The seminar “From Material Girl to Material World: Pioneering Sustainable Textiles” was held on September 24 in Oslo, during one of the main happenings that animated the Oslo Innovation Week, a large international event that brings together over 80 initiatives including conferences and seminars in which incubators, scientific bodies, investors, companies and startups present innovative solutions functional to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The result of the collaboration between the national cluster of the Norwegian textile-fashion industry, the Italian Embassy in Oslo, the Italian Trade Agency and German and Finnish institutions, the seminar brought together a large audience of experts and professionals, who discussed the status and latest developments in the field of recycling and regeneration of fabrics and new fibers.
Young but solid companies in the circular fashion sector from Italy took as well part at the seminar, such as
- Rifò, part of the Prato ecosystem of textile recycling and regeneration
- Progetto Quid, a company from Verona that has adopted an innovative production model with a high social impact
- MagnoLab, a recently established textile innovation district in the Biella area with a strong international vocation
- Appcycled, a fashion upcycle platform created in Milan in the midst of the global pandemic crisis
- Consorzio Erion, that offered its contribution to the debate on future obligations linked to the introduction of the new European regulation on extended producer responsibility in the textile sector.
The Italian Ambassador to Norway, Stefano Nicoletti, present at the event, highlighted how “the Italian textile-fashion and accessories industry, which remains first in Europe and among the largest in the world in terms of turnover, number of companies and number of employees, can make a decisive contribution to the green transition of one of the most polluting production sectors on the planet. This is demonstrated by the growing attention to sustainability of the major brands in our country and the birth, in recent years in Italy, of an ever-increasing number of startups and SMEs that make the reuse, recycling and regeneration of fabrics and clothing their core business. The hope is that initiatives such as today’s can also foster dialogue and facilitate the creation of collaborations with Norwegian and foreign partners, to more effectively pursue the objectives of reducing the environmental impact in this sector”.
