❄️Merry Christmas from the Team!❄️

Dear subscribers,

In this issue we will mainly focus on our new projects that have been made possible thanks to nearly £1 million of funding from UKRI. These projects cover quite a spectrum of areas and all adhere to the principles set out by the project. You can read more about these below.

If you are an Early Career Researcher you are invited to get involved in our network below.

We would like to thank our six partners for the continued dedication and hard work in the project's first year. So much has already been accomplished and we look forward to achieving more in 2025 together.

We would also like to thank you all in our network for your support throughout 2024.

Wishing you all the warmest season's greetings and all the best for 2025!

Tamara

Tamara Galloway is Professor of Ecotoxicology at The University of Exeter

We are proud to share details on all of our newly established mini projects that have been funded by UKRI. The impact of these eight projects meets our project's purpose to embed environmental sciences at the heart of the fashion and textile industry by building a repository of knowledge, building a community and leaving a legacy.

Enhancing Neoprene Circularity examines the scope for developing a UK neoprene (wetsuits) recycling facility, following the success of a facility in Bulgaria by Circular Flow. Neoprene is one of the hardest materials to recycle.

All Cellulose Composite offers novel processing of alternative natural fibres as mono-composite textiles for the luxury interior and automotive markets. It will broaden the application of textiles made from waste natural fibres.

UP - Unlocking Potential of Post-consumer Textiles will unlock the potential of post-consumer textiles to drive textile reuse and recycling in the UK. It will assess post-consumer sorting, grading and feedstock requirements among textile reuse and recycle stakeholders.

Bio-based Sequins will investigate the environmental impacts of bio-based sequins and develop a sustainable manufacturing process for recyclable cellulose-based sequins. Sequins currently on the market are non-biodegradable and the dyes used to colour them are ecotoxic.

Future Fibres CollaborAcademy will develop a syllabus for upskilling researchers and industry professionals for the kinds of interdisciplinary collaborative work needed within a circular and sustainable textiles ecosystem.

Fabriotic will pilot an integrated system involving biotic clothing prototype containing Bacillus spores, cared for between washes using products designed to nurture a safe and effective community with capability to alleviate persistent malodour. This addresses the issue that sports clothing is disposed of prematurely because of malodour rather than from over-wear.

Increasing Textile Circularity will develop a pre-recycling treatment process to improve recycled polyester quality. It will address barriers to fibre recycling, examine the levels of microfibre release during laundry, and create a knowledge repository to optimise recycling processes.

Coloration in Flow Dyeing fabric has a high impact on the environment, both in terms of energy and materials. This project will investigate the possibility of reducing this by dyeing fibres during wet-spinning (spinning fibres into yarns while they are in a liquid state) as opposed to more traditional methods. It will also explore the levels of microfibre loss during dyeing by these different methods.

Call Out for PhD Students to Join Network Plus's Early Career Research Network

Are you are interested in working with industry experts, and academics in partnership? Three major networks (IMPACT+, Back to Baselines and this network, Future Fibres) are working across an array of universities here in the U.K. One of the core purposes is to investigate the fashion industry’s drive to move towards sustainable business practices.

What is an Early Career Researcher? The development of an Early Career Researcher (ECR) is defined by anyone whose role in academia is post their PhD (however we are welcoming PhDs to our network 😊) and this is to be the sole marker as many ECRs will focus on research and innovation. To be a successful academic, the strengths an ECR must attain are published applications, adaptability to work on different criteria of research projects, responsiveness, and flexibility to move and scale certain studies, whilst being proactive in securing funding.

What does this Network Offer? The diverse range of researchers facilitating an array of specialist subject areas are leading new and novel ways to build communication, and knowledge cooperating in a network to support future partnerships amongst the research community, which is important when faced with modern-day challenges which cannot be resolved by one field of research. Please email a.irving-munro@northumbria.ac.uk or you can reach her through LinkedIn

B2B Sustainable Transition Fund Call 3 -Deadline 31 January!

Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles is our fellow sub-network. B2B Sustainable Transition Fund Call is now live so if you have an idea that needs funding, please go to the Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles website, and specifically for a direct link, in B2B's news section: News | Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles (leeds.ac.uk).

Fibre Talks

Our Fibre Talks Webinar series continue with Dr Rosie Hornbuckle from University of the Arts London. Summaries and recordings will be available on the website in the coming months.

Host an event to support Sustainable Fashion Week 24February – 2 March 2025

If you are a school, college or university or other educational establishment in the UK would you like to get involved in arranging an activity such as a workshop, repair café or presentation that will help bring impact and awareness to the importance of reducing the demand for fast fashion and increasing positive consumption habits? You can find more information go on this website.

Call for Abstracts: PLATE (Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference)

The deadline for abstract submissions for the 6th PLATE conference has been extended to 9 December 2024. This event will take place at Aalborg University in Denmark from 2-4 July.

LITAC -International Textile and Colour Conference

LITAC holding its inaugural International Textile and Colour Conference at the University of Leeds on 25/26 June 2025. The call for abstracts is now open and the deadline is 31 December 2024.

Futurescan conference

The Association of Fashion and Textile Courses is holding its Futurescan conference at De Montfort University in Leicester on 9/10 September 2025. Call for submissions (presentations and posters) is now open and the deadline is 14 January 2025.

Textile Institute World Conference - The Textile Institute

The call for papers and presentations for the Textile Institute World Conference in Porto (7– 10 October 2025) is now open, and the deadline is 28 February 2025.

Future Observatory: Tomorrow’s Wardrobe

14 SEPTEMBER 2024 – AUGUST 2025

Discover the urgent research and innovation taking place to design a future for fashion that is both stylish and sustainable. Tomorrow's Wardrobe brings together a diversity of designers from across the fashion industry who are revolutionising the way we create, make, and wear clothes – including exhibits from friends of Future Fibres – Project Plan B and Dr Laetitia Forst. Professor Kate Goldsworthy supported the exhibition as curatorial advisor alongside Jalaj Hora (Nike) and Susan Postlethwaite (Manchester Metropolitan University). More information here.

To keep up-to-date with Future Fibres Network+ latest events, go to the website, www.futurefibresnetworkplus.com, follow us at @futurefibresnetwork+ or to sign up to our newsletter register here.

Call for Papers for SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry)

EFFECTS OF TEXTILES MICROFIBERS & CHEMICALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT

You are invited to submit your manuscript to the Special Issue “Textiles Microfibers and Chemicals” that Professor Tamara Galloway is guest editing. More information can be found here.

Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn to hear about the network's latest events throughout the UK.

The Future Fibres Network+ newsletter is published monthly.

Email ffnplus@exeter.ac.uk to join our mailing list and network.

Do you have any news, an event or paper you would to promote? Email the details with any links or images to: ffnplus@exeter.ac.uk by10 January.

For the latest news, events and to subscribe to our newsletter, go to www.futurefibresnetworkplus.com