Michiel Scheffer (Manchester 1964) is born in a textile family (coating) but did a masters in geography. His PhD focused on technological change and globalisation in the clothing industry. He worked for Modint (the NL industry association) in the 1990s on international affairs. In 2000 he established a consulting firms, focused on technical textiles. Between 2004 and 2015 he was professor in textile economics at saxion.

Being elected for his regional parliament in 2015, he was Regional Minister for Economics, Education and Europe in Gelderland till 2019. In 2020 he started as Program manager sustainable textiles at Wageningen University and Research.

Pascal Denizart, who joined the European Center for Innovative Textiles (CETI) in June 2014, has over 30 years of expertise in the textile, apparel industries and retail (covering all the technical processes: spinning, nonwoven, knitting, woven, dyeing, sewing).

With his textile engineer background, he has previously worked for the French Institute of textile and apparel (IFTH), where he was the head of marketing and business development, setting up added value corporate solutions and accelerating innovation in the field of advanced textiles. He also entered the AGILE (ORACLE) marketing corporate team and spent four years with LECTRA in managing PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) corporate Business, acquiring strong competences in the digital area.

Pascal Denizart was also an Associate Professor at the University of Strasbourg, specialist of eco and business design.

Career

Torsten Wintergerste (born 1965, Switzerland) was announced as Division President Chemtech and member of the Executive Committee in 2016. He has been Head of Chemtech’s business unit Separation Technology for Europe, Middle East, India, Russia, and Africa since 2012. He joined Sulzer in 1998, first within the research and development unit Sulzer Innotec, where he became Head of the groupwide center of excellence for fluid technology. From 2006 to 2012, he worked in various managing positions within Sulzer’s division Chemtech, amongst others Director Polymer Technology as well as Manager Technology and Business Development of the Sulzer Mixpac business unit. Before joining Sulzer, he was a research associate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich in Switzerland (1994–1998) and at the National Aeronautics and Space Research Center in Germany (1992–1994).

Educational background

• Master of Business Administration (Executive MBA), University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
• Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
• Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Janet holds 20+ years’ experience in sustainability & textile supply chains. With an academic background in environmental science, she started her career in consultancy before working in numerous roles with global NGO Solidaridad. As the International Program Manager, Sustainable Cotton & Textiles at Solidaridad Network, Janet was responsible for high-level projects in the supply chain, as well as developing initiatives promoting sustainable market development and direct partnerships with brands & retailers. The role included strategy setting, stakeholder engagement and grant management.

In 2015, Janet took the challenge to set up and lead the Convergence Project, which in 2019 became an implementation-oriented Program: The Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP). SLCP is a multi-stakeholder initiative, which aims to implement a Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) that supports stakeholders’ efforts to improve working conditions in global supply chains. Since early 2019, she has been appointed as Executive Director and is leading SLCP’s scaled operation and is responsible for setting the strategic direction.

Under her leadership the Program has in 3 years grown to an organization supported by 250+ signatories including top 10 of the global apparel industry. The organization is now financially self-sustaining. Janet has also served on several boards and councils. This included Council member of the Better Cotton Initiative and co-founder of ‘Chetna Organic’. Janet is passionate about apparel and understands the supply chain complexity and the diversity of people associated with it. She is committed to working in the field of sustainable supply chains. Janet gives guest lectures on the subject and is regularly being asked as advisor for (sustainable) fashion shows.

Veronique Rochet has over 20 years international sustainability experience in the industry for apparel, footwear and accessories, driving long & short term sustainability strategy aligned with business priorities, key stakeholders expectations, as well as product and country specificities. Today, Veronique is PUMA Senior Head of Sustainability. With her team, she has set up an implementation strategy for PUMA 10FOR25 with adapted and prioritized programs covering social, environmental and chemicals, keeping in mind key stakeholders’ and business priorities.

Nesrin has graduated from İstanbul Technical University (ITU) chemical engineering and has a master’s degree at environmental sciences from Boğaziçi University, Türkiye. She has 18 years of work experience and also is an A Class Occupational Health and Safety Expert.

Worked as a Production Manager and Quality Assurance Manager for several years. As the Head of Corporate Sustainability at SLN Tekstil ve Moda, Nesrin Başer is leading the corporate sustainability team together with supply chain sustainability for approximately 5 years.

Management Systems, Fight Against Corruption, Occupational Health & Safety, Gender Equality, Code of Conduct, Product Sustainability, Environmental Management, Chemical Management, Climate Action, Carbon Footprint Reporting, LCA, Renewable Energy Certification, Certification and Traceability, Sustainability Reporting, Sustainability Bulletins and Sustainability Assessments are under her responsibility at SLN.

