Unspun is a US responsible fashion company with technology running through its veins.
The company, founded in 2017, is home to a microfactory and a design studio in San Francisco and has a mission—to reduce global human carbon emissions by 1% through automated, localized, and intentional manufacturing for apparel.
“We started Unspun when we realized we could not find a fashion company to lead us into the regenerative, sustainable, responsible, intentional future we want, and need. The fashion industry thrives on newness. Convincing us to buy more, when what we need is less,” said Beth Esponnette, CPO and co-founder of Unspun, together with Walden Lam and Kevin Martin.
“We’ve charted the path toward the intentional future from two directions. First, by making tailored blue jeans available online, shedding size ranges and inventory. And second, by inventing 3D weaving for apparel, inaugurating new possibilities for the fashion industry,” she added.
During the last edition of Kingpins Amsterdam, Unspun presented its special technology through which they can weave trousers’ legs as seamless fabric tubes that can be shaped according to different fits and styles—be they bell bottoms, tapered leg models, or wider hip variants, to name a few.
They could achieve it by developing Vega, a 3D weaving technology designed for apparel. Instead of cutting fabric into shapes and sewing them together, a Vega machine weaves yarns directly into the pieces of a garment—at speed.
Thanks to their 3D weaving method, they can produce clothes directly from yarn. It combines the creation of fabric and the assembly of a garment into one process.
Woven clothes are typically made from flat panels cut from a roll of fabric and stitched together. 3D woven clothes are made from hollow shapes of fabric that are stitched to one another. 3D weaving is a technological breakthrough. It requires less yarn, equipment, space, energy, and time to produce clothing compared to conventional apparel manufacturing.
Through this new weaving system, they can produce two trouser ’legs in eight minutes. While assembling a pair of trousers requires from ten to 19 minutes.
The result is 3D woven garments with the same quality, durability, and functionality as traditional woven clothing—but with far fewer seams, along with a consistent production speedup and a consequent reduction of production time and use of energy.
They can produce fabrics that weigh from eight to 14 ounces and stretch fabrics too, but by using the elastic fiber in the weft only. They are also building Vega machines with jacquard capabilities that can change weave structures on the fly. This opens the door to more intricate patterns and unique design possibilities.
“This system can help improve production significantly, as our machines can be easily installed in highly automated microfactories. We have installed our own in San Francisco, where we host seven of our Vega machines. Some other factories already exist in the US and in Europe,” added Esponette referring some recent partnerships with brands and companies including Decathlon, Pangaia, Walmart and Weekday.