Shoptalk #2: Longing for Longevity

Will eTextiles be sustainable?
Thursday March 1st 2018, 19:00

Longing for Longevity – a sustainable practice?
We have learned our lesson by now that our mass production and consumption on electronics created heaps of e-waste that we do not really know how to deal with. Fashion and textile sector are also creating mass waste and mountains of 2nd-hand clothing items that nobody want. Now we are developing wearable technology and e-Textiles that are combination of the two. Are we simply combining the two waste problems together? Or do we have perspectives on sustainable e-Textiles practice?
One can say “This is horrible, let’s not touch wearable technology”. But considering how our society developed, just turning away from this new technology will not solve the problem. I can turn away, but that does not mean everyone will. We think that practitioners with awareness must deal with the issue early enough so that it does not follow the same path as the e-waste today.
Sustainability is a big word. It concerns many interconnected issues and that also makes it hard to grasp. Anne Prahl wrote us a nice summary of what goes into the consideration of sustainability. We propose “Longevity” approach to eTextiles sustainability. What if the life cycle of an object/ product was much longer than how it is now? What if instead of producing mass amount of product, we make less amount but use them longer?
What kind of change in material, production, society, culture are needed in order to shift the products with longevity?

We invite 4 experts to give us an insight and framework to discuss the above issues. We would like to invite all the audience, to join the discussion about the sustainability and practices of e-Textiles/ wearable technology.

Time: March 1st 2018 (Thursday March 1st 2018, 19:00), door opens 19:00-, Talk starts 19:30-
Location: KOBA, Görlitzer Strasse 72 10997 Berlin
Format: panel talk/ discussion
Invited speakers:
Frank Becker
Anne Prahl
Danijela Simonovska (http://so-use.net)
Berit Greinke (http://beritgreinke.net/)


Anne Prahl

Design for Sustainability

Anne Prahl is an independent design professional with over 20 years of experience in the sports and fashion industry and specialises in design-driven sustainable innovation, which embeds opportunities to improve resource efficiency and enable more considered consumption.
Her projects involve design research and writing, trend forecasting and analysis, creative direction and design and development of materials and products, as well as inspiring others through motivational talks and tailor-made workshops & training. Anne holds an MA in Design for Textiles Futures and a PhD in sustainable design for Wearable Technology from the University of the Arts London.
>> www.linkedin.com/in/anne-prahl-phd-2983627/
What is sustainability…


Frank Becker

Sustainable Development

Frank has been working since 2001 in the area of sustainable development in the context of regional economics, re-use strategies as well as social cooperation networks.
>> http://www.zewk.tu-berlin.de/v_menue/ueber_uns/team/becker_frank/


Danijela Simonovska

Danijela Simonovska is a fashion and apparel consultant with over a decade of experience in the fashion industry. She has worked on designing garment collections, developing new products as well as coordinating small and medium volume production orders for conventional to fair-trade market. She was the initiator and founder of a Fashion Week and a Fashion Association in her native country Macedonia, where she also took the presidency for a couple of years. She supported national and international missions and strategy programs for building up platforms for the development of the fashion industry in the Southeast Europe.
Danijela specialized in sustainable fashion in Berlin and she gained a fashion design degree both in Skopje and in Zagreb. For her Master Studies, majoring in “Sustainability in Fashion”, at ESMOD Berlin she was awarded a scholarship by the German eco-fashion leader Hessnatur and a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia. For her sustainable concepts and collections she was awarded with Traumkartell Graduate Award, the Award for Sustainable Collection Development by ESMOD Berlin and Hessnatur Award for Serial Upcycling Collection and Innovative Collection Concept and Design.

http://so-use.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/danijelasimonovska/


Berit Greinke

Berit Greinke is a researcher in the research group ‘Connected Textiles’ at Design Research Lab, Berlin University of the Arts. Her work focuses on design methods and fabrication techniques for electronic textiles, combining textile crafts with novel manufacturing technologies. Berit holds a PhD in Media & Arts Technology from Queen Mary University of London, and an MA in Design for Textile Futures from Central St. Martins College of Art & Design.

As a consortium member of the EU-funded project WEAR, she will introduce the project’s goal of developing a Sustainability Strategy Toolkit.

http://beritgreinke.net/