Coordinated a number of capacity building projects with collaborations of NGOs, Universities, Experts and Brands regarding; Enhancing the Dialogue between Management and Employees, Women Empowerment and Employee Satisfaction at SLN and supply chain.

She is also the member of; Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association (TGSD) Sustainability Working Group.

• Vice President of China Textile Information Center
• Director of The Office for Social Responsibility of CNTAC

After graduating from Tianjin University, Ms. Yan Yan joined Textile Information Institute (the predecessor of China Textile Information Center). As the deputy director of the China Textile Information Center and the director of the Office for Social Responsibility of China National Textile & Apparel Council (CNTAC), she is in charge of the social responsibility promotion and construction and trading promotion.

With her leadership, the CSC9000T (the first Chinese corporate social responsibility management system at an industrial level) has been greatly promoted in the industry and among stakeholders. She adheres to the innovation orientation, leads the team to explore the responsibility value added solutions suitable for local conditions and industry feature, and strongly promotes sustainability of the supply chain.

President Bremen Cotton Exchange
Managing Director Otto Stadtlander GmbH

Stephanie Silber has started her career around 20 years ago as a commercial trainee for one of Bremen's largest and oldest cotton merchants, today she is managing the business of Otto Stadtlander GmbH together with her colleague Henning Hammer. Stephanie Silber graduated from the American Cotton Shippers Association's International Cotton Institute with excellent marks.

She is a member of the Finance Committee of the Bremen Cotton Exchange. Her leadership skills have brought her into the management team of the Bremen Cotton Exchange: Stephanie Silber has joined the Board of the Bremen Cotton Exchange in 2018 and is the first woman elected president in the 150-year history of the association.

As an experienced CFO in the cotton trade, she has an insight into the basis of the very first stage of the supply chain: raw material trading. She is an expert in the field of cotton financing and has a good and up-to-date insight into the price and market situation in different countries.

Marc Lewkowitz was named the President & C.E.O. of Supima in 2016 after previously holding the Executive Vice President position since joining the organization in January 2003. Mr. Lewkowitz began his career in the global cotton industry in 1990 through a family-owned gin in Paraguay and has worked as a trader and manager for firms including ContiCotton, Merrill Lynch, Itochu Cotton and Anderson Clayton/Queensland Cotton. The business has taken him from posts in Paraguay to Australia, Mexico and the United States.

Supima is the non-profit promotional and marketing organization for the American Pima cotton growers. Supima manages the global use of the SUPIMA® trademark and works with nearly 600 licensees in more than 50 countries globally. Supima’s headquarters are in Tempe, AZ, but also has offices in New York and Fresno, California.

Mr. Lewkowitz is a native of Toronto, Canada, and a graduate of both the University of Western Ontario and the Memphis Cotton Exchange International Cotton School.

He also currently serves as Council Chair for the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), as an advisor to both the Executive Committee and the Board for Cotton Council International (CCI), and as an advisor to the Board for the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol.

Marcelo Duarte Monteiro is an executive who is specialized in Agribusiness. He has extensive knowledge of all the main stages of agricultural production chains, from foreign trade, financing to production, logistics, marketing and ESG.

Since 2020, Marcelo has been living in Singapore where he holds the position of CEO for the Asia-Brazil Agro Alliance (ABAA). He is also the Director of International Relations for Abrapa (the Brazilian Cotton Growers Association).

In Asia, he heads the Cotton Brazil project which is a partnership between cotton growers (via Abrapa), exporting merchants and Apex Brazil. The project's goal is to boost Brazilian exports to the region. Currently, Brazil exports US$ 3 billion of cotton to the Asian market.

Marcelo holds a Master's degree in Agricultural Commerce (MCom Ag) from the Lincoln University (New Zealand), an MBA from the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and is graduated in Business Administration. He has completed an Agribusiness course at Harvard University and was also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has been a board member of an agribusiness think tank connected to the university since 2012.

Father of Clara and Henrique, Marcelo is married and loves to practice sports. He is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish. As well as his experience in the private sector, he held the position of State Secretary for Infrastructure and Logistics (2015-2018), when he was also elected Chairman of the Board of National Transport Secretaries.

Dr Alexei Sinitsa joined Wood Mackenzie in 2018, following more than 20 years experience in the chemicals industry. His industrial career began with Rhône-Poulenc/Rhodia, spanning technical, commercial, executive and consulting roles in the nylon chain, including intermediates, polymers, fibres and downstream applications.

