TECHNOLOGY
CHANGES
BUSINESS
Australia and Borås in textile alliance
Getting ready in a big way for 2010
Harsh economic times breed interaction across both industrial and national borders. The Next Textile Borås initiative has brought together business, a university and a city to strengthen a development process with sky-high potential, and attracted one of the world’s largest textile nations to attend. Representatives of Australia’s textile research, development and production sectors were recently in Borås for a two-day visit to exchange experiences and discuss trends, new business opportunities and collaborative ventures. And it didn’t take long for all concerned to agree to follow up Next Textile Borås with a new initiative in 2010; itself a telling manifestation of the desire for greater cooperation between Borås and Australia.
“Australia grappled with the same problems as Borås during the textile crisis of the seventies and eighties. Now they’re here to exchange experiences and to learn. Of course, Borås and its textile industry have a lot to learn from Australia, not least on the fibre side. But it’s exciting that little Borås can show a huge industry like Australia’s how to come out a winner in the wake of major structural changes and economic blight,” said Christian Alçenius, Managing Director, FutureLab, and a founder of FutureDesignDays.
Next Textile Borås (Thursday 11 June) kicked off with a morning seminar at the Swedish School of Textiles (University of Borås). This was followed by a FutureDesignDays seminar in the afternoon and an evening get-together with intensive networking, at the nearby Pulsen conference facility. The following day, Friday, was devoted to study visits to different companies.
“We have every reason to be satisfied. This year we set up a smaller event to test the format. I don’t think anyone had expected that it would attract so many on board, or that it would have so much impact. Borås is now officially teamed up with Australia – at least in textile issues. And this has definitely established Borås’ position as the capital of textile expertise. Next year we’ll be going full out,” promised Christian Alçenius, something that Ulrik Nilsson, Chairman of Borås City Council, and Trevor Peacock, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Australian Embassy, Stockholm, fully agreed with.
Next Textile Borås was arranged by FutureLab, FutureDesignDays and the City of Borås in close association with the Australian Trade Commission, the Swedish School of Textiles (University of Borås), Smart Textiles, Semcon, Ecocotton Co, TEKO (Swedish Textile and Clothing Industries Association) and the Swedish Fashion Council.
“For those of us who started the design process FutureDesignDays, it’s very satisfying to be back where it all began. And now, with Next Textile Borås and this cooperation with the City of Borås, FutureDesignDays is entering a new exciting phase,”
said Christian Alçenius.
“All industrialisation and globalisation have their origins in textiles.”
Marcus Bergman, moderator.
“Changing our approach to design, is not about form but about behaviour.”
Pär Heyden, Senior Designer, Semcon Design.
“This meeting is an opportunity to see new opportunities. The ambition is to share our knowledge with one another – Borås and Sweden with Australia.”
Ulrik Nilsson, Chairman of Borås City Council.
“This is the start of a new era and now the arrival of new textile materials and solutions. We want to establish contacts and create new business in Borås at Next Textile 2010.”
Trevor Peacock, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Australian Embassy, Stockholm.
Programme
Thursday June 11th
AM (by invitation only)
Venue: The Swedish School of Textiles
Host: University of Borås
08.00-08.30 Registration
08.30-12.00 Seminars, exhibition
12.00-13.00 Lunch buffé
PM
Venue: Pulsen Conference, Restaurant Astern, Borås
Host: City of Borås and FutureLab/FutureDesignDays
13.00-13.30 Registration
13.30-17.30 FutureDesignDays Next Textile Seminars
17.30-18.00 Press interviews Next Textile Borås 2009-2010
18.00-19.00 Business Speed Dating (by invitation only)
17.30-21.00 Food and Mingling
Friday June 12th
AM (by invitation only)
08.30- ca 12.00 Exclusive company visits for the delegation
PM (by invitation only)
13.00-17.00 Exclusive company visits for the delegation
Speakers and moderator
Jo-Ann Kellock
Executive Director
Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA)
TFIA is the peak industry representative body of Australia’s textile, clothing, footwear and fashion industries. Membership is open to all companies engaged in the manufacture or design of textile, clothing and footwear products in Australia. The Council has three divisions – Clothing, Textile and the Australian Fashion Council.
Passion and expertise
In 1991, Jo-Ann commenced her career in the textile and clothing industry with the foundation of a fashion boutique in country NSW. Since that time she has held a range of positions in the industry – business owner, consultant, pre-production manager, fashion designer and educator. These roles have been executed with a strong focus on improving the industry and with an emphasis on innovation and enhanced design and quality standards in manufacturing processes.
