The Spread Group continues its mission to drive sustainable innovations by partnering with biotech start-up Living Ink. The goal is to reduce the use of petrochemicals in our products and promote environmentally friendly alternatives.
Living Ink is a pioneer in developing sustainable algae technologies to create products free of petroleum derivatives that even have a negative CO2 footprint. A groundbreaking innovation is their Algae Black™, a black pigment derived from algae that offers a safe and eco-friendly alternative to conventional screen-printing inks.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Living Ink and use their algae-based ink in our products,” says Julian de Grahl, CEO of the Spread Group. “The partnership allows us to offer our customers high-quality products that are not only durable but also make a positive contribution to the environment.”
As the start of this collaboration, Spread Group sponsored crew shirts for the MACHN Festival in Leipzig last year as a test. Due to the positive feedback, the company will present more shirts with the CO2-negative ink at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in June this year. However, the ink can be used not only on textiles but also, for example, on cardboard, highlighting its versatility. In addition to Spread Group, renowned brands like Adidas, Nike, and Patagonia have also used Living Ink’s innovative color. Their Algae Ink™ products are sustainable and also characterized by their resistance to UV light and their high color density.
“Our goal is to revolutionize the fashion and merchandise sector by integrating eco-friendly technologies like those from Living Ink,” says de Grahl. “Through our partnership, we want to support young companies dedicated to innovation and sustainability.”
The Vision Behind xdeck
Markus Gick:xdeck is Germany’s first early-stage venture platform, created by founders for founders. Our accelerator program was initiated by Cologne entrepreneur Dr. Oliver Steinki. Together with his FOND OF co-founders Florian Michajlezko and Sven-Oliver Pink, he established xdeck in 2019 to systematically foster entrepreneurial experience, expertise, and networks in the next generation of
entrepreneurs. xdeck is currently run by Dr. Markus Gick and Dr. Robert Günther who are the managing partners.
Supporting B2B Tech Startups
Markus Gick: Early-stage B2B tech startups are supported with a focus on software-based process automation, artificial intelligence, and sustainability technology. Our partner network consists of best-in-class companies, experienced founders, mentors, and experts from various fields. These partners train startups in a tailored 3 ½ month program, held twice a year.
To date, we have supported 74 startups and are privately financed. Since 2021, our platform has been complemented by the xdeck ventures venture capital fund, which has invested in 14 companies. The company is headquartered in the SHIP in Cologne, one of Germany’s most digital office buildings. As a Managing Partner, my goal is to build up the best network for our accelerator and find the best startups for our venture capital fund. We embrace the startup spirit and work with startups, partners, and investors on an equal level. Our goal is to become the leading B2B-Tech platform in Europe.
xdeck’s Achievements So Far
Markus Gick: As a newcomer, we have quickly established xdeck as a B2B-Tech platform for innovative companies. We attract national and international startups to both our accelerator and venture capital fund. I am especially proud that we are a startup ourselves, offering highly personalized support. We provide operational assistance for startups with a focus on specific, measurable impact. We are currently scouting for our 10th batch—look how far we’ve come!
Without our partners, xdeck would not be possible. Apart from McKinsey, Kienbaum, and Igus, we always have top-tier partners in our network to help with every issue a startup faces. We especially value our partnership with Spread Group, our official merchandise partner. Our cool hoodies are loved by our team and particularly our founders.
Robin Nitsch: The journey of Spread Group started in 2002 with the launch of Spreadshirt, the first e-commerce startup for on-demand printed t-shirts. For more than 20 years, we have evolved into one of the largest on-demand platforms for personalized fashion and merchandise products. With the addition of several more business fields and new brands, Spread Group is now transforming into a global leader in fashion tech and made-to-order e-commerce.
For us, fashion tech is a key technology to accelerate this growth. Therefore, we are observing the market and searching for new, exciting, and promising opportunities to invest in forward-thinking, young businesses in this area. To this end, we have established our own venture fund, Spreadventures. Robin, our Head of Venture Investments, is responsible for accompanying this transformation and initiating and developing suitable partnerships.
(Photo: Julian Wiedenhaus) – We’re happy to even share an amazing discount code with you. Use XDECK-PARTNER-2024 for 20 % off!