Alexei now leads the European fibres contribution to the Wood Mackenzie monthly Global Fibres Report covering nylon, polyester and other synthetic fibre businesses. He has significant experience across a range of international markets, focusing on West, Central and Eastern European markets in particular.

He graduated in Organic Chemistry with honours from Kiev University, and did his doctoral research with the Institute of Organic Chemistry, NAS Ukraine.

Mr. Edmund ("Eddie") Ingle serves as Chief Executive Officer of Unifi and is a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Ingle has more than 30 years of experience with Unifi, having progressively held senior roles from 1986 to 2018. Before returning to the company in 2021, he served as chief executive officer for Wellman International and Indorama Ventures Global Recycling Business.

Mr. Ingle received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Dublin Institute of Technology. He began his career at Unifi's operations in Letterkenny, Ireland, in 1986 and moved to Winston-Salem in 1991 to work for Unifi in the U.S. Throughout the years, he has held numerous leadership positions, including Vice President of Supply Chain and Global Corporate Sustainability Officer. He has a steadfast belief in Unifi, its people, and its products, with a goal of fulfilling the Company’s mission of being the world's most sought-after performance and sustainability textile partner.

Güven Kaya has over 25 years experience in Polyester Polymer, Co-Polymer and Staple fiber production at SASA Polyester A.Ş.

He worked in different departments; quality control, R&D, Staple fiber Operations, Polymer production, Technical service. He is head of Petrochemical investments for the last 5 years.

Carlo Centonze studied Biology and Forest Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich where he graduated in 2003. Shortly after that, he earned his Executive MBA at the University of St.Gallen in 2007. After his service as an army pilot, he started his professional career as co-founder of the carbon certificate pioneer NGO Myclimate where he took the role of Head of Sales & Marketing between 2002 and 2003. After that first contact with environmental and sustainable organizations, he went on to co-found the material innovation leader HeiQ along with Dr Murray Height, an MIT graduate. Carlo has served HeiQ as CEO since 2004, developing the firm from a two-employee company to a 250-employee company as of today.

Alongside his role as HeiQ’s CEO, Carlo Centonze is also proactive with similar projects. He became board of Director of C8 Investments Ltd. for 3 years between 2012 and 2015, and since 2019, he plays an active role as Member of the Board of Directors of Scienceindustries, the Swiss association for the chemical, pharmaceutical and life science Industry as well as Chairman of The Board of the 108 year old ECSA Emanuele Centonze SA, the largest Swiss owned company specialized in the distribution of chemicals.

Sebastian Ihling is a textile entrepreneur from Southwest Germany. After his graduation from Reutlingen University in 2010 as a Bachelor of Engineering, he started as a Junior Buyer at Miles Fashion, Hamburg/Germany a member of the Hong-Kong based Li & Fung Group.

He then lived and worked in Dhaka/Bangladesh, mainland China and Hong Kong, where he was looking after Buying/Supply Chain Management for one of Li & Fung’s major European customers as General Manager. Having gained vast experience in global sourcing he joined his families’ business APELT™ a SME for home textiles, located in Germany and Poland. As head of Sales and Business Development he is in charge of an agile and innovative team in B2B as well as B2C products and markets.

Developing a family owned business in a global market environment dominated by import driven vertical corporations remains challenging.

After graduating from the University of Bolton UK with BSC Hons. Textile Manufacturing & Marketing, Calvin worked in the textile manufacturing sector in Zimbabwe. Calvin came to Sweden in 1997 to join the automotive interior industry where for over a decade he worked with a variety of mixed materials including automotive upholstery. Calvin previously held the position of Purchasing Manager at Johnson Controls Automotive Sweden before joining IKEA in 2010 as the Category Leader for Textiles products. After spending 4 years in IKEA Purchasing office India, he moved in 2018 to Istanbul, Türkiye with his wife and 3 children where he lives and works today on a global assignment as the Supplier Development Manager for the Textile Furnishing Category Area within IKEA purchasing.

IKEA history crosses over six decades and shows how IKEA went from the woods of southern Sweden to being a major retail experience in 40 countries/territories around the world. At IKEA we are guided by our vision: “creating a better everyday life for the many people”. The IKEA business idea is to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. From the beginning, IKEA has taken a different path, we have decided to side with the many. That means responding to the home furnishing needs of people around the world: people with many different needs, tastes, dreams, aspirations, and wallet sizes; people who want to improve their homes and their everyday lives.

