Future Fibres Networking Grant
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Biosciences
Abstract
The vision of the Future Fibres Network+ (FFN+) is to embed environmental sciences at the heart of fashion, wider apparel, and textile sectors, in order to establish systematic, circular and sustainable principles as the norm, and build a critical mass of transdisciplinary expertise, and methodologies. A key objective is to counter the current siloed disciplinary approach that exacerbates the complexity of the environmental challenge. The FFN+ consortium is uniquely placed to address this issue, operating across established networks of expertise spanning environment+design+STEM+humanities capability across academic, industry, public and private organisations, communities and networks. We are an inclusive and supportive network that will provide the scientific evidence base critically needed to ensure a circular and sustainable future for the fashion and textiles industry in the UK.
Organisations
| Description | The project's three objectives are building an improved understanding of how environmental sciences and design can be aligned, embedding circular economy thinking across the supply chain and ensuring the legacy of the network via innovation in education and skills. More details can be found under the outputs section as to how these objectives have started to be met. Please note we are halfway through the project. |
| Exploitation Route | On the Future Fibres website (https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/) you can see evidence of 8 mini projects we have recently funded. We have collaborated with 8 separate teams including industry partners. Outcomes of these projects will be reported over the next few months. The projects will have finished at the end of September. |
| Sectors | Chemicals Education Environment Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/ |
| Description | Panel Member of Parliamentary and Scientific Committee Event on Tackling Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) in Water |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://www.rsc.org/policy-evidence-campaigns/ |
| Title | Trait responses of aquatic organisms from microfibre exposure studies published 2015-2024 |
| Description | The resource includes data extracted from published laboratory studies investigating the impacts of microfibres (fibres < 5 mm in size) on various traits within aquatic organisms. Data were accessible on 19/06/2024 and represent studies from 2015 to 2024. The dataset includes measured responses in a range of aquatic organisms after microfibre exposure. Measures correspond to the following defined traits: 1. Development - healthy molting and growth of organs and structures. 2. Fecundity - number of offspring and quality of gametes. 3. Feeding - intake handling and egestion of resources. 4. Growth - change in organism weight, length or derived measures. 5. Hatching - number, emergence time and morphology of offspring. 6. Health - indices and measures of general organism wellbeing. 7. Survival - organisms alive at a particular time point. This dataset was created to collate microfibre study findings for meta-analyses and to identify gaps within the literature. This work was supported by NERC (NE/Y003985/1) as part of the Future Fibres Network project. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/e4d566bf-b571-460e-816e-0efa1ab3335a |
| Description | CE-Hub Lunchtime Webinar: Future Fashion, Future Fibres and the Circular Economy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The CE-Hub arranges monthly lunchtime webinars covering a spectrum of subjects such as Accelerating Circularity in the Hospitality Sector or Pioneering Circularity in the UK Solar Sector. In September the focus was on future fashion, future fibres and the Circular Economy. This event was hosted by Professor Peter Hopkinson from the University of Exeter and featured Future Fibres Network Plus's Deputy Lead Professor Kate Goldsworthy from University of the Arts London, Gerrard Fisher from QSA Partners and Sophie Moggs (Policy Analyst) from the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. Gerrard looked at EPR in the clothing sector in the UK. Sophie talked about a report published in the Ellen Macarthur Policy and Institutions team entitled 'Pushing Boundaries of EPR Policy for Textiles'. Kate talked about the importance and need for a cross-sector, cross-stakeholder approach to circular design to include environmental science in this area. This is the purpose of the Future Fibres Network Plus which is part of the wider UKRI-funded Network Plus in Circular Fashion. This event enabled us to widen our influence and grow the network with a key audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/ce-hub-lunchtime-webinar-future-fashion-future-fibres-and-the-ci... |
| Description | Fibre Talks Webinar Series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project arranged monthly expert talks where an academic from one of the project's partners presented their specialism to the other future fibre partners for around 20-30 minutes. This was then followed by 40 minutes discussion and question and answer session. 1- June - Prof Kate Goldsworthy from UAL (Circularity by Design) 2-July - Prof Richard Thompson from Uni. Plymouth (Microfibres and the environment) 3-November - Dr Rosie Hornbuckle from UAL (Designing dialogue, communication, education and engagement) 4- Prof Parik Goswami from University of Huddersfield (Innovative Applications of Textile Materials in Medical Technology) Recordings are available on the website with PDF summaries underneath. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/fibre-talks/ |
| Description | Funding Call |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project ran a funding call to distribute ~£700k of funds from NERC. This funding call was announced at our event in London in May '24. After a 2-stage application process we funded 8 mini projects: Fabriotic, CollaborAcademy, Neoprene recycling, UP, (Unlocking Potential of post-consumer textiles), All cellulose composite, Coloration in flow, Bio-based sequins and Increasing textile circularity. These projects are running from December '24 to August '25. Project duration varies from 6-9 months. The impact of these will be reported next year. We funded a cross-section of collaborations with a variety of planned outcomes such as a feasibility study on neoprene recycling in the UK and pioneering a much more sustainable fabric dyeing method. 7/8 of these projects are partnerships with industry, such as Procter and Gamble and ReLondon. Videos and more details including logos etc are available under the 'Flexible Funding' section of the website here: https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/flexible-fund/ We also funded smaller community activities such as attendance at the Plastics Treaty in Korea in November '24 and attendance at the Textile Institute Parliamentary lunch in Westminster also in November '24 (blog of this event available on the website). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/flexible-fund/ |
