In this episode of The WTiN Podcast, we talk to Dr Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, head of Metaverse Fashion Week at Decentraland. 

Decentraland is a software development company that is creating a virtual world (aka a metaverse) that will grow beyond any centralised control. To accomplish this, the company is building tools and applications designed to help people create three-dimensional (3D) content, games and applications. All of which are hosted and accessed on a fully decentralised virtual reality (VR) platform.

In this podcast, Casimiro explains what the metaverse is and what associated terms such as Web3 and NFTs mean, before talking about the company’s first Metaverse Fashion Week. Held in March 2022, the event featured runway shows, panel talks, virtual shopping experiences and more. Casimiro explains what brands thought of the event, how they plan to improve it for next year and that it will not ever replace physical experiences but enhance them. Elsewhere, she talks about other opportunities that the metaverse offers textile and apparel companies and she provides her advice on how to get involved.

In this episode of The WTiN Podcast, we talk to Jeffrey Hsu, chief innovation and marketing officer, and Peter Decorte, chief operations officer, at NTX. 

NTX is a textile innovation and solution company that has developed a hybrid textile colouration system called NTX Cooltrans. Indeed, the pair say it is a mix of digital printing, sublimation and wet dye techniques – something they claim is completely new and unique. 

In this podcast, Hsu and Decorte explain how the NTX Cooltrans technology came about, how the different machines have evolved, and what the environmental benefits are of adopting the system. They also talk about production benefits regarding the ability to print on both sides of the fabric and how the fewer process steps results in an end product that retains its strength and quality. Lastly, the pair explain the company’s plan to roll out the technology through joint ventures and how companies can get their hands on NTX Cooltrans.

To find out more about the company, visit www.ntx.global 

In this episode of The WTiN Podcast, we talk to Yoel Fink, Professor of Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  

MIT is well-known for its research concerning textiles & apparel, and most recently Fink and his team have developed a ‘fabric that hears’. The fabric works like a microphone, converting sound into mechanical vibrations, then into electrical signals, similarly to how our ears hear.

In this podcast, Fink talks about the inspiration for the research and how the aim is to start ‘capturing the soundtrack of our lives’. He talks about how the team have made the fibre and resulting fabric, how it’s cost-effective to produce and the cool applications that range from monitoring unborn babies to detecting space dust. 

Elsewhere, he speaks of the ‘tremendous opportunities with fabrics’ and highlights a new course at MIT that combines computing with textiles called Computing Fabrics. 

In this episode of The WTiN Podcast, we talk to Scott Mellin, CEO of LifeLabs. 

LifeLabs is a materials science company founded by Professor Yi Cui, director of Stanford University’s advanced materials laboratory, and Meng Sui, a chemist and CEO of clean-energy foundry EEnotech. The company has developed textile technologies to reduce energy consumption with the aim to shift the way that we think about fabric and its environmental impact.

In this podcast, Mellin talks about the company’s two thermoregulating technologies – WarmLife and CoolLife – which he describes as a democratic solution to climate change. In fact, Mellin says that wearing these products 365 days per year can help one person to save 1,000 lbs of carbon in that time. 

Elsewhere, he talks about LifeLabs’s holistic approach to sustainability, his opinion on the Higg MSI and how the company’s technology could be applied to automotive, upholstery and sportswear in future. 

In this episode of The WTiN Podcast, Jessica Owen interviews Britt Howard, founder of the Portland Garment Factory. 

Founded in 2008 and based in Oregon, US, the Portland Garment Factory is a full-service manufacturing company that can prototype, design, pattern grade, source fabrics and much more. 

In this episode, Howard discusses why she founded the company and more about the services she and the team offer. Elsewhere, Howard talks about working with clients ranging from small designers to global brands such as Nike, as well as the company’s zero waste manufacturing approach and the appeal of being made in the US. 

To find out more about the Portland Garment Factory, visit www.portlandgarmentfactory.com 

To kick off 2022, Victoria Nickerson interviews Milon Hossein, a graduate research assistant at North Carolina State University (NC State) in the US. 

The last guest on this year’s The WTiN Podcast is Lisa Kennedy, vice president of strategic partnerships at Genomatica. 

Founded in 2000 and based in San Diego (US), Genomatica develops commercial bio-based products and processes. Having started in the plastics and cosmetics industries, the company has since turned its attention to finding sustainable alternatives to nylon.  

In this podcast, Kennedy talks about the company’s innovations aimed at the textile & apparel industry such as its bio-nylon and alternative for thermoplastic polyurethan (TPU). Elsewhere, she mentions the challenges associated with developing new chemistries, talks about Genomatica’s collaborations with brands including Lululemon and hints at the next solution on the horizon. 

To find out more about Genomatica, visit www.genomatica.com 

This week’s guest on The WTiN Podcast is David Dillon, smart apparel business lead at W L Gore. 

Founded more than 60 years ago by Bill and Vieve Gore, the company makes everything from consumer products to medical components to fibres and vents. Its most well-known product is arguably Gore-Tex – a waterproof and breathable membrane added to outdoor clothing – and recently it has expanded into wearables. 

In this podcast, Dillon talks about the company’s recent involvement with smart workwear and how it can prevent workplace injuries. Such injuries and illnesses cost companies and insurers an estimated US$250bn annually in direct and indirect costs (according to data from the Economic Policy Institute and an analysis by Accenture) and W L Gore has created a shirt that can monitor motion and analyse if the worker is at risk of injury. Elsewhere, Dillon talks about the challenges with smart apparel such as the lack of standards and washability and how data collection and digitising workwear is the future. 

To find out more about W L Gore, visit www.gore.com 

This week’s guest on The WTiN Podcast is Zimri Hinshaw, CEO of Bucha Bio. 

Based in New York City (US), Bucha Bio is a biotechnology company that creates materials using bacterial nanocellulose. The company was founded in 2019 and the team plans to use this material to replace animal and plastic leather. 

In this podcast, Hinshaw talks about how long it takes to create the company’s biomaterial, how it was inspired by kombucha and how it has the potential to meet or exceed animal leather production. 

Hinshaw also describes the material’s properties and he provides his thoughts on biodegradability and what the industry might look like in 10 years. Elsewhere, he says the company is working with extruding businesses to optimise the material and plans to open a pilot production facility by next year. 

To find out more about Bucha Bio, visit www.bucha.bio  

This week’s guests on The WTiN Podcast are sales and marketing director Neil Green and technical director Paul Geldenhuys from NUtec Digital Ink. 

Based in South Africa, the company began its journey in 1995, when it was an early ink manufacturer for airbrush printers used for commercial printing. The company’s name and focus has since changed a couple of times after being acquired by Scitex Vision in 2001 and Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2005. Eventually, the original founders of the company created NUtec Digital Ink which now develops and manufactures digital printing inks for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors for the global market.  

In this podcast, Green and Geldenhuys talk about the company’s interesting history, the different inks it offers and the benefits and limitations to each. They discuss the company’s latest products, the different markets it serves and how R&D continually focuses on sustainability and water-based inks. What’s more, the pair talk about how Covid-19 was ‘disastrous' for the company for the first few months, but how they believe digital printing and inks has a bright and promising future.   

To find out more about NUtec Digital Ink, visit www.nutecdigital.com