The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) and the H&M Foundation have launched a new initiative aimed at transforming the textiles and fashion industry.
- The hub is called Open Lab and is located in Hong Kong. The 20,000 sq ft facility is set to become a global hub for sustainable innovation, focusing on climate action and industry-wide collaboration.
ACTION-ORIENTED: HKRITA’s new hub for industry-wide collaboration aims to drive climate action through advanced research and development.
- Instead of keeping ongoing research in closed laboratories, the Open Lab aims to showcase solutions and ongoing research to industry stakeholders, to be able to quickly adjust, iterate, pilot and scale faster.
The focus of the Open Lab is threefold:
- Contribute to problem-solving;
- Showcasing solutions;
- Providing a platform for industry-wide collaboration.
The overall aim is to provide agile and scalable solutions for the textiles and fashion industry to address climate change.
- The Open Lab is part of the Planet First programme (2020–24), the second collaboration between H&M Foundation and HKRITA. H&M Foundation has provided funding over a five-year period beginning in 2020.
THE HUB: The physical space is equivalent to 1.5 Olympic swimming pools. Here, visitors can take a tour to see several ground-breaking projects in action, such as:
- Green Machine 2.0, a technology that can separate post-consumer polyester and cotton blends through hydrothermal treatment, enabling much-needed recycling of blend textiles.
- Smart Garment Sorting System, enables efficient management of post-consumer textile waste in the garment recycling industry by integrating artificial intelligence in conjunction with image analysis techniques that mainly focus on hyperspectral spectroscopy.
- Acousweep, a new treatment method to separate microplastics from water through sweeping acoustic waves in the water.
In total, more than 80 R&D projects are showcased at the Open Lab as well as in its digital database.
COLLABORATION AT ITS CORE: The lab brings together stakeholders from across the textile value chain, including manufacturers, brands, and innovators, to co-create and test sustainable solutions.
- Supported by the Innovation and Technology Fund of the Hong Kong government and major industry players like C&A, GAP, Puma, H&M Group, Esquel, Crystal and Fashion for Good, Open Lab is a place where the industry can unite to tackle its most pressing challenges.
- The facility also houses a Fashion Future Lab, which focuses on early-stage innovations, including the pioneering “Farm-to-Garment” project.
- This modular research space allows for quick adaptation and scaling of new solutions, further fostering industry-wide collaboration.
OPEN TO ALL: The Open Lab will primarily operate as a business-to-business platform, addressing the needs of textile users from a business perspective.
- Yet the Open lab also welcomes the public to participate in its activities.
- HKRITA will arrange regular visiting activities, collaborate with interested parties to conduct trials, organise sharing sessions, workshops, and conferences to disseminate research findings.
- The Open Lab will also initiate a residency programme to support startups with know-how and testing facilities.
WHAT THEY SAID:
When designing the Open Lab, we thought of it as a kitchen, not a dining room. This means that at the Open Lab you will find ongoing research and needs, as well as different needs from the industry, which different partners can come together to solve together. You will not come here to be served only ready-to-go solutions.
— Edwin Keh
Chief Executive Officer
HKRITA
The Open Lab aims to bring research and technology out of closed spaces into the open, to showcase solutions to the textile industry and beyond, and get instant feedback, iterate, improve and scale faster.
— Christiane Dolva
Strategy Lead
H&M Foundation