Purchasing within IKEA has always been an important contributor to realising our vision and business idea. We are constantly taking steps in how we work and grow together with our suppliers, with a common goal to optimise our value chain, resulting in better products at lower costs and at the same time create a positive impact for both people and the environment.

We have purchasing teams located around the world and we work with suppliers in more than 50 countries. The purchasing teams finds new suppliers and evaluate and develop existing ones. Together, we ensure optimal production conditions, capacity, product quality and availability. We also actively support suppliers in their work to improve working conditions and minimize negative environmental impact.

The IKEA Category Area Textile Furnishing is constantly working to implement innovative solutions in materials and techniques and to improve our supply chain, one such example of this is our conscious sourcing of sustainable cotton. After a decade of diligent work, IKEA has succeeded in implementing 100% Cotton from More Sustainable Sources in our entire supply chain, including full traceability from customer to farm level.

Career

• 1988 – today: Start in the family group of CWC Textil AG
  Today owner, CEO and President of CWC Textil AG and Swisstulle AG with 4 factories in Switzerland, England and China. Group foundation 1871.

Education

• 1987 – today: Master of business administration from University Sankt Gallen – lic. oec. HSG

Special

• 1999 – 2011: President of SVT – Members of the Swiss Textile Industry with 1200 members
• 2014 – today: Board member of the Swiss Textile School STF, Zurich
• 2017 – today: Board member of Rieter Holding AG (RHAG), Winterthur
• 2017 – today: President of the Swiss Textile Association
• 2021 – today: economiesuisse – executive board member

Education

E. Maurer hold a master’s degree in structural engineering from the Technical University of Zurich (ETHZ), and a master’s degree in economy from the University of Lausanne, both in Switzerland. He started his professional career in the energy sector before he switched to the interesting field of textiles.

Career

After two decades in weaving, textile electronics and technical textiles, he spent his last decade as CEO of SSM AG (winding technology) in Switzerland. He served on several Boards as Member or Chairman in Europe and Asia. In the last 6 years he is President of the Swiss Textile Machinery association and also Chairman of the European Textile Machinery Association CEMATEX.

Among his many mandates, he is very dedicated to higher education, and as that he is Chairman of one of the major Institutes of higher education in Technology and Management in Switzerland.

Other activities

As president of an Aviation Museum, he spends some free time in the restauration of historic airplanes and regularly pilots himself in aerobatic maneuvers.

Sun Ruizhe, started his career in 1985. He first graduated from university with a bachelor degree of engineering and later received an EMBA degree. He is now a professor-level senior engineer and an expert enjoying special subsidy rewarded by the government.

Mr. Sun is the president of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), vice chairman of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), chairman of the Responsible Supply Chain Association (RSCA), CNTAC, and also Director of China Textile & Garment Brand Strategy Promotion Committee.

Philosopher, Futurist, Retail & Consumer Analyst, Global and Local Speaker, Executive Advisor

Dr. David Bosshart is Founder of Bosshart & Partners, an international network of "pragmatic visionaries", International Advisory Board Member in Retail, Hospitality, and Academy, and President of the Duttweiler Foundation. CEO of the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute for Economic and Social Studies in Rüschlikon/Zurich for 22 years.

Keynote speaker at over 2250 conventions, forums, summits in over 40 nations with around 380'000 participants (Europe, The Americas, Asia, Africa). Author and Co-Author of over 50 books & studies and more than 400 specialist articles, translation into 10 languages.

Featured in the following media (selection):

Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Time Magazine, Business Week, Manager Magazin, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Der Spiegel, Focus, Stern, Playboy, Der Standard, Greenpeace Magazin, Hürriyet, Het Financieele Dagblad, Le Temps, CNN, BBC, ZDF, ORF, SRG, RAI 1.

Education

• Industrial Engineer, Technical Uversity of Darmstadt, Germany
• PhD in Economics, Technical Unversity of Munich, Germany

Professional background

• Since 2016: Rieter Management AG, Winterthur, Switzerland
  Chief Executive Officer and member of the Group Executive
  Committee of the Rieter Holding Ltd., Winterthur, Switzerland
• 2014 - 2016: Rieter Management AG, Winterthur, Switzerland
  Chief Executive Officer and member of the Group Executive
  Committee of the Rieter Holding Ltd., Winterthur, Switzerland
  Head Business Group Machines & Systems
• 2011 - 2013: Voith Turbo GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Heidenheim, Germany
  Member of the Board of Management
• 2005 - 2010: Voith Industria Services Holding GmbH, Heidenheim, Germany
  Member of the Board of Management
• 2000 - 2005: Dürr AG, Stuttgart, Germany
  Member of the Executive Board
• 1993 - 2000: Arthur D. Little, Munich, Germany
  Partner
• 1989 - 1993: Unversity of Passau and Technical Unversity Munich
  Teaching and Research Assistant

Other activities and interests

• Member of the council at Swissmem, Zurich

The 44-year-old Swiss holds a Master of Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) and worked for the last 17 years in different positions in the textile industry. Always orientated in production and supply chain from sourcing raw material, dyeing fiber and yarn, spinning to weaving (fabrics, velvets, carpets), finishing, back coating and cut & sew, he has a large experience.

