October 2024 Newsletter

Dear subscribers

Welcome to the October Future Fibres Network+ newsletter!

The Future Fibres Network Plus Flexible Fund decision panel met at the beginning of September and we have now allocated the majority of our Flexible Fund to eight projects. These mini projects will cover a spectrum of ideas that have been proposed from Higher Education Institutions in collaboration with industry and that adhere to the Future Fibres Network 3 objectives. We will reveal the full details of these mini projects soon.

Our webinar series Fibre talks continues. You can see the latest talks and summaries here.

Our network is growing quickly but we need your help too! Please do get in touch if you have an interesting event, product, service or innovation that you would like to share with the network.

With warm regards

Tamara

Tamara Galloway is Professor of Ecotoxicology at The University of Exeter

CE Hub Webinar

Professor Kate Goldsworthy from the project was one of the presenters at a fascinating discussion at the CE-Hub webinar on Future Fashion, Future Fibres and the Circular Economy in September. We also saw presentations from Gerrard Fisher (QSA Partners) and Sophie Moggs (Ellen Macarthur Foundation). Gerrard looked at EPR in the UK clothing sector; Sophie presented a report 'Pushing Boundaries of EPR Policy for Textiles' and Kate's section highlighted the importance of collaboration between circular design and environmental science.

You can see the webinar and more details here.

Ben Parker's presentation in Turkey

Last month the University of Exeter's Ben Parker visited Ege Univertesi (Türkiye) and gave the international seminar "Microplastics, microfibres and global change" to staff and students at the university. This talk gave an overview of microplastic and microfibre pollution, how associated activities are threatening aquatic life and how the Future Fibres Network Project is using the lessons learnt from microplastics to reduce the environmental impacts of the UK fashion and textile industry. The talk also emphasised the interdisciplinary nature of the project with solutions requiring specialism from industry practitioners, environmental science, design and the social sciences to be effective. The seminar was well-attended by academics and students from a range of disciplines and generated a lot of interest with some important discussion after around embedding environmental science into design. We are very grateful to staff at Ege Univertesi for their hospitality and organising the event, particularly Dr Irmak Kurtul for moderating the session.

B2B Sustainable Transition Fund Call 3

B2B Sustainable Transition Fund Call 3 will be launching the 1^st November. The information for it is included on Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles (leeds.ac.uk) website, and specifically for a direct link, in B2B's news section: News | Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles (leeds.ac.uk). Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles is our fellow sub-network.

Fibre Talks

Our Fibre Talks Webinar series will be continuing with Dr Rosie Hornbuckle from University of the Arts London in November and Professor Parik Goswami from the University of Huddersfield in December. Summaries and recordings will be available on the website in the coming months.

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. Prof Kate Goldsworthy supported the exhibition as curatorial advisor alongside Jalaj Hora (Nike) and Susan Postlethwaite (Manchester Metropolitan University). More information here.

Eco-Luxe & Savile Row

Su Thomas (founder of Eco-Luxe) is the guest speaker at the next London & South-East England Section of the Textile Institute event on 20th November entitled Breathing new life into British Textiles upcycling natural wool textile waste. Tickets can be booked by following the link 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.

New Circular Fashion Report Published

A new report, 'Accelerating the UK towards a circular fashion ecosystem' by CFIN (Circular Fashion Innovation Network) was published last week.

CFIN is an industry-led programme led by the British Fashion Council and UKFT Association in partnership with Innovate UK. It aims to accelerate the UK towards a Circular Fashion Ecosystem and is part of the broader circular fashion programme that includes Network Plus. Here is a link to the report.

This month we have two new Future Fibres team members that we would like to welcome:

Dr Shelley Kotze is the new Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and Social Science Research Lead at the University of Plymouth. Shelley brings a wealth of expertise to the team. Her work will focus on assessing the impact of Network Plus activities and examining the environmental, social, and individual factors that drive sustainable fashion production and consumption. In her previous research, Shelley has led evaluations of transdisciplinary projects, gaining valuable insights into collaborative approaches.

Shelley will take over from Katie Major-Smith who will be leaving the project at the end of November. We would like to thank Katie for all her hard work and wish her luck with her new job in Denmark.

Holly Roberts joins the University of Exeter team under the supervision of Dr Ceri Lewis and Professor Tamara Galloway. Her NERC Red-ALERT funded PhD is about researching microfibres through the wastewater system. This research will focus on various anthropogenically modified microfibres, not just those that are petroleum-based in the hope to better understand both their ecotoxicological effects and their contamination pathways.

Focus on...Collaboration

This month we feature the Textile Institute (TI) which is the worldwide professional body for people and organisations working in the textile, clothing and footwear associated industries.

It is a fully international organisation represented by local and national offices around the world with its International Headquarters based in Manchester, UK. The TI has been in existence for over 110 years. It was legally constituted by a Royal Charter granted in Britain in 1925 and it is a registered charity in England.

The TI is the only International professional body representing the whole supply chain in connecting professionals, organisations and students globally. It provides services that support the continuing professional development of its members whether that is through educating, sharing knowledge, providing practical advice or connecting members. It promotes good practice, knowledge transfer, confers professional qualifications and ratifies some university textile and fashion courses. It also publishes its own books, magazines and periodicals.

Janet Wilson, (CText FTI, Chair of the Textile Institute, London & SE England Section) says "The textile and clothing sectors worldwide are working hard to make these sectors more sustainable and apart from providing the regional events, there is also an international conference that is held every other year to share new developments and better practices. The next conference will be held in Portugal in October 2025, and a call for papers will be issued soon."

For more information, please go to the website: www.textileinstitute.org

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The Future Fibres Network+ newsletter is published monthly.

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Do you have an event or paper you would to promote? Email the details with any links or images to: ffnplus@exeter.ac.uk by 14 November..

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