An Industry comes together to help make the world a little better

We just got back from 4 days surrounded by some of the smartest minds in the field of Sustainability and the Textile Industry.
Nov 9 - 12 Textile Exchange held their annual conference in Portland OR.

I wanted to share some insights gleaned from the event for me.
In looking back even just 5 years ago the conversation was much more about convincing us that there is an environmental and social crisis in our world today and a dire need to start addressing these issues. Today that conversation is moving into mainstream media and conferences like this are focusing on solutions.
There was a lot of excitement to see ideas like Bio-based polyesters in the market and a desire to move away from food based sugars.  I was also inspired by the technologies around dying, water less, or reduced water use.
And there was a whole track of sessions on Chemistry.  One designer leaned over to me and said, "I had no idea when I went to fashion school I was going to need my Chemistry knowledge."

The industry is changing and in some ways too slow and in others quite quickly.  Overall the sentiment is a desire for figuring out solutions.

Inspiring few days!

Women's Wear Daily writes about sustainability

Check out this article about the workshop I helped organize with Textile Exchange.

http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/markets-features/sustainability-expanding-its-reach-5826740

Here is the workshop held on March 1, 2012.  It was a great space in SoHo New York which created the opportunity to co-learn and interact in a way that allowed for deep understanding of sustainability in the textile and apparel industry.