VANCOUVER – Cutting-edge fashion and textile innovations designed to reduce the environmental impact of the apparel industry will be showcased in a special session at the ninth edition of Planet Textiles, the annual summit on textiles and sustainability, which takes place in Vancouver, Canada, on 22 May.
The Canadian city is noted for its outlook on environmental issues and has developed a thorough sustainability strategy including a number of different projects in order to reach its ‘Greenest city’ goals.
In a special the ‘Pitch for our Planet’ session hosted by Rogier van Mazijk, Investment Manager at Fashion For Good, delegates will hear about how microorganisms are being used to make feedstock for cellulosic textile fibres, and a new way to produce bio-pigments and finishes based on timber waste. Other talks will feature a new, patent pending textile technology that reduces synthetic microfibre pollution caused by laundering, and a unique method of harnessing protein DNA to make durable fabric dyes entirely from biological processes. A unique way to use probiotics in textile wet processing as well as a chemical recycler able to recover raw materials from blended poly-cotton.
Furthermore, Kate Heiny, head of sustainability at European retail giant C&A, has been confirmed as the summit’s keynote speaker – while Mary Ankeny, VP at Cotton Inc., and Jamie Bainbridge, VP product development at bio-tech start up Bolt Threads, are other high-profile names who will present at the ninth edition of Planet Textiles.
You can register to attend the event HERE.
With scaling up sustainable innovation and the issue of textile microfibres in aquatic environments high on the agenda, we will have three top north American scientists to reveal some of the latest research on the scale of this problem and how – in partnership with the global fashion industry – they can start to be addressed more urgently. Speakers include Dr Peter Ross, announced earlier who will be joined by Chelsea Rochman Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, and Prof Roland Geyer who is Assistant Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Other new additions to the platform include Nicole Rycroft, CEO of the NGO CanopyStyle who will lead a session on deforestation together with Tricia Carey, Director, Business Development, Lenzing, Sigrid Barnekow, Program Director, MISTRA Future Fashion and Valerie Langer of the STAND.Earth (formerly ForestEthics) which campaigns range from biodiversity to air, to water quality and climate change.
New additions to a breakout session led by the ZDHC Foundation on water and chemical management include Dr Gary Selwyn, CTO at Green Theme International, Andrea Crespi, MD, Eurojersey Spa, and Dr Meg Whittaker, MD and Chief Toxicologist at ToxServices LLC.
A Pitch for our Planet
In a first for Planet Textiles, delegates will be able to enjoy learning about new, breakthrough technologies that if brought to scale, could widen the choice of new, more sustainable options for the global fashion sector. Drivers of these new sustainable practices who will giving pitches at the event include the CEO of UK-based Colorifix, Orr Yarkoni; Alfie Germano, CEO, of Australia-based Nanollose; Peter Majernowski, president and co-founder of Tyton Biosciences LLC; Jane Palmer, founder of Nature Coatings; and Karun Tyagi, vice president sustainability at Proklean Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Rogier van Mazijk at Fashion For Good will host this session and at least one of the pitches will be included in the Fashion for Good Plug & Play accelerator’s priority review list for potential funding to scale the technology.
Information on further speakers at the event can be found HERE, with a complete agenda released next week.
Jointly organised by MCL News & Media and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Planet Textiles 2018 takes place 22 May the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, Vancouver, Canada.
Over 400 delegates representing companies from across the globe are expected to attend. This is a low-cost event, delegates rates are deliberately set very low just above cost break even to encourage as many people as possible to learn more about how they can mitigate the environmental impact of the global textile sector.
To reserve your place at this event please register HERE.
Planet Textiles was first launched back in 2009. This year the event is being supported by event partner Sympatex, leadership partners: Lenzing and the ZDHC Foundation; along with Kendor Textiles, ToxServices LLC, Fashion for Good, Cotton Inc. and Proavita.