| Description | Future Fibres Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our website launched last year and enables our growing audience to see our objectives, news, events, funding calls, join our network, blogs or subscribe to our newsletter. This is a repository for the project's outputs including publications, papers and reports. They can also see the team and partners involved and contact us or join our social media networks. Our audience has grown to 8,900 active users (source: Google analytics) in the last 12 months with 3.4k in UK, 1.9k in Netherlands, and >1000 in Finland, Ireland, USA, Austria and France. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/ |
| Description | LinkedIn article by Professor Tamara Galloway |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Tamara wrote an article for the University of Exeter which was shared on her LinkedIn account which was amplified by the Future Fibres account. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7292210228274622464 |
| Description | Monthly Future Fibres Newsletter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project writes and shares a monthly newsletter which disseminates the latest news, events, published publications and papers. This audience grows each month and is mainly UK-based, but also reaches Germany, Canada, The Netherlands and Canada. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/network-news/ |
| Description | PCT - Annual Research Meeting- University of Exeter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an event arranged by the central Programme Coordination Team hosted by University of Exeter. This was a chance for all 3 sub-networks to meet for the first time and share progress and updates with each other and the funder, NERC. There were a number of presentations, panels, networking and workshops. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7285269316378243073 |
| Description | Sandpit Meeting at the University of Huddersfield |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event was another great success with fantastic industry-academic pairings for the presentations, interspersed with productive workshops and interactive Q&A sessions. Here is a link to an event summary: https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/sandpit-meeting-at-university-of-huddersfield-post-event-summary/. There were 90+ attendees from industry and academia, such as Camira Fabrics and AJ Hainsworth & Sons. Our University of Plymouth team recorded opinions via a Menti survey pre, post and during the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/sandpit-meeting-at-university-of-huddersfield-post-event-summary... |
| Description | Social Media Accounts |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We launched a Future Fibres LinkedIn account in January '24. We have posted at least 1-2 posts per week informing our audience about news, events, interviews and updates. This audience has grown to 1200+. We have also have an instagram account with a small audience of >100 and a new account on Bluesky with a small audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/company/101825971/admin/dashboard/ |
| Description | Sustainable Fashion and Textiles Forum in Truro, Cornwall |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ruth Cherrington from the University of Exeter hosted an event with local industry and academia as a result of multiple stakeholders requesting an event in the South West of England following on from the success of the Design Museum event in May. The format involved presentations, interactive Q&A sessions, workshops to garner opinion about the industry and excellent industry and academic pairings where each interviewed the other. A paper will be published soon detailing the outcomes of the event. Here is a written summary of the event at which there were 37 attendees: https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/sustainable-fashion-and-textiles-forum-truro-post-event-reflection/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/sustainable-fashion-and-textiles-forum-truro-post-event-reflecti... |
| Description | Tamara Galloway interview with World Textile Information Network (WTiN) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The article appeared in the journal which has an international reach of ~60k readers/subscribers. This journal is read by textile and fashion experts worldwide. This means we were able to reach a wide audience with our message about our objectives and funding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/professor-tamara-galloway-interview-with-world-textile-informati... |
| Description | Townhall Meeting, Design Museum, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event was a great success. We launched our project to the public and announced our funding call. There was a mixture of presentations, interactive discussions, Q&A, networking and workshops. We had a guest speaker who was a journalist from the BBC. We had strong attendance from academia and industry (85 attendees) and lively and positive discussions. Our workshop encouraged working together in small groups to identify leakages in the system and what the impacts might be, followed by solutions. Some highlights: 57% of attendees were from academia with the remainder spanning policy makers, NGOs, Textile converters, industry network, fibre producers and clothes or textile disposal. One attendee said: "I don't go to loads of the events, but have gone to a few over the last few years. This stands out as a particularly educational and well planned event". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/future-fibres-townhall-event-22-may-2024/ |
| Description | Video Introductions to project and funding calls |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Project launch video - we interviewed Tamara, the project lead and each partner co-I on this video: https://youtu.be/X7XVxmLaPwM 2 X interviews with PIs of newly funded mini projects - 2 published so far ( 8 will soon be available) https://futurefibresnetworkplus.com/ff/increasing-textile-circularity/ and https://youtu.be/pSsmBfMOrA8 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/X7XVxmLaPwM |
| Description | Webinar: Centre for Circular Economy: Circular Spotlight: Fashion (online) (hosted by University of Exeter on 28th January) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | We worked in collaboration with another project, The Exeter Centre for Circular Economy. Prof Fiona Charnley, a co-I for our project also works on this project. There were presentations and a Q&A session from industry experts ACS (Advance Clothing Solutions) and WRAP. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7285269316378243073 |