Since 2013 he is responsible for the operations of Lantal Textiles AG, a Swiss based SME with sites in Switzerland, USA, Portugal, England and Czech Republic. Founded in 1886, the company has specialized for more than 60 years in development, design, production, certification and sales of interiors for aircrafts, buses, trains and trams.

Mr. Christen focus is in leadership, flexibilization of the production and innovation. He believes strongly, Switzerland should not “just” be a place of thinking and developing, but also of manufacturing, because these activities benefit one from the other and to allow all people to make use of their given talents. Although the textile industry is a very well-developed industry with a very long history, he believes that in the future applications for technical textiles and functional clothing could offer the “raison d'être” of an innovative textile industry - even in countries with higher labor costs. That within this industry, a huge challenge but also potential lies within getting far more sustainable, seems to him as clear as the fact, that this can also be an opportunity for companies to stand out.

The engineer financed his studies among other activities as a journalist and as a trainer and organizer in the Artillery Officer’s School. He is cofounder and non-executive partner of the architecture and scenography company, which represented Switzerland at the world exhibition 2015 in Milan. He was and is member of different boards of directors in Switzerland and abroad, one of those the 2021 founded Switzerland Innovation Park East. He teaches 2 modules of the MBA Technology & Innovation at the University of Liechtenstein and engages himself in the Board of the ETH Zürich Alumni Chapter Baden.

Renato Luck is the Chief Executive Officer of the Sefar Group. After holding various senior management positions for Robert Bürkle and the Swiss technology companies Oerlikon, Unaxis and Ems-Chemie, he was most recently CEO of the Grenzebach Group, a global company in the field of plant engineering and automation technology headquartered in Germany. Renato Luck is a global business leader with ten years of CEO experience. He has an outstanding track record in leading international companies and more than two decades of expertise across various industries and sectors. Renato Luck is Swiss and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical / Process Engineering and an Executive MBE.

Leading in technical fabrics for around 190 years, the Sefar Group has been setting standards worldwide as a problem solver with an absolute customer focus. Sefar produces precision fabrics, filter components, ready-made products for filtration and separation, high-precision screen printing fabrics as well as innovative, functional fabrics for a wide variety of applications.

Dirk joined EURATEX as a Director General in September 2019, representing the interests of 160,000 European companies in the textiles and clothing industry towards the European Union. His mandate is to move the organisation forward and to promote a competitive, sustainable and innovative European Textiles and Clothing industry. Prior to EURATEX, Dirk worked for EUROCHAMBRES, the European Chamber of Commerce lobby, as a Director of Operations and previously Director of International Trade. Dirk has an economic background and holds a Masters degree from the College of Europe, Bruges.

Micheline Maia Teixeira is a textile engineer graduated in 1995, São Paulo, Brazil. She has an MBA - Business Management, Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma and in 2021 she was recognized as one of the Innovative Women in Brazil by FINEP (government agency for research and innovation). Master’s Degree in progress with focus on research in textile traceability.

She worked in several textile industries and the subject of traceability always interested her in order to collaborate against the injustices that still exist in the textile segment, such as work analogous to slavery, precarious production conditions and inappropriate waste disposal in the environment. And in the same way, collaborating with companies that have a formal and ethical transformation policies, to ensure their products from counterfeits, mitigating the underground market.

R-Inove was founded in 2019 as a startup, which has a traceability solution through a coding on the textile yarn that carries all product and process information to the landfill.

Chun-Pu Chao (Victor) is the CEO of Frontier.cool, an AI and machine learning-based SaaS platform — founded in 2020 — that bridges the communication and collaboration gap between brands and their suppliers while revolutionizing the fashion and textile industries by providing a scalable material digitization solution.

Mr. Chao is a Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics graduate of the University of Rochester with over 15 years of experience in the apparel and textile industries, specializing in high-level business strategy and innovative technology creation.

