Circular Economy KUIDAS?/HOW? session 8: Circular Textile Industry in Estonia

In our upcoming ‘‘Circular Economy KUIDAS?/HOW?‘‘ webinar, held on March 9 at 3.00-4.30 PM (GMT +2), we will discuss the possibility of a circular textile industry in Estonia. We will listen to Finnish (Telaketju) and Estonian (TalTech) experience in research and development of circularity in textiles, and hear about circular technical textile production on the example of Paragon Sleep. 

REGISTRATION

Date: March 9, 2022
Time: 15:00-16:30 (GMT +2)
Speakers: Pirjo Heikkilä (Telaketju), Tiia Plamus (TalTech), Innar Susi (Paragon Sleep), Reet Aus (reetaus.com)
Moderator: Reet Aus
Language: English
Location: ZOOM
Participation: Free but pre-registration required
To whom: Designers and circular economy & sustainability experts, company representatives, product developers and others interested

SCHEDULE

15:00 - 15:05 Introduction - Reet Aus
15:05 - 15:25 Telaketju collaboration network and textile circular economy research in Finland - Pirjo Heikkilä, VTT
15:25 - 15:45 Circularity in the textile field, reuse and recycling of textile waste - study and research activities in Tallinn University of Technology - Tiia Plamus, TalTech
15:45 - 16:05 Paragon Sleep experience - Innar Susi
16:05 - 16:30 Discussion

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Photo: Pirjo Heikkilä

Pirjo Heikkilä is Senior Scientist and Project Manager at VTT. She owns a master’s degree in Textile and Clothing Technologies, and a doctoral degree in Materials Science. She has over 22 years’ of experience in textile research, first half of that at Tampere University of Technology and another half at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The last 7 years her research efforts have been mainly focusing on circular economy and textile recycling topics.
Pirjo will be give an overview of the Telaketju network and research activities carried out in Finland. Telaketju is both an active network of actors within textile circular value chains and a continuum of research projects aiming for a common goal - sustainable production, use and cycles of textiles.

Photo: Tiia Plamus

Tiia Plamus is a Senior Lecturer at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech). In the webinar she will touch upon the challenges and opportunities of circularity in Estonian textile and clothing sector - the current situation and proposals for moving towards the circular economy model. We will hear about the study and research activities in TalTech in the field of circularity, reuse and recycling of textile, the possible solutions for creating new materials from mechanically recycled textile waste.

Photo: Reet Aus

Reet Aus (reetaus.com) is a PhD-qualified fashion designer and environmental activist, a natural rebel who founded REET AUS COLLECTION® and THE UPSHIRT®. She is a pioneer in the field of industrial upcycling for fashion, and has developed the UPMADE® certification, in order to pass on her knowledge to brands and factories. Reet’s guiding mission in life is to save the fashion industry from itself, and to show that there is a way of ending the throwaway culture that causes so much waste and destruction around the world. Reet is reducing the environmental footprint of the industry she loves. Change is possible - it starts with you.

Photo: Innar Susi

Innar Susi is a Member of Board of Paragon Sleep, producer of home textiles, beds and developer of technical textiles. Innar has worked in the textile industry since 1990, of which 5 years in a company Mivar-Viva and starting from 1996 in Paragon Sleep. In his presentation, Innar will give an overview of Paragon Sleep’s 25-year experience of developing and producing textiles from textile waste.

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The event is organised by Estonian Design Centre in cooperation with Estonian Association for Environmental Management (EKJA).