The Spread Group and xdeck Collaboration
Markus Gick: Since the beginning of our partnership, we’ve facilitated a deal flow exchange leading to an introduction to Saiz, which resulted in an investment from Spread Ventures. Additionally, Spread has enabled us to provide merchandise solutions for startups.
Our collaborative efforts extended to organizing a joint kicker tournament for our local startup community with TK, where we handed out our ‘We merch together’ shirts. One of our priorities is to connect founders with other founders, VCs, and corporates to foster opportunities for the exchange of experience, funding, and pilot projects.
Robin Nitsch: The partnership with xdeck is very valuable for us, as it gives us an opportunity to connect with startups on a regular basis. xdeck supports us in finding young companies that are a good fit for us to invest in. The most successful partnership enabled through xdeck is SAIZ, which we have been supporting since the end of 2022. SAIZ is a female-led size advisor business dedicated to delivering the most accurate size predictions and analytics, benefiting both customers and businesses.
SAIZ completed xdeck’s acceleration program, gaining the best foundations for success through an individually tailored process. Soon after, Spreadventures came on board as a lead investor, continuously supporting their development with our extensive e-commerce know-how. We even see potential to implement SAIZ as a sizing solution on our platforms. Therefore, SAIZ is a continuing success story for both xdeck and Spread Group.
Markus Gick: Moreover, we have been able to recommend our partnership to other players in the entrepreneurial realm, such as between RHIVE and Spread. In Spread, we found a corporate partner that not only supports our founders but also aids in our personal team building. Stay tuned for content from Rock am Ring 😉
Everyone uses it, but too few reduce it: plastic. Single-use plastic in particular has long since become an integral part of consumption and many products, packaging and materials can no longer be imagined without it. Despite widespread awareness, the reduction of single-use plastics remains a challenge. What cannot be recycled often ends up in nature, for example in bodies of water such as rivers, which carry the plastic directly to the ocean and pollute the oceans. But how can our oceans be protected?
From this realization, Plastic Fischer was born. The organization focuses on halting plastic pollution at its source – in rivers – before it reaches the ocean. Karsten Hirsch, CEO of Plastic Fischer, decided five years ago together with friends to do something to preserve our oceans and set up the first company to stop ocean plastic in the rivers. We spoke to him about how this works and how we at Spread Group are supporting him in this task.
Karsten shares the story of how it all began:
“I was on vacation in Vietnam with two friends and we saw how plastic flows down the Mekong. My co-founder Moritz and I were in Asia for the first time and didn’t know the situation on the ground beforehand and when we saw it, it really got to us. When we got home, we looked up which organizations were taking care of river plastic – and couldn’t find a single one worldwide. Then we thought about an idea of how to tackle the whole thing. The problem of river plastic can be imagined like an hourglass: The plastic ends up in the river, where it is concentrated before it then disperses back into the sea. We want to tackle this bottleneck and stop the plastic where it is still possible. ”
Reflecting on Plastic Fischer’s journey so far, we asked Karsten, “what successes are you particularly proud of?”
“Basically, I am very proud of the developments we have made as a team because we had no idea about the topic or the technology. We just threw ourselves into it and went for it with our idea. The awards from the World Economic Forum and the German Sustainability Award are great successes.
Nevertheless, the best thing is to create new jobs locally. We have been able to provide 90 people in India and Indonesia with jobs and security through permanent employment, health, and social insurance. We also give them planning security, respect, and recognition for what they do, namely clean these systems every day, manage the waste, and ultimately enjoy working for us. We have found the right people who treat the employees on-site well, which unfortunately is not always a matter of course in the waste management working environment, but works very well for us. That motivates me a lot and makes me proud.”
And where does Spread Group fit in?
The collaboration between Plastic Fischer and Spread Group marks a significant milestone for both parties. Initially, merchandising was a low priority for Plastic Fischer. However, recognizing its potential as a tool for raising awareness and generating support, they decided to leverage it. Karsten explains, “We told ourselves that nobody knew us yet. That’s why we did it as a one-off campaign for the first 3-4 years and sold about 50 T-shirts at the end of the year. Now we’re getting more attention, people like our logo and the work behind it. So, we wanted to offer it, but we couldn’t handle the fulfillment and didn’t have enough capacity. However, it is also important to us and the people who support us to avoid unnecessary plastic packaging and thus ensure completely plastic-free shipping.”