In 2007, prior to the inception of Frontier.cool, Mr. Chao founded Esmetex, a global leader in fabric production and sourcing, providing fabric procurement services to large retailers and garment manufacturers in the United States, Hong Kong, and Europe. Since 2013, Esmetex has been committed to the transparency and informatization of information on the production side of traditional industries.

In 2022, Mr. Chao and the Frontier.cool team revealed the world's first Fabric Meta Chip at the world-renowned CES annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association.

The Fabric Meta Chip is a "dream team" collaboration between Frontier.cool and of the world's leading single-chip experts. The Fabric Meta Chip utilizes Xilinx FPGAs with ARM processor architecture and was developed to convert physical fabric into digital material, allowing virtual apparel to be designed directly from real-world textile fabrics — expanding the benefits of virtual fashion and powering up the textile supply chain.

Mr. Chao has numerous papers published in the field of textile artificial intelligence, including "Textile Normal Map Generation from a Single Color Image for 3D Rendering" and a pending patent that covers textile scanning processes.

Mr. Chao is also the Executive Director of AADT (Advancement Association for Digital Textile). In addition, he regularly hosts global webinars and events to build up the ecosystem, educate, and bring the entire value chain together.

• Designer – Co-founder and COO of ColorDigital GmbH

Co-Founder and C.E.O. of DESIGNOVEL, Korea.

Ki-Young Shin is an entrepreneur, computer scientist, and CEO of Designovel (a fashion technology company based on AI algorithms). He majored in Business at Hanyang University and began his career as a marketer at Samsung Mobile. He entered Ph.D at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) to build his career as a computer scientist in belief that the essential skill of future marketing will be based on AI technology. He also has work experience as a data analytics consultant at IBM GBS and has gained deep understanding of how AI works in real industries.

His unique ability to “connect” various fields and idea has been recognized and resulted in several prizes and honors, including Presidential Award of K-Startup Challenge 2019, Minister’s award of 2016 Creative Talent Assessment. His company Designovel, has supported or collaborating with global tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia, is now collaborating with leading fashion brands and has received $ 4.5 million investments since 2017.

Stefan Seidel has been Head of Corporate Sustainability at PUMA since 2015 and is responsible for all environmental and social issues in the sustainability area of the Herzogenaurach-based company at corporate level. His previous positions at PUMA include Global Team Head Environmental Affairs and Sustainability Team Lead EMEA. He stated his career as compliance auditor for social and environmental affairs.

Stefan represents PUMA in industry-wide initiatives, such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the Fashion Industry Charter on Climate Action or the Zero Discharge for Hazardous Chemicals Foundation.

Seidel holds a Master's degree in Environmental Management from Oxford Brookes University and an environmental engineering degree from Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences.

Sustainability Milestones

• First PUMA Sustainability Report 2003
• Environmental Profit & Loss Account 2011
• Co-Founder of ZDHC 2011
• Cradle to Cradle certified InCycle collection 2013
• Co-Author ZDHC Wastewater Quality Guideline 2016
• Co-Founder of Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action 2018
• Garment to Garment Recycling Initiative RE:JERSEY 2022

Thomas Gries, born in Cologne, Germany, in 1964, studied at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He holds a diploma degree in mechanical engineering and economics and a doctorate in mechanical engineering.

From 1995 to 2001, he worked at Lurgi Zimmer AG, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, at the Department of Technologies for Fibres & Textiles in leading positions.

From April 2001 onwards, he is Director of the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University. The honoris causa Professorship of Lomonossow University is the most distinguished scientific award of Russia given for his achievement of tailored reinforcements.

The ITA was established in 1934 and is one of the world’s leading research establishments. Its fields of research consist in man-made fibre technology, staple fibre processing, fabric production, technical textiles & composites, medical textiles & biomaterials as well as in smart textiles & joining technologies. With a budget of 15 million € and a staff consisting of 110 scientists, 65 technicians and administration staff and more than 200 graduate researchers ITA is leading in the digitalization of the textile sector as well as textile bio-economy.

Thomas Gries presently is

• Member of National Academy of Technological Science and Engineering acatech
• Member of the working group “Industrial Artificial Intelligence” of the National Platform Industrie4.0
• Member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Science
• Member of the scientific advisory committee of the “Zukunftsinitiative Textile NRW (ZiTex)” and other instituutions
• Evaluator DFG (German Research Foundation) as well as of other national and international project funding organisations
• Member of editorial board of several highly ranked scientific journals and conferences

Jan Hill can look back at over 20 years of experience bringing innovations from research to commercial scale. Since joining adidas in 1999, Jan Hill has held positions across product and process innovation. In 2020, Jan Hill was appointed Senior Director Technology Creation within the adidas innovation team. In this role Jan is responsible for leading technology innovation programs that fuel the future of the adidas brand. Within the publicly funded research program BioTexFuture, he is steering the strategy in close collaboration with academic partners from RWTH Aachen. Jan Hill holds a degree in mechanical engineering.

