The Spread Group has made it its mission to actively address the challenges of the fashion industry and to pursue more sustainable approaches to producing and distributing apparel. Issues such as high return rates, overproduction, and the responsible use of resources have shaped the industry for years. With its brands, the Spread Group relies on innovative solutions to counter precisely these developments. Thanks to its print-on-demand model, the Spread Group only produces items once customers actually place an order. This business model prevents overproduction from the outset and thus contributes significantly to a more conscious use of materials and energy. Another crucial factor is the particularly low return rate of only around 2 percent – a figure that clearly demonstrates that sustainability and customer satisfaction are compatible.
Against this backdrop, the investment in the fashion-tech startup SAIZ is a perfect fit. In April 2023, the Spread Group, through its newly founded VC unit Spread Ventures, invested in SAIZ as lead investor. SAIZ addresses one of the biggest sustainability challenges in the industry: the immense resource consumption caused by returns. Incorrect purchases not only result in unnecessary transport but often also in the destruction of clothing – a practice that is becoming increasingly unacceptable in times of climate crisis and resource scarcity. “With our technology, brands can make better decisions even before production begins and work more efficiently in sales. This has a direct impact: less waste, less overproduction, more customer satisfaction. For us, sustainability is not an add-on but an integral part of our business model,” says Svenja Tegtmeier from SAIZ.
The solution developed by SAIZ tackles exactly this issue. Using a Product AI and the so-called SAIZ Neural Graph, millions of data points from customer feedback, orders, and product designs are linked. This results in precise predictions for the right fit, reducing returns by around 30 percent on average. “Every avoided return saves packaging, transport, and resources – proof that ecological and economic sustainability can go hand in hand,” emphasizes the SAIZ management.
Julian de Grahl, CEO of the Spread Group, sees this focus as clear evidence of the industry’s future viability: “The combination of our print-on-demand model – meaning production only when a customer orders – our extremely low return rates, and data-driven solutions like those from SAIZ is a strong signal for the future. We show that sustainable business practices and technological progress are not contradictions – they actually reinforce each other.”
Looking ahead, the ambition is clearly defined: SAIZ aims to become the standard for sizing and fit in the fashion industry and thus create the foundation for overproduction and mass returns to become a thing of the past. The next step is the evolution toward agentic intelligence—systems that not only provide recommendations but also independently prepare decisions and optimize processes.
For the Spread Group, SAIZ is therefore more than just an investment. It is a clear commitment to the idea that innovation, responsibility, and economic success belong together in the fashion industry – and that technology can play a decisive role in solving one of the industry’s biggest sustainability challenges.
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