“London is an international fashion capital, and although the pandemic has presented real challenges to the industry, it will play a crucial role in our economic recovery. The Future Fabrics Expo has helped to showcase the use of sustainable materials in our capital for the last 10 years, and it continues to inform, promote and connect designers and brands with suppliers so they can use the power of fashion to positively impact on our world.”
– The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
The Sustainable Angle, founders of the Future Fabrics Expo, will commence their curatorial takeover of The Lab E20 from 4th -28th November 2021. The Lab E20 is a new creative hub in East Village London, designed in partnership with RÆBURN for Get Living as part of the PREVIEW series curated by Futurecity.
Coinciding with this climate critical month of November and aligning with the key messages of COP26, The Sustainable Angle’s curation of installations, workshops and panels will focus on the power of fashion and textiles to spotlight and communicate the most pressing concerns of our times.
Activities and installations will engage visitors in new narratives that illustrate, inform and exemplify the overarching themes of climate, waste and regeneration.
“Materials really matter: they represent the beginning of the design journey, embodying tactile promise, expressing the creativity and substance of new fashion products. They also account for highly significant impacts across the supply chain. We need to urgently rethink our relationship with the resources that provide our material needs, and actively engage in positive sourcing and practices that diversify our fibre basket and limit and tackle waste intelligently. The Future Fabrics Expo provides the inspiration, knowledge and solutions that look forward to a new materials landscape, and the birth of responsible and regenerative systems and models for the future of fashion.”
– Amanda Johnston, Curator and Consultant, The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo
The Sustainable Angle takeover will bring together visionary organisations (Fashion Revolution, Centre For Sustainable Fashion – UAL and Bananatex), educational resources, workshops, screenings and talks. It will also give visitors the opportunity to experience physical interaction with making, digital media and the discovery of innovations that are poised to positively change our currently wasteful and extractive relationship with the natural resources that form our material world.
“For the last 10 years, the Future Fabrics Expo is the place to find solutions for sourcing textiles that are more sustainably and responsibly produced. We facilitate and support a re-imagined fashion industry where creativity and designing for sustainability contribute positively to people and planet. As much as fashion is currently part of the problem, it must be part of the solution by following regenerative and restorative principles, a circular systems approach and sustainable design: it has the potential to be a force for positive change to help tackle the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and depletion of finite resources.”
– Nina Marenzi, Founder and Director of The Sustainable Angle and Future Fabrics Expo,
November’s programme includes:
- Panels and film screenings with innovators and climate activists (James Levelle and Loanhood) discussing regenerative design practices and climate-positive solutions
- Organisations, creatives and designers ingeniously using existing supply chains and creating new solutions to waste locally
- Interactive installations around how fashion can have a positive impact on climate, with live demonstrations showcasing circular solutions from fibre through to final product.
Link to programme: https://www.getliving.com/shop-and-eat/vendor/east-village/the-lab-e20/
WHAT’S ON AT THE LAB E20 IN NOVEMBER
– Thursday 4th November, 7.30 PM: Behind The Seams
A panel on ethical manufacturing with founders of Molini London, Veshin Factor, MAES London moderated by Katarina Rimarcikova.
– Every Saturday, 10AM – 5PM: Post Carbon Lab
Post Carbon Lab showcases research on climate anxiety and its innovative, photosynthesizing material.
– Wednesday 10th November, 7:30PM: Waste Not Want Not
A panel with LOANHOOD, Hackney Council and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion.
WHERE?
The Sustainable Angle will be in The Lab E20, 3-4 East Park Walk, every week throughout November from Thursday to Sunday, 10am – 5pm.
About the Future Fabrics Expo and The Sustainable Angle
The Sustainable Angle is a Swiss not-for-profit organisation and founders of #FutureFabricsExpo. We initiate and support projects that contribute to lowering the environmental and social impacts of industry and society, with a particular focus on sustainability in Fashion and Textiles and related industries such as food and agriculture.
The Sustainable Angle has organised the Future Fabrics Expo since 2011, and in 2018 set up a UK Ltd company to enable the logistical and organisational aspects of the Future Fabrics Expo showcase. It is partly supported by The Sustainable Angle.
The Future Fabrics VIRTUAL Expo is an online discovery and sourcing platform for sustainable textiles and materials. VIRTUAL Expo users can access thousands of featured materials that have a reduced environmental impact. Each fabric is listed with technical specifications and sustainability focused information, making it a valuable tool for both designers and buyers new to the area, as well as those with established sourcing strategies.
For more details and event timings visit The Lab E20 page. Follow the Sustainable Angle on Instagram and Twitter for the latest news and updates on detailed event timings and guest speakers.
Read more about the PREVIEW Programme at East Village, here
Find out more about Futurecity’s Cultural Placemaking Strategies, here
All images courtesy of The Sustainable Angle.