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Future Fibres Network Plus February '26 Newsletter
Dear subscribers,
Welcome to the February newsletter. This is the project's penultimate newsletter with many updates on the impacts from our mini projects. Some of these you can see below. The others will be available over the next month.
With warm wishes,
Tamara
Tamara Galloway is Professor of Ecotoxicology at The University of Exeter
Illustrated by Temujen Gunawardena
Written by Despina Djama, University of Plymouth
Future Fibres Network+ Final Consortium Meeting: Fashion and Textiles – The threads run much deeper than ‘the plastics problem’
On Wednesday 21 January, the Future Fibres team hosted the original consortium partners plus the new partners who have collaborated with the consortium via the two funding calls. To our original six partners we have added many others whose work, impact and successes we have been sharing throughout the year. The event was held at the auspicious Natural History Museum - and it was a chance for our mini project collaborators to update the group on progress, findings and impact. If you would like to read more details, Dr Despina Djama (University of Plymouth) has written the following article:
Key takeaways and reflections from Future Fibres Network+
As well as sharing who attended, she also covers: recommendations or takeaway messages from Future Fibres Network+, what action feels possible as a result of the project and what does this all mean. You can read this here.
Knowledge Information Portal
As our FFN+ projects have now completed their research, the PCT are launching new web pages on the Network Plus Knowledge and Information Portal. Each page will feature a 3-minute summary pdf of the project, designed to give a top-level overview as well as links to other resources.
Read CollaborAcademy's 3- min read here
Read Increasing Textile Circularity's 3-min read here
Future Fibres Team at Material Research Exchange
Professor Kayleigh Wyles from the Future Fibres Team at the University of Plymouth presented at the Material Research Exchange (MRE2026) at the Design Centre in London on Friday 20 February. At the event that showcases advanced material research and innovation across all sectors including textiles Kayleigh was part of the Textiles session: Developments in sustainable and circular sportswear.
This event brought together a whole array of disciplines, innovators, and industry. Within the session titled “Game changing innovations in polymers and textiles for sports”, a range of innovations being developed to help make the sports industry more sustainable were presented and discussed. This included biodegradable trainers; recyclable, toxic-free, water-proof fabric.
She talked through two examples:
1) 🤿 Recycling wetsuits (will consumers be willing to buy products made from recycled Neoprene?) and
2) 🎾 Sportswear with biotics (will people change their behaviours to ensure this innovation is sustainable?)
She discussed that for innovation to become reality, you need to understand the consumer. Questions such as what will they buy, how will they care for it, when / how will the dispose of it are crucial to consider.
New AHRC opportunity - UKRI Translation: AHRC Proof of Concept
AHRC will be hosting a webinar on Thursday 5 March to walk through the opportunity and answer questions. Register through the link below. For questions about this specific opportunity please contact: enquires@ahrc.ukri.org
Future Fabrics Expo 2026
Future Fabrics Expo 2026 will take place on 24–25 June in Brussels, running alongside the Textiles Recycling Expo. Free registration now open. It's the largest showcase dedicated exclusively to sourcing sustainably and responsibly-produced, best-practice and certified materials for fashion, footwear, home, interiors & lifestyle. The free ticket includes access to the Textiles Recycling Expo — Europe’s leading exhibition & conference dedicated entirely to textile recycling, offering an additional conference programme and over 120 exhibitors.
Free Ticket available
The Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM26)
The Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) is the flagship conference for the ocean sciences and the larger ocean-connected community. It is took place in Glasgow this week from 22-27 February. In 2024, nearly 6,000 attendees from 60 countries came together to advance ocean science. Cutting-Edge Research. It's a chance to discover the latest findings across diverse fields, from marine ecosystems to climate change impacts.
On 23 February Professor Tamara Galloway presented on Strengthening Global Plastics Research with Systems Research: A ONE HEALTH Evaluation.
Ceri Lewis presented on Lessons from the Galapagos: Mapping the fate and ecological interactions of microplastics across a marine reserve to inform management solutions. More details will follow next month.
Save the Date for the first Fashion Roundtable Book Club as Meg Pirie sits down with Professor Daisy Fancourt (UCL), author of Art Cure.
This is a chance to explore how arts and culture shape health, the cost of losing STEAM education, the rise of ‘arts prescriptions’, and what future cultural policy could look like.
🗓 Friday 27th February | 1:30 PM on Substack
💬 Got a question for Daisy? Drop it below
🔗 Join here: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/113509?r=e0ris&utm_medium=io
Future Citizen Launch
Sustainable Fashion Week are launching their Future Citizen Campaign on 16-22 MARCH 2026. This campaign aims to Inspire young people to take fashion action - giving them the tools to shift clothing habits, build resilience and design a fair fashion future. Get in touch if you can host an event in your school, college or university.
Students can sign up for FREE ✨
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/g63WKZc4pewsQdRA7
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.
Please visit our website for all the recent publications. Link here.
Sign up to the new Network Plus Knowledge and Information Portal
The knowledge and information portal from the Network Plus is now live – https://circulartextilesportal.org. It offers a curated selection of the latest news and research from the fashion and textiles sector – and it will house all the outputs from the FFN+ flexible fund projects, as well as research from the other subnetworks, IMPACT+ and Back to Baselines.
To ensure you don’t miss out, please sign up here to the monthly bulletin, where you will receive news of the latest resources available through the portal direct to your inbox.
Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn to hear about the network's latest events throughout the UK. We have moved from X to Bluesky.
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 like to promote? Email the details with any links or images to: ffnplus@exeter.ac.uk by March 17 2026 .
For the latest news, events and to subscribe to our newsletter, go to www.futurefibresnetworkplus.com