Therefore, Plastic Fischer decided to team up with Spreadshop – our business unit that offers customized merchandise solutions, using print-on-demand. Spreadshop’s service includes production, shipping, payment, and customer service. As Karsten provided insights into the evolution of merchandise within Plastic Fischer’s initiatives, we asked for a little throwback:
Would you share how the collaboration with Spreadshop came about?
“I met a colleague of yours at the NOAH conference in Zurich and told him what we were doing. He was so enthusiastic about it that he said he would take it with him and discuss with the team in Leipzig how we could come together. That’s how the idea came about that Spreadshop would become our partner and take care of fulfillment, offering good quality merch and giving people the opportunity to support us. Ultimately, it’s a multiplier for us: people wear our brand and message on the T-shirt, which is a great incentive for others to support us.
I’m delighted that we’ve also been able to initiate a process for you in which shipping is completely plastic-free for the first time. It was very good to have this flexibility. In addition, we are now using part of the margin to finance plastic-free fishing. For every product sold, we fish a certain amount of plastic. The merch is our means device of generating impact.”
Building on Karsten’s description of the collaboration’s genesis with Spreadshop, we wanted to know, “Looking ahead, what are your other wishes or aspirations for our partnership?”
“I hope that together we can find companies and influencers to help us sell merch and fund this positive impact. I think Spread Group has a lot of charisma and a great network of companies that can be inspired to cooperate, with co-branding or similar. I would like to work closely with you on what your partnerships have in store and how we can ensure that even more Plastic Fischer merch is sold so that we can really catch many more kilos of plastic.”
In conclusion, the partnership between Plastic Fischer and Spread Group exemplifies how businesses can collaborate to tackle environmental challenges effectively. As Plastic Fischer continues its mission to clean our rivers and oceans, the merchandising efforts serve as a powerful tool for raising awareness and mobilizing support for their cause. Together, we are making strides towards a plastic-free future.
Thank you, Karsten! #plasticfree
Plastic in its most beautiful form – now in our product range on the US platform at www.spreadshirt.com. Each of our new tri-blend organic T-shirts contains yarn that stems from around six recycled plastic water bottles. Blended with modal fibers and organic cotton, this sustainable women’s T-shirt feels just as soft as it is resource saving with its recycled polyester.
With its new “Star Academy” program, Spreadshirt – a Spread Group brand – promotes the visibility and sales of its designers on Spreadshirt’s Marketplaces. Based on their individual sales history, quality and design rating, the designers receive their place in one of five “star classes”. Determination and good ratings help them reach galactical heights. The higher the star class, the higher the benefits and consulting package.
Spreadshirt gets its designers on board of the “Star Academy” program to help them achieve greater visibility on Spreadshirt’s Marketplace and higher sales figures. All designers are placed in one of five star classes based on sales history, design quality, and relevance. These tiered levels unlock tailored benefits for them. Regardless of which star class the designers start in, they are provided with tailored support and expertise in marketing their designs. As usual in space travel, this mission knows only one direction – the stars are the limit!
”Every week, 140,000 designs are published on the Spread Group platforms. This result proves how creative and productive our community is. Star Academy equips designers with the necessary resources and marketing know-how to increase their sales,” says Gunter Nickel, Director of Spreadshirt Marketplaces.
The Star Academy is designed to award the determined designers is explicitly rewarded in the. Those who improve their own design quality and sales reach a higher star class and enjoy further advantages there. At the same time, the Star Academy ensures that the best designs in the Marketplace can be found more easily. New designers are supported with a starter package and placed in a higher star class as soon as they have published a minimum number of designs. If the drive for the mission falters for a while, the designers do not lose their star class. Losing your level only happens in case of breaking Spread Group’s community standards.
The Spread Group’s Spreadshirt Create-Your-Own brand is reviving the embroidery-look trend by launching embroidery textile finishing in all its European markets.
