Sustainable solutions for the
textile & clothing industry

Textile Flagships for Europe

The Textile Flagships for Europe are an initiative of the European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (ETP). There are currently six active flagships. Alcon Advies is chairman of the flagship on Resource Efficiency. Alcon Advies is assisted in this role by Saxion SFM. In this Flagship, researchers and industry discus the bottlenecks preventing the growing, processing and use of EU produced fibers. This is essential for the future supply of textile materials to the European textile and clothing industry and to make more sustainable fibers available for this industry. The focus in the discussion is on bio-based materials like flax, hemp and EU-produced wool and on recycled textile materials. Presently, a strategic research agenda is drawn up in order to define research topics to solve bottle-necks and to define the needs for pilot plants to demonstrate the solutions. A summary of the Strategic Research Agenda is published on the website of the ETP.

Centre of Expertise Future Makers - Next Fashion

The Centre of Expertise (CoE) Future Makers is a professorship of ArtEZ, aiming at sustainability in fashion. Alcon Advies has joined this initiative as expert on the sustainability of textiles.
Besides, Alcon Advies is active in the network Next Fashion, coordinated by CoE. Next Fashion is part of the innovation platform for the Creative Industry. In Next Fashion a number of stakeholders are discussing the initiatives on sustainability in the clothing and fashion companies. For more information, click here
In order of Next Fashion, Alcon Advies has made an inventory on textile recycling technologies. This report can be downloaded from the website of ClickNL (only in Dutch).

Saxion Smart Functional Materials

Alcon Advies is a member of the knowledge circle of the professorship Smart Functional Materials (Professor Ger Brinks). In this research group four lines of textile research are conducted: sustainability, responsive materials, surface modification and textile and clothing technology. Alcon Advies is mainly involved in the projects related to sustainability (associate professor Gerrit Bouwhuis) and to a lesser extend in projects concerning textile and clothing technology. Membership of this knowledge circle is important due to the interaction with other researchers and research driven companies. More information with respect to this professorship can be found on the website of Saxion: the website of Saxion:.

REMO

REMO stands for "Recycle Movement". REMO connects companies which are working with and using recycled textiles. Besides connecting companies, REMO has developed a track and trace system, called REMOkey, by which recycled textile materials can be tracked and traced throughout the complete supply chain. This makes textile production much more transparent, which is unique in the textile and clothing supply chain. However transparency is essential in well organized and functioning circular chains. REMO is founded by Martin Havik, a former professional cyclist, and is supported by Joost Mourus and Alcon Advies. In the meantime, a number of European companies, covering the whole supply chain from recycled fiber production to the retail of the final product, have joined REMO. More information on REMO and its partners can be found on the REMOkey website the REMOkey website.

MVO-NL

Alcon Advies is member of the network organization for sustainable companies, MVO-NL. MVO-NL was until 2016 coordinator of the circular economy working group of the branch organizations MODINT, InRetail and VGT. Alcon Advies was an advisor to this working group. In this working group one of the main items was the identification of bottlenecks preventing textile and clothing companies to become more sustainable and how these bottlenecks could be removed. It was concluded that the availability of recycled textile materials was a key-issue. With the assistance of external consultants, the technical and economical feasibility of pilot factory for the production of yarns out of (post consumer) discarded textiles was investigated. For the time being the conclusion is that there are no serious technical limitations for such a pilot factory, but the funds for founding and starting such a facility cannot be raised in a reasonable time frame.
Besides, Alcon Advies is member of the frontrunners network Textiles of MVO-NL. One of the projects (only in Dutch) this network was involved in was the development of sustainable and functional work wear for workers in the medical care sector (More information, only in Dutch). Alcon Advies was one of the consultants for MVO-NL on a mission to the textile and clothing industry in Albania. Alcon Advies has reported on the sustainability aspects of the production of textiles and clothing in this country. More information can be found in the report of the mission.

MODINT

Alcon Advies has had many assignments of MODINt, the Dutch branch organisation for companies in the fashion, interior, carpet and textile industry. The development of the MODINT Ecotool is one the MODINT projects Alcon Advies was involved in. Due to the long-term cooperation, a special relation between MODINT and Alcon Advies has been created. Alcon Advies has become one of the advisors with respect to textiles and sustainability.
MODINT is now coordinating the working group Circular Economy, part of the voluntary agreement between the textile and clothing industry and the Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Alcon Advies, as member of this working group, will give advice to MODINT and the other participating companies on the opportunities of the use of sustainable (recycled) textile materials.