Highlights and Key Takeaways from the 10th Future Fabrics Expo 2022 | London, UK

On 28-29th June 2022, The Sustainable Angle hosted its 10th Future Fabrics Expo — the largest, dedicated showcase of materials and innovations with a reduced environmental impact.

As our most ambitious show to date and the first physical expo since the start of COVID, the 10th Future Fabrics Expo was held at Magazine London in London, UK, a new, larger venue of over 3,200 square meters, and featured thousands of commercially available, sustainably and responsibly produced fabrics and materials, many more new exhibitors, booths and innovators — all exemplifying effective sustainable solutions throughout the textile supply chain.

The fashion and textile industries are currently responsible for significant impacts upon planet and people. However, in this decisive decade in the climate crisis, fashion can and must be part of the solution by being a vehicle for change, representing a powerful force by following regenerative design principles and a circular systems approach based on safe and renewable raw materials.

At the 10th Future Fabrics Expo, thousands of textiles across all fibre categories were contextualised with educational information to enable a holistic understanding of the provenance, processing and impacts of material sources, inputs and outputs. Materials and textiles at the Future Fabrics Expo are selected by conforming to our key environmental criteria, originally established in consultation with The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion UAL. These criteria recognise some of the most pressing resource issues and environmental impacts that relate to the fashion supply chain.

Visitors of the Expo discovered how our fibres are grown and materials are made in relation to their impacts upon climate, biodiversity, soil and the oceans. They had the opportunity to learn about the critical imperative to source responsibly, how to operate within planetary boundaries in order to address climate change, and secure sustainable supply chains, while aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals. These central themes were further highlighted in our Curated Textiles Area, the Innovation Hub in partnership with Parley for the Oceans, the new Curated Area of Solutions with new partners, and echoed by our Seminar Series – all shaping the 10th Future Fabrics Expo as a one-stop shop for sustainable textiles sourcing and learning for the fashion industry.

10th Future Fabrics Expo’s Innovation Hub was in partnership with Parley for the Oceans. “In 2012, we launched Parley and declared the Material Revolution. Since then we are pushing intergovernmental organisations, governments and brands to support, finance and implement alternative materials. This year at The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo we will share the next chapter of our journey. One that is dedicated to a close collaboration with nature, to green chemistry and biology. For the Oceans, Climate and Life!” - Cyrill Gutsch, CEO and founder of Parley for the Oceans.

The newly added Curated Area of Solutions featured supporting partners of the Future Fabrics Expo. Visitors explored the potential of agricultural waste as the new frontier of next-gen solutions supported by Laudes Foundation and powered by its partners Canopy Planet and Fashion for Good; the focus on Biodiversity was in partnership with LVMH. Visitors were also inspired by material solutions on display by The Mills Fabrica and Plastic Free Fashion. Forgotten fibres were rediscovered in the Hemp Hub, and the Regenerative Agriculture Area featured Savory Institute’s Land to Market. Each unique display, made possible by our partners, shared educational content for the industry to explore, learn about and experience the opportunities and roles of the future of textiles.

Best-practice mills and suppliers presented their materials in their own booths, such as Ecovative, Clerici Tessuto, Chargeurs PCC and NATIVATM, Natural Fiber Welding, Bananatex, Säntis Textiles, Recyctex, Beyond Surface Technologies, UPW, Kipas Holding, Bossa, Toyoshima, Imbotex, Ventile, Nova Kaeru, RDD, and more.

The Information Zone featured industry organisations leading the field such as Fashion Revolution, GOTS, Textile Exchange, WRAP, and Fashion Roundtable.

The 10th Future Fabrics Expo also had an enhanced digital dimension, integrated with our Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo, seamlessly connecting the physical materials displayed to our online platform via QR codes. During the week, attendees received Premium Access to the Future Fabrics VIRTUAL EXPO, which hosts thousands of materials and informative resources online.

By researching and communicating complex sustainability issues, The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo supports fashion brands with the connections, knowledge, and tools in order to make informed decisions and implement responsible practices throughout the fashion supply chain, to leverage positive change.

Quotes from the 10th Future Fabrics Expo Seminar Series

“Next-gen solutions are fundamentally lower carbon footprinted, 50% of the ecological footprint of linear extractive supply chain industries. Recycling and regenerating materials holds incredible promise, be it waste textiles, agricultural residues left over after the food grain harvest, or microbial cellulosics — next-gen solutions are truly the future of fashion.” – Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy Planet | Keynote Speaker

“If we are going to zero carbon, and everything that we see today [at the Expo] is so important in terms of the fashion industry, we have to absolutely take into consideration that we have four different systems to look at: the social system, the economic system, the political system, and the global commons — together. Because the interrelationship between poverty, inequality, empowerment, and the loss and destruction of the forests, the use of our land, the way in which we engage with our economy, is fundamental.” – Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President of the Club of Rome, European and International Environmental Policy Expert | Keynote Speaker

“Collaborating with nature is the future, that’s what we believe at Parley. Our mission is nothing less than designing a new economy that is not build on exploitation, not built on old technology and old materials — an economy that is built on a vision... It’s way cooler, and we’ve proven now on a lot of levels, to wear a product that actually does something positive, that actually contributes. And it’s a very good justification for a shopping spree.” – Cyrill Gutsch, Founder and CEO of Parley for the Oceans

About The Sustainable Angle & Future Fabrics Expo

The Sustainable Angle was founded as a not-for-profit in 2010 in Switzerland with a mission to initiate and support projects which contribute to environmentally and socially positive practices in the fashion industry. We are the creators of the Future Fabrics Expo, set up in the UK, currently the largest dedicated sustainable materials showcase. The Expo represents a consolidation of our experience in materials research for the fashion industry, identifying, showcasing and communicating the positive benefits of a diverse range of globally sourced, responsibly produced, low impact textiles, materials and innovations. The Future Fabrics Expo aims to inform, promote and connect designers and brands with suppliers whose products and practices contribute to positive impacts on nature and communities, by working with safe and renewable materials, sustainably and responsibly produced.