Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 24.04.2025 
Coats Digital is proud to be shortlisted for two prestigious accolades at the UK Digital Excellence Awards 2025: the Stand-Out Platform/Technology/Tool Award and the Software Innovation Award for our pioneering GSDCost solution. As a finalist, we’re thrilled to be recognised for our relentless commitment to transforming one of the world’s most complex and fragmented sectors—the global fashion industry.
Being shortlisted for these categories is not just a moment of celebration for us; it marks a validation of the purpose-driven work our teams have poured into developing GSDCost—a solution that combines scientific precision, software innovation, and social responsibility to change the way garments are made, costed, and delivered across the world.
Powering an Agile, Resilient, Transparent and Sustainable Future for Fashion
Founded in 2019, Coats Digital was established as the dedicated technology arm of Coats Group, with a bold mission: to accelerate the digital transformation of the fashion industry. Despite being one of the world’s largest industries, fashion has long lagged behind others in embracing digitization—often relying on manual, analogue processes that result in inefficiency, inconsistency, and a lack of transparency.
Coats Digital’s suite of intelligent, cloud-based solutions now supports some of the most influential global fashion brands and manufacturers. These solutions span every stage of the value chain—from design and product development to fabric optimisation, cost benchmarking, production planning, and shopfloor execution. By embedding deep industry expertise with the latest technology, we help businesses become faster, smarter, and more sustainable.
GSDCost – Providing Sustainable Cost Optimisation and Manufacturing Excellence
GSDCost is our flagship SaaS platform, built to revolutionise how garment manufacturers establish production costs, plan capacity, and meet ethical standards.
At its core, GSDCost standardises Standard Minute Values (SMVs) by leveraging scientifically backed, motion-based time codes. The platform establishes International Standard Time Benchmarks that replace manual and inconsistent cost calculations with precise, consistent, and fact-based metrics. This creates a level playing field for all vendors and brands, regardless of location or product complexity.
From enabling real-time collaboration across global supply chains to ensuring fair wage compliance and reducing environmental waste, GSDCost addresses the root causes of inefficiency in fashion manufacturing and cost forecasting. It replaces fragmented workflows with a single source of truth—empowering companies to boost profitability while delivering on their corporate social responsibility goals.
A Unique Approach to Industry Transformation
Fashion manufacturing is notoriously complex. Historically, many manufacturers have relied on outdated, inconsistent SMV data stored in disparate Excel files or shared via email. This approach causes delays, miscommunication, and unreliable capacity forecasts. The result? Missed deadlines, inflated costs, and overworked production teams.
GSDCost solves these pain points through:
- Standardised Time Benchmarks: Based on 39 motion codes, ensuring precision in production planning.
- The Fair Wage Tool: A game-changing feature that aligns labour costing with international wage benchmarks.
- Cloud-Based Functionality: Offering global accessibility and seamless collaboration between brands and manufacturers.
- Real-Time Data Insights: Helping businesses make faster, better-informed decisions to meet consumer and market demands.
- Sustainability Impact: Supporting the reduction of raw material and finished goods waste through smarter line balancing and planning.
With GSDCost, fashion companies are no longer forced to choose between profitability and responsibility—they can achieve both.
Proven Results Across the Globe
The impact of GSDCost is already being felt across the global fashion supply chain, with tangible, measurable results:
- American Phil improved efficiency by 5%, simply by reducing SMVs from 100 to 95 across core styles.
- ODLO International cut SMVs by 13%, enabling a significant cost saving and creating capacity for new orders.
- Son Ha Garment Join Stock Company increased productivity by 10%, with expectations to exceed 50% in the near future.
- The Fair Wage Tool has empowered multiple manufacturers to build fair compensation into cost models, resulting in improved employee welfare and stronger supply chain partnerships.
By reducing overtime, improving costing accuracy, and streamlining production planning, GSDCost has become a must-have tool for future-ready apparel businesses.
A Testament to True Innovation
GSDCost has earned its place as a finalist in two highly competitive award categories thanks to its unwavering focus on innovation, impact, and user-centric design.
The platform’s recognition in the Innovation – Data Solutions category highlights its ability to:
- Introduce world-first features that transform how Cost-to-Make (CM) submissions are created and compared.
- Create a standardised analytics language across global supply chains.
- Provide visibility into vendor capabilities and compliance.
- Replace legacy analogue systems with precise, digital solutions rooted in science.
Its shortlisting in the Environmental – Compliance & Sustainability category reflects its substantial contribution to:
- Promoting sustainable production practices.
- Enabling adherence to ESG compliance and international wage standards.
- Supporting collaborative, long-term strategies for ethical supply chain operations.
What This Recognition Means to Us
Kunal Kapur, Managing Director, Coats Digital, said:
“Being shortlisted for not one, but two categories at the UK Digital Excellence Awards is a proud moment for everyone at Coats Digital. These nominations reflect the incredible innovation, hard work, and purpose-driven mindset of our entire team. GSDCost was built to solve some of the fashion industry’s biggest challenges—from inaccurate costing to unethical labour practices—and to see it acknowledged on such a prestigious stage is deeply rewarding. Winning or being named a finalist is an endorsement of the very real difference GSDCost is making to businesses around the world.”
Adrian Elliott, Divisional CEO, Apparel, Coats Group, added:
“At Coats Digital, we are driven by the belief that technology can—and should—make the fashion supply chain more agile, efficient, and sustainable. GSDCost is helping brands and manufacturers work smarter, reduce waste, and build more transparent and responsible production networks. These award nominations validate that we’re not just building great software—we’re helping to future-proof an entire industry.”
The Value of Entering the UK Digital Excellence Awards
Participating in the UK Digital Excellence Awards has provided us with a valuable platform to share our mission with a wider audience. These awards not only celebrate innovation and excellence but also bring together a diverse community of digital trailblazers who are passionate about making a difference through technology.
For us, the process has been a fantastic opportunity to reflect on how far GSDCost has come—and to gather inspiration from our peers across other sectors. Should we be fortunate enough to take home a trophy, it would serve as both recognition of the solution’s impact and motivation to continue pushing boundaries in service of the industry.
Looking Ahead
As we look to the future, our goal remains clear: to continue supporting brands and manufacturers through digital tools that enable agility, efficiency, and sustainability. With fashion facing growing pressure to meet rising consumer expectations, regulatory scrutiny, and complex supply chain challenges, solutions like GSDCost are more vital than ever.
Coats Digital is proud to stand at the forefront of this transformation—and honoured to be recognised by the UK Digital Excellence Awards as a technology partner driving real, global change.
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