The Regenerative Fashion Hub 2022: open house, research studies and seminars

The Regenerative Fashion Hub is a 6-week event to put academic research into sustainable apparel-textiles on the high street, engaging the public, industry, NGOs and government in discussion and participation.

The UKRI Interdisciplinary Textiles Circularity Centre (TCC) – funded by the UK Research & Innovation National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research programme – is undertaking fundamental research into a circular textiles economy for the UK SME apparel-fashion industry based on producing high value textiles from bio waste. It is an academic consortium led by the Royal College of Art, and includes Cranfield University, University of Cambridge, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, University College London, and University of York. 

Research in the TCC seeks to create couplings between materials circularity, supply chain configuration and consumer experience to propose an alternative model for apparel-fashion that will reduce the consumption of materials resources and associated pollution, and to grow wellbeing – economic (equitable prosperity), human (identity, self-actualisation) social (community, cohesion), environmental (enhancing the health of our planet and its capacity to support life).

The Regenerative Fashion Hub is an exhibition showcase of bio textiles development, product and consumer experience designs that bring to life the journey of biowaste from source of waste through to the consumption of apparel; the showcase will also include a set of research studies, seminars, and ‘open house’ sessions. 

Open House location and opening times:

Our showcase will be open to visitors to experience the journey of the biowaste resource flow, and talk to the research team. There is no need to book, just turn up.

• Opening times:
  • • • • October: 19th, 26th, 28th, from 10:00 – 18:00.
        • November: 3rd, 10th, 18th, 24th, from 10:00 – 18:00.  

• Location: The LabE20, 3-4 East Park Walk, East Village, London, E20 1JB

Acknowledgements:

Supported by The Lab E20 and Fashion District.

Funded by UKRI NICER programme.

Showcase exhibition designed by Annabel Maguire and Claudio Quintana.

Design partner IDEO.

Header photo credit: Ricardo O’Nascimento.

Research Studies

We will be hosting research studies and workshops with the consumer-public in the Configurator; studies with designers and apparel brands in the Materials Library using our Circular Materials Design Toolkit so that they can explore their own ‘materials ID’ to design for product longevity; and studies with supply chain stakeholders to explore how flows of value can be expanded at each stage in the journey. 

Materials Circularity research studies in The Regenerative Fashion Hub 

The Circular Materials Design Toolkit study will inspire creative material differentiation and material longevity in a circular economy with apparel design brands and materials start-ups. Participants will use the TCC Materials Library to understand materials and manufacturing processes developed in the TCC Materials Circularity research strand. By reconsidering process flows and value chains in the garment design process, participants will design applications for novel materials and processes.

Consumer Experience research studies in The Regenerative Fashion Hub

The Consumer Experience studies will invite people to engage with textiles and products circularity. The TCC Journey Notes activity will invite reflection on the circular textile journey, to help reveal what is important to people in the circular textile economy, and to review their role in it. The TCC Shirt Configurator offers a set of experiences which will allow people to learn more about the materials that make their clothes, enable them to contribute to clothes design, and access support to care for and mend clothes. These experiences include a Materials Gym to work out textiles properties and their preferences and arrive at a textile selection, a Shirt Builder to select and assemble modules to create a shirt, with the material of personal choice. Finally, a Renew Station will foreground practices of care and give people an opportunity to repair their clothes or the relationship with them.

Find out how to participate in the Consumer Experience Research Studies.

Circular Fashion Supply Chain research studies in The Regenerative Fashion Hub

This study will search for creative ways to increase the quantity and quality of clothing materials that stay in use rather than ending up in landfill or being wasted. We want to know what customers, clothes wearers, clothes designers, new material start-ups and waste handlers want, and importantly, what they believe is possible in an unconstrained world. We will co-design future process flows and value chains for garments.

We will advertise the calls for participants separately – more information to follow.

Seminar Series

We will be hosting seminars on consumer experience – on topics of new experience design for citizen participation in a CE, building awareness in a CE, designing technology to enhance human-material interactions in a CE, and interactive fashion consumption.

We will host seminars on materials circularity – on topics of bio-materials design in a CE, new information experience design on transformation of biowaste into circular materials, interdisciplinary biological sciences and design collaboration, incorporating design innovation into biological manufacturing, algae fibres, and materials flow analysis.

We will advertise the seminars separately – more information to follow.