HRH The Princess Royal opened the first Sustainability in UK Textiles conference in London on Thursday 12th May 2022, in her role as President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT).

Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT, said: “We are extremely proud of having HRH as UKFT’s President and she has a keen interest in sustainable manufacturing. She is an enormous supporter of our industry and has visited countless textile manufacturers over the years.”

She acknowledged the complexity of the sustainability landscape and the extent of the challenge, but also recognised that the UK textile industry has been focused on producing the very best yarns and fabrics in the most economically sustainable way for many years.

At the conference, she listened to some of the latest progress from cashmere weaver Alex Begg and met with representatives from The Textile Livery Group, which supported the event. She was introduced to a range of UK textile industry leaders from companies including John Spencer Textiles, Camira Fabrics, English Fine Cottons, SIL Group, Halley Stevensons, iinouiio and AW Hainsworth. She also met Jonny Mckinnon, a recent graduate from the Glasgow School of Art and a winner of a bursary from The Weavers Company, who was commissioned to create a wall hanging using recycled and scrap textiles that was shown at the conference.

She also spoke with Professor Parik Goswami, Director of Technical Textiles Research Centre and the Head of Department of Fashion and Textiles at the University of Huddersfield; Tom Fiddian, Head of AI and Data Economy at Innovate UK; and Shailja Dube, from the British Fashion Council and Institute of Positive Fashion.

Read more about some of HRH The Princess Royal’s recent visits to UK textile manufacturers here.

Above: HRH The Princess Royal with textile designer Jonny Mckinnon

Above: HRH The Princess Royal with Andy Ogden of English Fine Cottons, Alan Williams of Camira Group and Amanda McLaren of AW Hainsworth

Above: HRH The Princess Royal listening to a presentation from Oscar Macdonald of Alex Begg

Above: HRH The Princess Royal meeting Shailja Dube, from the British Fashion Council, Professor Parik Goswami from the University of Huddersfield, Chris Barker from SIL Group and Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT

Above: HRH The Princess Royal with representatives from The Textile Livery Group

Above: HRH The Princess Royal opening the Sustainability in UK Textiles conference

Above: HRH The Princess Royal with John Snowdon, chair of The Textile Livery Group

Above: HRH The Princess Royal with the Alex Begg team and UKFT chairman Nigel Lugg

Above: HRH The Princess Royal with Jimmy Campbell of Halley Stevensons and Dr John Parkinson of iinouiio

SUSTAINABILITY IN UK TEXTILES

Images: Ben Broomfield Photography.