Interviews

Yarn suppliers are being pulled into earlier, more technical conversations as fashion, sportswear and advanced textiles demand stronger proof of performance, traceability and end-use value. Nicola Carletti, Marketing Manager at MIC S.p.A., explains how the Italian sewing thread specialist is widening its material base without abandoning industrial discipline, from Himalayan nettle to wearable robotics projects.

Global fashion visibility still favours money, geography and entrenched networks, leaving many designers outside the main circuit. Olga IF, Founder, Modavision, argues that fashion needs more open systems of representation, participation and access. Her platform combines national identity, public voting and cultural exchange in one international format, while questioning how legitimacy is still allocated across the industry.

Blended textile waste is no longer being discussed as a marginal recycling problem but as an industrial systems challenge shaped by regulation, cost and infrastructure. In that debate, Peter Mangnus, Business Director Dawn Technology at Avantium, argues that progress will depend less on scientific novelty alone than on aligning feedstock, offtake, finance and policy support.

Global textile trade is moving through a more complex sourcing cycle, with buyers weighing cost, reliability, material performance, and sustainability together. Wilmet Shea, General Manager, Messe Frankfurt (HK), discusses how Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics reflected those pressures, from Southeast Asian buyer flows and China’s upstream strength to AI-led workflows, traceability platforms, eco-performance fabrics, and knowledge programming.

Blended textiles have long resisted viable recycling pathways, limiting circularity ambitions across the apparel sector. Toby Moss Chief Commercial Officer of Worn Again Technologies discusses how an operational accelerator plant marks a transition from controlled experimentation to industrial validation, while exposing the economic, material, and system-level challenges that must be resolved for textile-to-fibre recycling to scale.

Textile development is increasingly shaped by digital systems that promise faster iteration, reduced waste, and new material possibilities. Within this shift, Bethany Meuleners, Apparel and Textile Design and Venture Lead at Variloom, discusses how programmable weaving alters development workflows, the limits imposed by existing apparel structures, and the broader implications for how materials are conceived, produced, and integrated into product design.

California’s attempt to build a large-scale textile recovery system is unfolding with limited precedents and incomplete data. Julie Cerenzia, Director at Cascadia Consulting, explains how the modelling behind the SB 707 debate draws on international comparisons, industry assumptions and evolving market realities to estimate the environmental and economic potential of diverting textile waste.

Textile waste in the United States remains largely invisible within municipal systems, even as millions of tonnes of clothing are discarded every year. Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain, argues that the challenge is not technological but structural, rooted in fragmented local regulation, constrained collection networks and the economics of scaling recovery infrastructure.

Climate risk is increasingly being modelled not as a reputational concern but as a margin-level financial exposure. New analysis suggests operating profits in apparel could shrink sharply under accelerated net-zero transitions. Kristina Elinder Liljas, Senior Director of Sustainable Finance and Engagement at Apparel Impact Institute, argues that carbon exposure now belongs inside capital allocation models, not sustainability reports.

Waterless dyeing has historically struggled with fibre limitations, slow cycles, and inconsistent shades. Recent industrial trials now suggest those constraints have been fixed. Swapneshu Baser, Managing Director of Deven Supercriticals explains how architectural changes in dye placement and process flow transformed supercritical CO₂ from a niche alternative into a viable, scalable dyeing medium for mainstream textiles.