Circular Economy
Humanitarian Design and the archetypes of clothes with REantwerp
Belgian designer Tim van Steenberg and journalist Ruth Goosens create REantwerp, a fashion brand that employs refugees and repurpose leftover fabrics
Phytoremediation, Lagooning and Phytoextraction: hemp and the power of plants
Hemp as an ideal plant for phytoremediation projects for its tolerance to pollution and its versatility of use at the end of the phytoremediation process
Waste smuggling: who takes responsibility for dignified jobs in African textile industries?
High-quality garments are redirected from African secondhand clothing markets, leaving the discards and low-empowering labor in local traders’ wake. Human dignity is at stake
The fiber of the Andes is Rough: an interview with Tomás Vera
Verdi: a family story and respect for Colombian natural raw materials – from fique fiber and copper wire, supporting the artisans of Curití Santander
SANE Standard: certifying the purpose economy
SANE Standard is a fashion sustainability certification that certifies the sustainable manufacturing of fashion products, apparel and home textiles. Raw materials through transparent lens
Zero-impact music festivals: from short supply chains to renewable energy
From DGTL in Amsterdam to Bucolika at Lake Camosci in the Susa Valley, Italy: boutique festivals emphasize respect for nature and the use of short, controlled supply chains for food...
Denim and upcycling stories: from Miu Miu to Vitelli
An upcycled jean emits up to 83 percent less CO2 than a new one - Miu Miu's latest Upcycled collection and other efforts to explore the potential of vintage denim...
The legacy and heritage of Venice – an honest conversation with Toto Bergamo Rossi
The main purpose of Venetian Heritage is to promote one of the less known aspects of Venetian art: the sculptures. Nobody talks about that, always painters
Restored coral can grow as fast as healthy reefs
A new study shows that coral reef restoration initiatives provide a temporary solution to restore compromised marine ecosystems – concrete climate actions for ocean preservation
What is a 4D textile? Is the manufacturing sustainable?
The evolution of 3D printing is 4D. The case of the 4D-Knit Dress by MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab made using only a robot arm, computerized knitting and heat-activated smart textiles
Natural rubber: a raw material linked to deforestation
Between 1993 and 2016, an estimated 4.1 million hectares of forest were destroyed for natural rubber production, with almost three-quarters of this destruction taking place after 2001
Knitwear and wool: the future of a circular economy in textiles
Knitwear comes to the rescue with naturally sourced fibers and artisanal production processes with low environmental impact – some projects presented during the Loro Piana Knit Design Awards 2024
Is cloud seeding a real chance? Colorado and UAE cases
Cloud seeding: from pioneering experiments to contemporary scientific debates. Can weather alteration techniques makeup for land destruction by drought? The Colorado and UAE cases
The link between hemp and female empowerment
Hemp cultivation as a form of female empowerment and womanity. The story of the European beguines and the hemp work that inspired the Sisters of the Valley
Bacterial stunts and molds at Margiela – from 1997 till today
Who remembers Martin Margiela’s bacterial stunt from 1997? Mold on clothes, multiplied in the backyards of contemporary museums. Retracing the technique used in the exhibition
Green colonialism: raw materials rush props up
Raw materials – an estimated 100 billion tons (Gt) of raw materials are mined each year. Of these, over 90% came from virgin resources. Less than 10% is coming from...
When length matters: wool carbon footprint’s impact
The wool debate: Environmental Effects of worsted versus woolen processing – insights for sustainable fashion. When fiber fineness is synonym with luxury but carries environmental concerns
What happened to slow fashion?
After the pandemic, fashion seemed to abandon consumerism and make room for slow fashion. All gone. Mosaert and Buena Onda apart
What do you bring to the table? Spuma’s Purpose Economy model
The current driving force of the global catering service. Companies reliance on tailor made catering and quality raw materials service to accommodate the needs of today’s market
Fili Pari on bridging the gap between marble and fabric – Italian raw materials
The Renaissance artist Michaelangelo could free an image from a marble block, as he used to say. Italian start-up Fili Pari has turned a material such as marble into a...
Elsa Peretti’s democratic designs and a glass maker in Venice – Archimede Seguso
From Florence to New York, from fashion model to female artisan Elsa Peretti’s lived an existence of freedom, inspiring the accessibility of her design and creations bought by women, for...
