Challenge 3: Sustainable industrial strategies for business and innovation

Industry Lead: ASOS

This challenge positions sustainable fashion, textile and technology (FTT) design and business practice as a site for Research and Development.

With greater customer awareness of ethical and environmental sustainability, there is now a business imperative for FTT firms to adopt and evidence sustainable practice given that environmental, social and governance factors can materially affect a company’s performance and market value.

This challenge will test sustainability mapping tools developed by the FTT and other industries – and seek to adapt these tools to assist industry in capturing practice and recommend changes from design to production.

It will further consider the new skills and knowledge required to operationalise the tools within FTT business settings, and trial educational provision.

Team

Prof Steve Evans

Co-Investigator

University of Cambridge

Following a career in the aerospace industry, and as Engineering Systems Manager at Martin-Baker Engineering – the world’s leading manufacturer of ejection seats, Steve transitioned to researching and developing sustainable solutions for industrial manufacturing. Since joining the University of Cambridge as Director of the Centre for Industrial Sustainability, he has led over £15m-worth of academic-industry collaborative projects with partners including Unilever, Toyota, Dyson, Airbus, M&S, JLR, ASICS, Hugo Boss, Brandix and ASDA. Core skills and competences include:

Sustainable business consultancy for manufacturing
Toolkit development
Industrial collaboration

Prof Dilys Williams

Co-Investigator

UAL

Founder and director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the University of the Arts London, the internationally renowned research, policy and education centre focusing on sustainability issues as these intersect with the fashion industry. A regular contributor to national and international press, central to my philosophy is the applicability of research findings to industry stakeholders in practice settings. Testament to this approach are my positions on the Observer Ethical Awards judging panel and as Co-secretariat to the House of Lords All Party Parliamentary Group on Fashion, Sustainability and Ethics. Core skills and competences include:

Fashion Design for Sustainability methods and practices for designers
Fashion Design for Sustainability teaching and learning frameworks
Sustainability thought leadership

Laetitia Forst

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

UAL

Laetitia Forst is a textile designer and researcher, her practice explores the tension between technical challenges and creativity in sustainable design for textiles. Her PhD research project at the Centre for Circular Design at University of the Arts London aims to explore design driven solutions for incorporating ease of recyclability into textiles. The project takes a pro-active approach to developing alternatives to the unsustainable status-quo in the creation of blends through the use of design for disassembly. Laetitia also teaches on the MA Textile Design and short courses at UAL. Core competencies: