The UAL BFTT awards R&D funding innovative new UK textile recycling programme
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- Published date 25 May 2022
The UAL Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology (BFTT) SME support programme has recently awarded Research & Development funding to iinouiio – a pioneering UK textile recycling business.
The BFTT is a Creative R&D Partnership led by University of the Arts London. It is committed to developing sustainability and innovation within the entire textile industry through - supporting fashion, textiles and technology businesses to use R&D as a mechanism for growth.
Founded by Dr John Parkinson, iinouiio – which stands for “It is never over until it is over” – is a young company with a rich heritage, building on a long-standing family history of textile recycling spanning several decades. It provides a scalable service to transform manufacturing waste streams and post-consumer waste into commercially viable products.
The company will receive academic expertise and strategic business support, alongside financial assistance, to develop a circular solution which will see woollen and luxury fibres recycled into yarns and fabrics.
The programme will play a valuable role in preserving and revitalising the UK’s fabric recycling heritage – bringing new life to a technique first established in the 1800s, when ‘shoddy’ cloth was made from the fibres of shredded old clothes.
In March 2022, iinouiio became part of UK based Camira Group – a global fabric manufacturer with a far-reaching and longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainable products, and responsible processes. Together, the two companies will work alongside one another to expand their fabric repurposing capabilities, using high value post-consumer and post-industrial textile materials.
The UAL BFTT is one of 9 UK-wide R&D partnerships as part of the £80m UK Creative Industry Cluster Programme (CICP), hosted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, (AHRC) bringing together world-class research talent with SMEs, leading companies and organisations from across the UK.
The R&D funded project, which will run for 15 months, is being led by the BFTT and iinouiio appointed Project Lead Alice Timmis, a highly skilled weaver with extensive experience working with the textile supply chain, supported by Academic Mentors, Professor Veronika Kapsali, a specialist in Advanced Material Technology and Design, and Professor Kate Goldsworthy, a specialist in Circular Design & Innovation.