Why is a foundation and a research institute partnering to solve an industry’s problem? How they have been successful and what does it take to form a productive partnership?

For years, the H&M Foundation (a non-profit and privately funded commitment from the founders of H&M group) has partnered with HKRITA (Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles & Apparel) on textile circularity and recycling research and development. The duo recently hit a milestone in the hydrothermal recycling of blended textiles, where for the first time, a technology that can fully separate polyester and cotton blends at scale will be made widely available to the fashion industry. Their partnership is also behind the recent launch of Looop – a garment-to-garment recycling system shown in store, that gives customers the opportunity to watch their old clothes being recycled into something new.  HKRITA will licence the technology widely to help the entire industry become more circular. Join us for this session that will reveal insights into how this partnership, and others like it, are critical to making fashion circular.