A New Partnership between Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo x Techstyle
From 1st-8th July 2020, The Sustainable Angle will be hosting Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo LIVE, a specially curated week of online events and material resources dedicated to sustainable materials sourcing solutions.
During the LIVE week, we will be contextualising the materials showcased on our platform with informative educational content and insights from industry experts via live panel discussions, spotlighting the latest innovations around circular fashion, recycling technologies, and regenerative agriculture. Throughout the week we will discuss how fashion needs to reset itself to be a more sustainable, responsible, inclusive and diverse industry – fashion can be a vehicle for change, towards a future where those who create, manufacture, communicate and experience fashion are empowered to be change makers.
Building upon the events during LIVE week, our online discovery and sourcing platform for sustainable textiles and materials, Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo, will also be free to access during the week. The Virtual Expo recently re-launched with increased search capability and the opportunity for direct contact with international mills — users can access thousands of featured materials that have a reduced environmental impact.
In line with our recent relaunch of the Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo, we are proud to partner with TECHSTYLE for the transactional part of fabrics sourcing. Techstyle is an eCommerce platform dedicated to purchasing sustainable fabrics. Founded in 2018, the platform connects apparel brands and fabric suppliers in the most efficient, accessible and transparent marketplace online. The Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo currently showcases a select number of sustainable materials with a ‘buy’ button, indicating that these materials can be purchased directly on the Techstyle platform.
Techstyle and Future Fabrics Expo share a common vision of working towards a fashion industry that has a positive impact on nature and communities. By enabling the creation of responsible fashion product and by applying sustainable practices throughout the supply chain, the fashion industry can become a vehicle for change. “The goal of this partnership is to fuse the Future Fabrics Expo’s expertise in educating stakeholders through curated content [of sustainable materials], with Techstyle’s focus on enabling responsible decision making at the point of purchase,” says Tiffany Chen, CEO and Founder of Techstyle.
Tiffany grew up in a family that produced garments for global clothing brands for more than 30 years. Having been exposed to this industry since childhood, Tiffany saw the increasing number of problems emerge with the rise of Fast Fashion, and started to grasp the severity of environmental damages caused. Realising that the family’s business had been a beneficiary and a direct contributor to the problem was a shocking wake up call. Tiffany felt personally responsible to use the insights and relationships through her families’ network to come up with a solution, and therefore created Techstyle in late 2018.
“The fashion industry has thus far struggled to effectively address the environmental issues due to its opaque, fragmented and archaic supply-chain,” says Tiffany. “Digital services play a fundamental role in transforming this supply-chain, enabling more sustainable industry practices on three levels.”
The first level, says Tiffany, is digitalised sourcing that brings information transparency into the design and purchase processes. “By providing instant and accurate information on each fabric’s content, production process and environmental footprint through the digital channel, designers and buyers are empowered with the knowledge to make more informed and responsible decisions.”
At the second level, a digital transaction platform in the form of a marketplace effectively identifies and optimally matches demand and supply, ensuring more efficient resource allocation. “This eliminates the over-purchase of high MOQ items and improves the resell of leftover fabrics, providing the essential infrastructure for closed-loop recycling and waste minimization,” Tiffany continues.
Finally, Tiffany adds, a technology-enabled system architecture ensures more reliable tracking and management of interactions in each phase of the product life cycle. “To thoroughly assess the environmental impact and ensure sustainability standards of each fashion item requires end-to-end traceability, and this would not be possible without technologies and a digitized sourcing system.”
In a period where cost and lead-time pressure continue to hinder fashion brands from switching more quickly to sustainable practices, Techstyle believes that simplicity and ease of use are critical. “Our partnership with The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Virtual Expo creates a more complete yet streamlined sourcing experience, where initial fabric discovery and selection are seamlessly integrated with subsequent purchases that are simpler and easier via the digital medium,” says Tiffany.
Ultimately, tackling sustainability issues in this complex and inter-connected industry requires industry stakeholders to work together. The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo and Techstyle are working towards building a more inclusive ecosystem together that is conducive to greater collaboration and collection actions.
Tune in to our conversation with Tiffany Chen, “The Future of Fabric Sourcing Online”, on 1st July 2020, 3 PM BST, during Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo LIVE week. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for the latest news and updates on how to register in the upcoming weeks, along with the full list of guest speakers.