The embroidery refinement technique has just been adopted by Spreadshirt’s Create-Your-Own brand. At the Spread Group’s site in Leipzig, the research and development team has put embroidery’s functionality and versatility to extensive tests in recent months. Convinced of the enormous durability of the textile refinement method, a pool of Tajima’s highly automated embroidery machines has been put into motion. Now Spreadshirt is offering embroidery in all its European markets, and thereby expanding its existing range of classic digital and foil printing techniques.
Embroidery impresses with durability and exclusive properties
“Embroidery not only looks classy due to its vibrant appearance, but also convinces in terms of enormous durability. The finishing allows washing fabrics of up to 60°C (140°F) and is just as durable as the clothing itself,” says Tobias Beutel, Director of Personalization Services at Spreadshirt Create-Your-Own. These high-quality features are in particularly high demand in the business customer sector. Whether in the catering industry, at events or in customer service, embroidered workwear with company logos or slogans conveys exclusivity and quality.
The demand for embroidery designs in individual orders and gift orders keeps increasing, and the design options for any occasion are huge. Currently, 50 products from Spreadshirt’s range can be embroidered with custom text. To be able to offer customers an even wider selection of items that can be embroidered, Spreadshirt’s range is constantly being expanded. In addition to the current embroidery bestsellers such as hoodies, polo shirts, caps, and aprons, a variety of (fleece) jackets and workwear will be added to the product range. Gift items such as custom towels and bathrobes are also in the pipeline.
Embroidery is key to future market success
“The potential of the embroidery refinement technology is immense. In 2019, embroidery accounted for over 40% of the total customized apparel market. At the moment, this is still a strongly offline-oriented market. As a successful e-commerce platform, we want to mix this up and transfer embroidery into the online world with a versatile product selection and attractive pricing,” says Tobias Beutel.
The next steps have already been planned. More highly automated embroidery machines will soon be installed at the Spread Group’s production facilities in Europe and the USA. In the recently opened new production at the site in Legnica (Poland), the first machines will be put into operation in May 2021.
Spread Group’s Polish production moves to a new location and expands its capacity and technical park.
Spread Group has opened a new production facility in Legnica, Poland. After 13 years in the north of the city, the company is moving into a state-of-the-art new hall in the Panattoni Park in the south of Legnica. With a total area of almost 11,000 m², the new building offers space for an enlarged warehouse, expanded machinery with different printing technologies, and more office space.
New production facility becomes European central warehouse
“The new location helps us optimize our European logistics. From now on, Legnica will serve as the central warehouse for our production in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland. We currently have around 4,500 storage locations for products. We are now able to double or even triple this capacity. The move was a real team effort! I am very proud of the entire team who, despite the circumstances over the last 12 months, got our new, strategically important production facility up and running on schedule,” says Hanne Dinkel, Spread Group’s Chief Customer Delivery Officer.
The investment and the move to the new building also underline Spread Group’s commitment to the region and the expansion of its printing technologies. In addition to machinery of refinement methods such as foil printing, thermal sublimation, poster and sticker printing, additional state-of-the-art digital-direct printers have been installed. Newly developed machines for printing on polyester products and machines for embroidering clothing will be moving into the site in the near future.
Logistical advantages in every respect
“The production hall and warehouse are now located on one level, which optimizes and simplifies the entire organization and production. In addition, our new location now boosts very good transport links to the highway, which will benefit our suppliers, logistics service providers, and our colleagues,” says Ewa Ziemba, Director Production in Legnica.
Currently, around 200 colleagues work in production in Legnica, some of whom have been working there for many years. With this move, Spread Group has been able to recruit new employees. The team is also looking for further reinforcements on site – from seasonal workers to new specialists.
The production facility in Legnica is one of five Spread Group production sites. In 2020, a total of 9.8 million products were printed at the various sites and shipped to customers worldwide. The print-on-demand provider plans to further increase the number of printed products in 2021. With the new facilities at the Legnica site, the company is ideally positioned to achieve this goal.
