To be the platform apparel brands use to manage their supply chains with the most cutting edge practices, from concept to consumer
Paul Gastello started his career as a stock market investor at Wellington Management before joining Poshmark - a leading fashion resale marketplace. After a few years in tech leadership roles at companies such as Block and Current, Paul returned to his fashion-tech roots, prompted by the operating challenges of factories and brands in 2024.
Frank Chih is an apparel supply chain executive who has led modernization efforts for the likes of Birdy Grey and Harper & Scott. Frank's deep supply chain expertise comes from years of owning and operating his own factories in China, as well as from the brand leadership roles he has since held with American brands.
Hampton Lintorn-Catlin is an experienced CTO - formerly VP of engineering at Rent the Runway, Lead developer of Wikipedia Mobile, and the inventor of a popular software coding language. He is passionate about developing innovative solutions that make the world a better place while also delivering customer outcomes.
The past 10 years have seen the meteoric rise of on-demand fashion giants like Shein, who through scale and innovation have upended conventional supply chain practices. These new players can go to market at half the prices of their American peers thanks in large part to substantial investments in Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning technologies. Small and Medium sized brands lack the resources and the technological expertise to match those investments. Patchwork is here to even the playing field.
The fashion industry is inherently risky. Enormous investments in inventory are often caught on the wrong end of the notoriously cyclical demand for apparel. So brands are understandably conservative with their business practices. That said, that conservatism has left much of the fashion industry behind the technological curve. Patchwork aims to show brands that their businesses can be substantially de-risked AND modernized at the same time. Risk need not be the barrier to technological modernization.
30% of garments produced are never sold to consumers, ending up in landfills or incineration instead. This is symptomatic of the old "push" supply chain model where brands take their best guess at how much of their product consumers will buy several months in advance. Since these forecasts are unreliable, brands overproduce to limit missed sales. But with its tech-enabled "pull" system, Patchwork helps brands keeps inventory lean, respond nimbly to consumer demand, and still fulfills to the consumer in days, meaning that brands can boost profit while virtually eliminating waste.
Free supply chain insights, industry analysis, updates on Patchwork