FASHIONINNOVATE Bridged the Gap Between Fashion and Technology
As Texworld USA and Apparel Sourcing opened their three-day run on Sunday, the focus was on FashionInnovate, which featured a full-day conference line-up bridging the gap between fashion and technology.
Madeleine Gong, lead apparel engineer at Wearable X, a fashion tech company that brings together design and technology, kicked things off with a keynote on using innovation, technology and sustainability to change the way the fashion industry interacts with the environment.
“We need to assume responsibility and implement change not just in the end product but throughout the entire supply chain process,” Gong said. “Research and awareness are important for this initiative.”
Companies need to embrace technology to create faster and more sustainable ways to create. Wearable X, for one, creates “smart yoga leggings” that use technology to assess the orientation of the lower body and provide posture suggestions during a yoga session.
On the sustainability side, researchers and scientists are working to create alternatives to animal leather—using materials like pineapple, apples and mushrooms—that mimic the real thing. Some companies, Gong said, are also making leather out of cactus and fruit skins.
Offering a real-life sense of what’s taking shape in the industry, Tara St. James, founder of Re:Source Library and owner and creative director of Study NY, led a tour of Texworld USA’s Innovation Spotlight, aimed at showcasing new innovations in bio-synthetics, smart textiles, and circular design solutions.
Established fibers and fabrics are evolving to meet the demands of circular and sustainable design needs. Participants in the spotlight included Dr. Luke Haverhal, CEO of Natural Fiber Welding; Mike Savarie, sustainability enterprise catalyst at Hemp Black; Daniel Mota Pinto, assistant director at Scoop, and Ericka Gutierrez, manager of business development and marketing for North America at Lenzing Group.
The origin of raw materials is vital to what happens along the supply chain when it comes to making the final product circular in the environment, St. James said. Most of the companies’ feedstock involves pre- and post-consumer textile waste, particularly cotton, such as Lenzing’s Refibra technology by Tencel, which involves upcycling cotton scraps from garment production, and Natural Fiber Welding’s processing of recycled cotton yarn for reuse and additive products.
“We’re also focusing on hemp, but in a new form, such as Hemp Black, which is a carbonized hemp, and Natural Fiber Welding’s Mirum, which is using hemp as a substrate for its alternative to PVC,” St. James said. “It’s very conventional biomaterials that are used in unconventional ways.” On Monday, day two of Texworld USA and Apparel Sourcing, the sustainability theme continues with the “Intro into Traceability, Standards & Sustainability,” panel, with executives from Lenzing Group, Textile Exchange and Global Organic Textile Standard. In addition, a presentation by the Economic Development Board and Apparel Manufacturers from Mauritius will discuss the benefits of developing business relationships in the country.