Aalto University has been invited to showcase its sustainable textile and fashion solutions at the European Parliament in Brussels. Aalto’s exhibition 'The Wardrobe of the Future' will be on display from 29 November to 1 December 2022 under the patronage of the European Parliament and hosted by Member of the EU Parliament Henna Virkkunen.
The solutions and concrete actions presented within the exhibition aim at ensuring that textile products placed on the EU market are long-lived and recyclable, made as much as possible of recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances and produced in respect of social rights and the environment. These issues are critical to the industry’s future and very timely, because at the moment the new EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles is being discussed by the parliament. The new EU strategy aims at tackling fast fashion, textile waste and the destruction of unsold textiles, and ensure that their production takes place in full respect of social rights.
With its expertise and creativity across fields, Aalto University hopes to contribute to the discussion and help decision-makers see the big picture and decide on the steps needed for a sustainable textiles and fashion industry.
”We need to involve all stakeholders to construct a better and more sustainable balance in the textile and fashion system”, says professor Kirsi Niinimäki from Aalto University. Niinimäki is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of sustainable fashion. She is part of the Finnish sustainable textile systems research consortium FINIX, which has formulated Aalto University’s key messages to EU decision-makers at this crucial moment.
Aalto University is also one of the first partners of the EU commission’s The New European Bauhaus initiative which imagines new ways of living. The ongoing green transition in the fashion industry can be an excellent benchmark also for other sectors in a time when all industries must learn how to enhance transformation on a systemic level.