Jan Hill is part of the adidas innovation team; a cross functional research and development team of Designers, Engineers and Sports Scientists, that creates cutting-edge technologies and concepts for footwear, apparel and hard goods. The team collaborates with the world’s best academic and industrial partners to help bring consumer centric innovation to life in the fields of product, process, and business model innovation.

Mauro Scalia is Director of Sustainable Businesses in EURATEX, the European Confederation of Textile and Apparel industry, in Brussels. He is responsible for all the Confederation activities promoting sustainability, notably on: chemicals, circularity/ resource efficiency, climate change, due diligence. Engaged in the broader EURATEX mission, he coordinates with the Member associations across the value chain to work with the EU and other international Institutions.

Graduated cum laude in Political Sciences with specialization in Politics and Economics at the University of Catania, Italy, he joined EURATEX in 2004 after professional experiences in business consulting, industrial research and in the European Commission. Italian mother tongue, he also speaks English, French and German.

Marion Frey is R&D Manager and Automotive Project Engineer at Bcomp, leading developments in textiles and thermoplastic natural fibre composites. She obtained her Masters in Materials Science at ETH Zürich in 2015 and was working for the company Brugg Cables as R&D engineer, developing high-strength steel and carbon fibre reinforced cables. In 2017, Marion Frey decided to gain more knowledge in natural fibre based materials and started a PhD at the Institute for Building Materials/Wood Materials Science at ETH Zürich in the research group of Prof. Ingo Burgert. She finished her PhD Thesis on “Delignified and Densified Wood – A Versatile Concept for New High-Performance Wood-Based Materials” in 2020.

Operations Director at Seaqual Initiative

Mark has over 20 years of experience in product development and business development within the textile sector and combines a deep understanding of product, innovation and sustainability with vision and strategy. After several years working in the automotive textile sector Mark focused on differentiated synthetic fibers, working for companies including Milliken & Co, DOW Chemical and Nylstar. As OPERATIONS DIRECTOR at SEAQUAL INITIATIVE Mark oversees both the ‘upstream’ ocean-cleaning and recycling activities as well as the ‘downstream’ community of over 1,600 brands and manufacturers that are licensed to use SEAQUAL® YARN. Mark loves the ocean and enjoys, snorkelling, paddle-boarding, sailing, diving, and surfing. He has travelled to over 50 countries, is currently based in the Algarve in Portugal, and has also lived in the UK, USA, New Zealand, and Spain.

Abstract

SEAQUAL INITIATIVE - TOGETHER FOR A CLEAN OCEAN

SEAQUAL INITIATIVE works with NGOs, coastal communities, fishermen and local authorities to help clean our oceans. Marine litter recovered from our oceans, beaches and rivers is transformed into SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC, a fully traceable sustainable raw material. SEAQUAL® YARN was the first commercially available product made with SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC. Today over 1,600 brands and manufacturers in over 50 countries have joined SEAQUAL INITIATIVE and are inspiring consumers with an amazing range of environmentally conscious products made with SEAQUAL® YARN. The SEAQUAL INITIATIVE community has the power to effect real change by raising awareness of plastic pollution, supporting ocean cleaning programs and bringing value to the waste they collect. “TOGETHER FOR A CLEAN OCEAN”.

Shawn Lim is a Chinese born Malaysian and a mechanical engineer masters graduate from the RWTH Aachen. He is currently leading the R&D department at FibreCoat GmbH, focusing on the development of in-line coating processes of glass/basalt fibres with either metals or thermoplastic. Prior to the establishment of FibreCoat, he was working closely with the co-founders as a student on the development of the core coating technology and is partially responsible for the success of the industrialization of Alucoat. He was officially hired by Fibrecoat in February 2021 as the first employee of the startup.

• PhD in Chemical and Bioengineering at ETH Zurich
• Co-Founder and CEO of dimpora AG

Fernando Nunes is CEO co-founder of Farbenpunkt Inc, along with Etienne Steveninck (inventor of the Peracto System). Mr. Nunes brings over thirty years of Textile Manufacturing and Management experience in the United States, Asia, and Mexico. His direct knowledge of the issues the shop floor encounters on a daily basis, resulted in the Peracto System being designed with a practical approach to shop floor implementation.

