital solution for personalised and customised apparel, boosted by a significant cash injection to propel growth with a series of new hires.

Hal Watts, co-founder and CEO of Unmade, said: 

“This marks a huge milestone for Unmade and gives us a unique opportunity to implement our technology on a much bigger scale. It was clear from our first meeting that Hi-Tech’s vision for a digital, demand driven supply chain solution was very aligned with our own.

 We’re extremely proud of the business and grateful to the team who built it over the last decade, in particular Ursula Davies, Simon Rea, and the founders who started out with me, pushing the apparel industry to work in a more on-demand and sustainable way.”

Pierre Vernet, Investment Director of Decathlon said: 

“Decathlon first invested in Unmade in 2021 and believes enormously in the need for an independent, open platform that can serve our industry as it goes through unprecedented change in terms of customer expectations and speed to market needs.

We look forward to building on the solid foundations and remaining as a key partner as we look to a bright future.”

The financial specifics of the acquisition have not been disclosed.