Sustainable textile industry: Lycra Company get rid of fossil-based spandex
Dismissing Plastic. Eyeballing the need for a sustainable textile industry, The Lycra Company replaces synthetic spandex with a fiber made with a naturally sourced ingredient: corn
The environmental impact of garments at the center: Filter by fabric
The arrival of EU regulations and the push of brands toward an ethical and transparent system with respect to the consumer, beyond the Woolmark Company initiative
Prada on the Moon: spacesuit design and the NASA’s next lunar mission
Prada’s venture in space wear: AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit) a legacy of innovation in the use of raw materials, nylons, and manufacturing technology. NASA’s Artemis III mission
Acción Andina: 2.7 million native trees planted in South America last year
Polylepis forests elevate 5,000 meters above sea level. Acción Andina – a community-based initiative operating across South America – is one of the finalists in the Earthshot prize 2023
Sea resources: Bysco’s naturally sourced textile fiber from mussel waste
Bysco developed a textile fiber that comes from mussel secretions. Its technical properties can allow the replacement of synthetic fibers like fiberglass and polyester
Latest from the supply chain: how jeans production has changed
What are the steps that have led the industry to a conscious product? From the production of yarns, to natural indigo and the use of new techniques to replicate the...
Eckhaus Latta debuts 3D clothes at NY Fashion Week using Unspun technology
Luxury fashion brands are also to blame for excessive waste in the industry. Eckhaus Latta collection at NYFW features first pieces made with Unspun’s Vega™3D weaving technology
Enea’s zero-waste approach: turning arthropods byproducts into chitosan
Chitosan extraction from marine resources and fungi: Enea Trisaia Research’s goal to achieve sustainable, cost-effective, and large-scale production that doesn’t rely on petrochemicals
From beans to buildings: recycle coffee grounds to make eco concrete
New research by RMIT engineers published in the Journal of Cleaner Production shows how we could improve concrete by adding an everyday type of waste to it: spent coffee grounds
Oil production: a raw material and a sick system – Incuso restores a disrupted supply chain
Producing oil in Italy without owning an acre. From the heart of Sicily to the rest of Italy, Incuso introduces a new win-win business model, working in collaboration with people
Archeologia Arborea: a green time capsule preserving almost-lost fruit varieties
Turning back time – Archeologia Arborea preserves the local rural knowledge and history by studying and organically farming local fruit varieties on the brink of extinction
Chromatic Shifts: the impact of climate change on flower pigmentation and pollination
The science behind the silent transformation of flora due to climate change. Pigment changes could make plants less attractive to pollinators
Washi, the art of Japanese papermaking: ancient craft, modern possibilities?
Japanese washi paper, a millennial UNESCO-certified heritage: what’s holding it back from becoming a sustainable solution for fashion and artisanal crafting
Collect, recirculate and recycle – A call to reuse from the fashion capitals
Spazio Meta, La Réserve des Arts, Materials for the Arts. The repurposing and reuse of objects and props used by fashion brands in the circularization process of the industry
Forests: primary forest loss stays at low levels in both Indonesia and Malaysia
Insight from the latest update of the GFR’s Forest Pulse: Indonesia is the top country for the reduction in primary forest loss as of 2022, with a sixty-four percent reduction
Nothing is forever, not even diamonds: from the Antwerp diamond district
Scandals linked to blood diamonds are coming back to Antwerp with the war in Ukraine. Zelensky speaks: «peace is more valuable than diamonds in shops»
Ganni teams up with Rubi to present a yarn from photosynthesis carbon emissions
Fashion giants Reformation and Patagonia to create prototype products : Can carbon yarn made from bio catalysis be a substitute for viscose? Ganni and Rubi working together
Flipping the Script: full story of cotton– Against the idea of ‘basics’
The world’s first sustainable fashion museum in Amsterdam invites consumers to expand their view on cotton beyond jeans and T-shirt with the exhibition Flipping the Script
Biophilia in the home: the art of growing furniture
Patience, Innovation, and Nature – from exclusivity to mass appeal. Full Grown's vision for the Future is about connections with the Natural World through furniture
The Mangrove roots build up nurseries for organisms and ecosystems
Protecting from predators, strong heat, and forceful tides mangrove roots help the biosphere and remove five times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than terrestrial forests
Design is a metamorphosis: the manipulation process of Audrey Large and Théophile Blandet
French designers Audrey Large and Théophile Blandet: «we use digital image manipulation tools: digital manufacturing is an area for bridging virtual and physical through objects»
Plant breeding – cracking plants’ clonal mode of reproduction to improve agriculture
If implemented in agriculture, the propagation process of a commercial hybrid rice strain through cloning explored in the 2022 study could lower the price of hybrid rice seeds
We are what we fuck: microplastics are invading the male reproductive system
Traces of plastic microparticles found in semen samples of healthy men: prolonged exposure to plastic pollution might be putting the future of humanity at risk
Hidden waste – 23 million returned and unsold garments sent to landfill or incinerated
From the report it emerged that thirty-six percent of the responders in the Millennials age group (26-41 years old) were classified as high-intensity returners
If human stupidity destroys forests, artificial intelligence can save it
World Rainforest Day 2023: Conserve. Restore. Regenerate. This year’s theme captures the role that AI and Indigenous rights play in saving rainforests
