A rug made of Dutch wool, digitally designed clothing, and personalized furniture upholstery: each are examples of how leading local makers united in the New Textile Ecosysytems research community resist a global textile industry characterized by its devastating ecological and social impact.
Textile Revolution: Working Together for a Regenerative Future
Inspired to resist the global textile industry’s damaging social and ecological impact, research and industry join forces in the NewTexEco research community to accelerate the change that is urgently needed. Though wildly different in form and use, ranging from interactive software to tangible clothes, furniture, and even a washing machine, this presentation showcases the boundary-pushing, innovative work made and enabled by the consortium.
The selection shows research into various parts of the expansive textile ecosytem. From yarns, fabrics, and dyes, such as Zeefier’s seaweed dyed wool rug; production and design techniques, including digitally designed fashion by Knitwear Lab and software by The Fabrikant; and projects that focus on the care and repair of our clothes.
Personalization can also be a means to lengthen a product’s lifespan, illustrated by bespoke furniture from ByBorre and jumpers knitted in a symbolic pattern meaningful to the community that designed them. With a focus on local production and new technologies, the projects come together to show that things can be done differently if we work together.
About The NewTexEco Research Community
Together, they develop innovations in the textile chain through transdisciplinary research, from production to (re)use. The goal is to strengthen research into a sustainable and regenerative textile sector by sharing data and knowledge.