Key projects
Over the years Jo-Ann’s work has embraced an interesting range of projects, some are:
- TFIA, Industrial Relations Victoria, TCF Union, initiative to retrain local outworkers
- Suitsu Pty Ltd, Digital integrated design project automating garment development
- Launch of Size Aus project and Australia wide research into clothing size standard
- International study tour 2007 of leading fashion bodies in USA, Europe, UK
Dr Olga Troynikov
RMIT University
Dr Olga Troynikov is a Senior Lecturer and Post Graduate Program Director at School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University.
RMIT is the Global University of Technology with 70,000 students, 26,000 of which are studying overseas and 4 campuses in Melbourne. Two of the RMIT campuses are located in Vietnam and there are partnership facilities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and, Wuhan.
Dr Olga Troynikov leads the School’s Performance Apparel research cluster and has had extensive industry experience in performance and sport textiles.
Her academic and research expertise covers the areas of sport and protective apparel assemblies design and engineering, comfort and performance of apparel and textiles for special applications, CAD/CAM for Fashion and Textiles. Olga is also a research supervisor for Masters and PhD students in the areas of Textile Technology and Product Engineering.
Olga has extensive industry experience in textile and apparel product design, development and engineering both for Australian and international markets.
Olga is one of the speakers at the Next Textile Borås seminar on 11 June. Topics will include:
– Textile, Clothing and Fashion in Australia – overview
– Challenges for Australian Industry
– About RMIT University, research, programs, clustres and recent research projects
Susanne Edström
Smart Textiles initiative, Borås
Smart Textiles is a new and prioritized research area in the Sjuhärad region. In Borås and Western Sweden we are coordinating and organizing a dynamic innovation system, Smart Textiles, in order to create an inclusive environment for the development of the next generation’s textile solutions. The core activities of Smart Textiles emerge from the Swedish School of Textiles located in the city of Borås. Smart Textiles is a collaboration between different parties; academic, social and industrial. Researchers and students from universities and colleges from all over the world work with different projects in collaboration with research institutes as well as with the industry in a wide range of different international and national networks. Combining the basic research with company/consumer driven research is the main theme in our work.
Andreas Friedrich and Pär Heyden
Senior Designers, Semcon Design
Semcon is a global technology development company with business at 40 sites on three continents. Semcon designs and develops products for some of the world’s most successful companies.
Andreas is one of the founders of Caran Design in 1995 och has since then played an important role in the development of the company, which today is a part of Semcon.He has worked for 6 years at Volvo Design department, with projects like the launch and the interior design of Volvo C30, but also with the XC60 and the YCC design. Andreas is also an architect, as a free-time pursuit.
Pär is former responsible for Interaction Design at Volvo Cars, with models like S40/V50/C30, ACC2, VCC and YCC, among others. Pär is now focussing on Strategic Design and the connection between brand and design. Today he is working as much outside as within the car industry.
Panel members:
Joseph Merola
CEO, International Fibre Centre (IFC)
IFC is the only organisation in Australia that provides funding for skills and knowledge development specifically for the textile and fibre industry.
IFC has a strong focus on bridging the gap between the training services currently provided and the changing needs of industry. Effective training programs, sustainable business growth, better-skilled staff and sharing more industry intelligence are key elements of the IFC’s funding mandate
The IFC Board of Directors represents the interests of various textile industry sectors and directors are appointed by the Minister for Regional and Rural Development and Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation.
With over 30 years textile industry experience, Joseph has been employed by leading organisations such as Godfrey Hirst, Pacific Dunlop, Bradmill Textiles, Huyck Australia and Classweave Industries. His experience includes processing exposure to wool, cotton, synthetics and fibre blends. Fibre to fabric manufacturing experience in the apparel, Manchester, carpet and nonwoven sectors. He has held positions in quality assurance, process and development engineering and mill management senior executive roles. Extensive experience in establishing green field sites, incorporating leading edge technology and best practice. Joseph was educated in business management and applied science.
Anna Persson
Anna Persson has a MSc in applied information technology and is a PhD-student at The Swedish School of Textiles. As an interaction designer she combines computation and textiles to explore expressional possibilities of smart textiles, especially visual and tactile changing properties.
Delia Dumitrescu
Delia Dumitrescu is an architect and has a MA in textile design. As a PhD-student at the Swedish School of Textiles, her interest is to combine the design of the textile surface together with electronics, in order to create interactive architectural environments.
Welcome speech:
Ulrik Nilsson
At present Chairman of the City Executive Borard (mayor) for City of Borås.
He represents the Moderate party in Sweden. He has a background from regional politics and as an engineer working with transportation, logistics and quality.
Moderator:
Marcus Bergman
Marcus Bergman is a researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, and a lecturer at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås. His research deals with reform in the textile industry. By implementing artistic and poetic qualities into the field of design critique, Bergman seeks new ways of approaching textile objects. In this, ethical qualities can be dealt with in a more sophisticated manner; something that the textile industry is in direct need of.