About the new production facility in Legnica:
Location: Spółdzielcza 10, 59-220 Legnica, Polen
Area: 10.603 m2
Team: > 200 employees
Print methods: digital direct, foil printing, thermal sublimation, posters and stickers, embroidery
Melina and Timon describe themselves as introverts. The German online magazine “Vanilla Mind”, which they founded in 2014, and their successful podcast “Still & Stark” [English translation: Quiet & Strong] have been creating awareness for the of quiet and unobtrusive people in this world. The curtain rises for Spreadshop of the Month Vanilla Mind!
“Even quiet people have something to say,” Melina and Timon are convinced. Vanilla Mind is meant to encourage their readers and listeners to accept their needs, and to use their strengths to their advantage while keeping an introvert state of mind. Their so-called “Mut-Letter Newsletter” has managed to reach out to over 12,000 people.
The feedback from their #stillundstark [#quietandstrong] community has been tremendous, ranging from lines of gratitude and encouraging stories to cries for their own products such as T-shirts, tote bags and stationery. “Our community on Instagram inquires about products from time to time. However, we didn’t pursue the idea of having our own Shop for a long time, because the effort and expense seemed too high at first. We just didn’t know about Spreadshop then,” Melina and Timon say. Spreadshop empowers entrepreneurs to run their own free online shop and sell merchandise to their community. “The fact that Spreadshop takes care of the entire process gives you much more room to experiment and try things out.” Vanilla Mind embraces the idea of taking care of the creative part of designing their shop themselves. Since Melina is a full-time creative director, she also likes the creative challenge here as well.
Being loud is not your thing? – Let your clothes speak for you!
“The shop greatly strengthens the message that quiet people have a lot to say. The Still & Stark Shop helps people express their attitude towards life,” the shop owners say. “The print-on-demand aspect was very appealing to us from the very beginning. No warehouse, no surplus goods – in our opinion, this is a very sustainable concept.” Vanilla Mind is also excited about the steadily growing organic product range. The Still & Stark hoodie made of organic cotton has been number 1 on the popularity scale of their products for quite some time. In the future, Melina and Timon would also like to offer seasonal collections to give their community more variety in the shape of matching clothing.
Instagram introduced photo filters to the general public years ago, and today filters have become an essential element in the world of professional and hobby photography. This is why Spreadshirt is expanding its photo features in the create-your-own area with filters: Sepia, Old School, Polaroid and many more at the click of a mouse.
Customers can now use the new features to create photo gifts even more individually and colorfully. This looks great on apparel, mugs, pillows or even cuddly toys. In the Customizer Design Tool, uploaded images can be spiced up using a total of 13 available filters. From classic black-and-white retouching to playful color-shifting, (almost) every color taste is catered for here.
Under Settings, you can adjust the brightness, contrast or even saturation of the photo using sliders.
In addition to the predefined filters and shapes, there is also the option to adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation as well as sharpness of the photo using a slider. The new view option also allows users to switch between the product view and the zoom view with a single click to make best possible adjustments. “We are very pleased that our customers can now lend a personal touch to their photo memories. A color makeover and another personalization features can be added directly in the Customizer Design Tool. We are working on further features and usability improvements to keep expanding the customization area,” says Petra Jacobs, Senior Product Owner at Spreadshirt.
Spreadshirt and Spreadshop – two brands of the Spread Group – continue to expand their product portfolio with numerous new products in the non-apparel sector.
The past few weeks saw Spreadshirt and Spreadshop introduce new Home & Living products to bolster their product range in the non-apparel sector. There are new ceramic and enamel mugs, vacuum flasks and pillowcases that expand the Home & Living department to some 40 items.
“Our Home & Living items are among our customers’ most popular products. A customized mug makes a great gift for colleagues, neighbors or yourself. Last year, we started the optimization of quality and production processes to achieve even better print results on ceramics, enamel and stainless steel,” says Franziska Barth, project manager at Spread Group.
An example of this is the black ceramic cup that has been specially developed for dye-sublimation printing. Strong and bright colors stand out even more thanks to its special coating.
According to Franziska Barth, customer feedback and wishes were instrumental in contributing to both product development and process improvement: “We get the best ideas for new products from the feedback we get from our Shop Owners and designers. Last year, for example, we added a seamless all-over print face mask to our range, since it was requested by our community. The same happened when people were asking for a full-color ceramic mug in black, because our old black panoramic mug wasn’t colored inside.”
