Masterclass presentation: Making fashion sustainable through regenerative textile manufacturing

Event details

The fashion industry is globally responsible for 10 per cent greenhouse gases and 20 per cent waste water. Global supply chains are complex, lack transparency, have poor worker conditions and the pandemic has revealed their fragility. Most UK textiles are imported and over 1m tonnes of waste goes to landfill and incineration annually.

We need a sustainable approach. We are developing cost-effective production of virgin-quality textiles from crop residues, municipal waste and textile waste. Our work values natural resources by replacing synthetic fibres and environmentally damaging natural fibres, like cotton, resulting in less waste, lower emissions and cleaner growth.

About the speaker

Simon McQueen Mason, Biomass Biorefinery Network

Simon McQueen-Mason worked in boatyards in Southern California, before returning to the UK as a fisherman and later obtaining a degree and PhD at Portsmouth and Penn State universities.

He joined York as a Royal Society Research Fellow and later he became Chair of Material Biology in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products and now leads the Biomass Biorefinery Network (BBNet). His research includes using waste biomass to produce low carbon fuels, chemicals and materials.