Joined up fashion, technology and sustainability

The all-day event, run by the university’s Green Growth Platform, a network delivering business growth support to green businesses in Sussex, will bring together innovators and designers who are fusing fashion and technology to create the next generation of textiles.

Platform Director, Zoë Osmond, said: “Technology is revolutionising the world and the fashion industry is no exception. We'll be imagining a future where clothing is smart and connected, where manufacturing methods have been updated for the 21st century, and where textiles are made from innovative and sustainable materials that can be easily recycled.

Green Growth Platform Director, Zoë Osmond

“The fashion and textiles industry is the second biggest polluter in the world after oil. It accounts for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, uses a quarter of chemicals produced worldwide each year, and falls just behind agriculture in the amount of water it consumes.

“We’re interested in how technology can reduce this impact – how can we help fashion businesses in Sussex develop and source new textiles that can reduce the damage this industry is causing.

“The university has always been at the centre of innovation for fashion and also for technology. We’re excited about forming new collaborations that unite these industries, changing perceptions about fashion and sustainability and creating awareness.”

The event, on 24 November at The Lighthouse in Kensington Street, Brighton, is for those involved fashion businesses as well as designers, creatives, materials scientists, bio and nanotechnologists who are at the forefront of developing new textiles and efficient production processes for the fashion industry.

The event will be chaired by Lizzy Bishop, Founder of Brighton Fashion Week, Europe's first fashion week dedicated to sustainability, and the Future Fashion Project which launches in 2018 as an online platform, nurturing and developing a new generation of sustainable designers and presenting them to a global stage.

Lizzy Bishop said: "We are delighted to be co-creating the event with the Green Growth Platform, bringing global influencers in the sustainable fashion industry as speakers and working with Revival Collective to deliver the morning workshops led by talented local creatives and designers. With education and dialogue we can develop and innovate new sustainable business models that look at design and supply and demand with community in mind, creating a new fashion order."

Curated by local ethical fashion community, Revival Collective, the morning session will include workshops on the themes of ‘Create, Upcycle and Repair’ “as a positive alternative to the consumerism of the Black Friday sales”.

The afternoon session will include a seminar for businesses with presentations from global influencers in the sustainable fashion industry. Speakers will include Carol Rose and Qiulae Wong from Common Objective, the business network for the fashion industry, Rachel Lasebikan from the WEAR Sustain project and Christina Tiran from the Sustainable Angle, the not-for-profit organisation that initiates and supports projects which contribute to minimizing environmental impact.

For more information contact Platform Marketing Manager Angela Ritchie at greengrowthplatform@brighton.ac.uk.