If you’re a small-scale designer or apparel brand, managing your supply chain efficiently and sustainably can be a challenge. MadeRight, a startup that recently launched out of Y Combinator, wants to change that.MadeRight is helping designers simplify the textile manufacturing process through its consortium of ethical, global factories and its procedures to streamline product movement.
If you’re a small-scale designer or apparel brand, managing your supply chain efficiently and sustainably can be a challenge. MadeRight, a startup that recently launched out of Y Combinator, wants to change that.
MadeRight is helping designers simplify the textile manufacturing process through its consortium of ethical, global factories and its procedures to streamline product movement.
Apparel, jewelry and accessories designers and brands can partner with the company to build personalized production processes. MadeRight provides each client with a production expert who oversees every aspect of the manufacturing process, from creating a “tech pack,” or technical design files, to making sure completed orders are shipped. The company guarantees timely delivery of materials to designers’ warehouses.
“We give the brand a checklist for what they have to give us and we standardize everything to make it easier for the factory, reduce lead times, and costs,” co-founder Kevin Chan told TechCrunch. “You aren’t sampling as many times, because usually the factory gets it right with the way we standardize tech packs. We’ve worked with factories enough to know which measurements they generally mess up on and which ones they need.”
MadeRight works with over 50 factories that have been audited by third-party inspectors across China, Japan, Mexico, Italy and Guatemala. The company also conducts its own checks to make sure manufacturers maintain safe working conditions, provide employees breaks and don’t rely on child labor.
“We have a team in Hong Kong and will drop in to factories to make sure they are not just putting on a show when there is an audit going on,” Chan says.
The service is intended for smaller designers creating custom products or starting new ventures. MadeRight’s prices reflect its focus on the little guys: its full service offering is $499.
Chan says the company has plans to expand. “We want to tackle more of the supply chain down the line,” he said. “The end goal is to also do the warehousing and ship directly to our customer’s customers.”
The startup also intends to enter other markets, including hardware and electronic manufacturers, and eventually plastic and agricultural manufacturing. The model will be the same: manufacturing sourcing, design help, audits, and oversight of the manufacturing process.
MadeRight may strike a chord with designers, as a growing number of companies are using sophisticated technologies and software to create sustainable supply chains and manage their sustainability programs. Accompanying this interest in ethical supply chains is a vocal movement in the fashion industry for environmental and social transparency - including another startup, JUST, dedicated to this cause – as well as less wasteful apparel production.
Published Jul 23, 2015 12am EDT / 9pm PDT / 5am BST / 6am CEST