Fibres

The fashion industry now has a powerful tool to map its complex sustainability challenges. The Fashion Impact Toolkit, developed by Global Fashion Agenda and Deloitte, catalogues around 3,000 impacts across the textile value chain. Designed for strategic planning and accountability, it equips companies to track, assess, and address environmental and social harms from fibre to end-of-life.

A new international research initiative called SeaWeave is set to transform the textile sector by harnessing the power of seaweed. The project brings together leading experts to develop sustainable technologies that convert Atlantic and Mediterranean macroalgae into functional fibres and dyes, offering eco-friendly alternatives to conventional materials used in fashion and home furnishings.

The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) and Seiko Epson Corporation’s year-long collaboration has succeeded in repurposing waste cotton fabric to develop regenerated cellulose fibre with strength of cotton.

A new report offers fashion industry leaders a strategic roadmap to help accelerate the adoption of next-generation materials. Highlighting key levers across the supply chain, the guide provides both individual and collective actions to drive meaningful change at scale.

The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) and tech company, Heraeus, are researching to reduce the risk of infection from medical workwear. This forms the basis for future industrial production of textiles for durable and reliable protection against infection.

Taiwan-headquartered Creative Tech Textile Co Ltd has pioneered the transformation of discarded oyster shells into advanced sustainable textile solutions leading to its signature brands—Seawool and Smawarm. Founder Yeh-Shun Wang (Eddie Wang) shares how through decadal inspirations and learnings his company is doing its bit to shape a greener and more sustainable future for the textiles industry.

US-based deeptech innovator Tandem Repeat, a climate-positive smart textiles company, has developed Procell, a revolutionary patented fermentation microbial process that transforms proteins into valuable products, including fibres and nonwovens which are a less toxic alternative to plastics. Leading inventor and Penn State Huck Endowed Chair of Biomaterials Professor Melik Demirel simplifies the tech and his plans for the future.

The latest Materials Benchmark Insights and Trends report by Textile Exchange contends that while the industry has made progress, reporting brands are not moving fast enough to meet targets for real climate action. Besides, some companies have also dropped out as signatories of the challenges now that the target year is around the corner.

Designing for death! You read it right. And then an exhibition that encourages visitors to consider end-of-life decisions and how their choices can impact human and environmental well-being. Dr Sherry Haar, a natural dye and design scholar, investigates all of this and more to generate awareness about green burial through her fibre art.

As global fibre production clocks a rise for the third consecutive year, by 6.89% over last year, the textile industry’s commitments to its climate goals could falter big time, the latest annual edition of the Materials Market Report from Textile Exchange has revealed.