Farbenpunkt’s Peracto Technology brings Process Simplification, Water, Energy, and Carbon Savings to the changing Textile Manufacturing Sector. An Industrial Engineer from the University of Rhode Island, Mr. Nunes speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Martin started his innovation journey at the royal school of technology in Stockholm and has since then worked with mechanical engineering and material development for both IKEA and H&M.

After building up and heading the engineering department within global expansion he joined the H&M group global sustainability department 2019 to build up the Circular Innovation Lab.

Petri Alava is a passionate business developer and strategist with more than 15 years of CEO experience in both the B2B and B2C environments. He has held board positions in several companies from well-established corporations to innovative startups. Petri is an expert in waste management and was pioneering circular initiatives before the concept was widely understood.

He founded Infinited Fiber Company together with research professor Ali Harlin in 2016 to commercialize a breakthrough technology that enables cellulose-rich waste streams – including discarded textiles, used cardboard, and even wheat and rice straw – to be regenerated into Infinna™, a premium-quality textile fiber with the natural look and feel of cotton.

Mr. Furrer joined Archroma in February 2018 as President Brand & Performance Textile Specialties (BPT), New Markets and Innovation. He shortly afterwards took over the other two business units of the company: Packaging & Paper Specialties (PP), and Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants (CAS). He is Chief Operating Officer since November 2020.

He started his career with Clariant in Switzerland as Product Manager Sulfur Dyes in 1997. He then grew in the organization as Head of Continuous Dyeing Cellulosic (1999 to 2001); Head of BU Textile Dyes and Textile Chemicals in México (2001 to 2005); Global Head for the Product Group Cellulosic Dyes (2005 to 2007), Head of BU Textile Chemicals Latin America (2007 to 2009); Head of BU Textile Chemicals Americas (2009 to 2012); Head of Emulsions (January 2012 to June 2012); and Head of Marketing and Sales Plastic and Special Applications, BU Pigments (January 2013 to 2015). His latest role as Head of RBL Europe BU Pigments, Strategic Plastics, brought him back to Switzerland in January 2015, with the mission to implement the new BU Pigments regional structure in Europe.

A Chemical Engineer from the Ingenieurschule Beider Basel, Mr. Furrer speaks English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

TENDAM Global Fashion Retail, Corporate General Manager

Mr. Sierra is member of the Board of Directors in different Group affiliated and participated companies and foreign subsidiaries. As head of the Corporate Area, he holds direct responsibilities in CSR, Institutional and Corporate Affairs, Communication and Corporate special projects.

TENDAM (formerly Grupo Cortefiel) was founded in Madrid in 1880. Today is one of the main European Apparel Specialty Retailers already present in more than 80 different countries either through direct operations, mainly in Europe, or through franchises all over the world with 1,900 points of sale and on line shops. Main brands of the Group are Women´secret, Springfield, Cortefiel, Pedro del Hierro, Hoss Intropía, Slowlove, High Spirits, Dash and Stars or Fifty. From 2003 to 2005 he was member of the Board of Directors of Douglas Spain and Perfumaria Douglas Portugal joint ventured at time by the Douglas Group and Grupo Cortefiel. He is also the President of the European Branded Clothing Alliance in Brussels responsible for contacts with the European Commission and Parliament. The alliance is participated by mayor global companies in Europe like Inditex, Ralph Lauren, Levi´s, VFC, PVH, H&M, and TENDAM.

Since 2011 Ignacio Sierra is vocal in the Management Committee and Chairman of the CSR Committee of ANGED, Spain Large Retailers National Association together with the senior executives of companies as El Corte Inglés, Hipercor, Eroski Group, Carrefour, Auchan, Leroy Merlin, Media Markt, Fnac, Apple Stores, Toys´r us, or C&A. In June 2019 he joined the Management Committee of FEDECON Modaespaña Federation. Sierra is also member of the “Leading Brands of Spain Forum” Executive Committee, a mixed initiative of the leading Spanish brands in collaboration with the Public Administration to promote and defend the internationalization of Spanish brands and the Country Branding.

Mr. Sierra is Lawyer and member of ICAM, Financial Analyst by IEAF, Executive MBA by IE Business School and started his professional carrier at Mapfre Insurance Group as Internal Auditor in 1993. He joint TENDAM in 2000, and teaches Fashion Business, Strategy and Internationalization in several universities and business Schools.