Planet Textiles 2018 to take place in Vancouver in partnership once again with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition aims to deliver a wealth of new ideas and practical solutions from cutting edge thinkers as well as the latest technology breakthroughs, all wrapped up in a brand-new event format. It will feature real-world examples and original case studies of companies that have already managed to scale up sustainability – as well as revealing promising new innovations, chemistry and textile technology.

The event will be held one day before the SAC annual members, where delegates will hear about new ideas on how sustainable innovations in the textile supply chain can be scaled up from the pilot phase and then implemented at a commercial scale.

The integration of sustainability within industry supply chains is the next big challenge of the decade; with many small innovators over the past ten years struggling to move beyond pilot-scale – even if they receive funding from brand or retail partners.

Planet Textiles aims to look at the hurdles to change at scale. Is it purely a question of financial backing? Is it that new technologies do not perform well enough at scale? Is the existing competition too ruthless when it comes to pricing and market penetration? Or perhaps some new innovations cannot be easily plugged straight into the existing textile manufacturing processes and infrastructure? After all, many parts of the textile industry have remained unchanged for centuries.

In truth, the answer is that innovations often get stifled by a combination of all these reasons and more, but there are solutions out there and examples of where scaling up has been successfully achieved.

These are just some of the tough hurdles that developers of new environmental technology need to bear in mind as they attempt to attract financial investors and brand backers – but may not have considered.

Planet Textiles 2018, will not only have sessions on financial models and mechanisms available to help innovators move beyond the pilot scale, but will also have case studies on how textile companies have successfully applied new investment to grow – and what true investment costs actually look like.

This year’s format will also change slightly and for the first time they will have the #PlanetTextilesPod where they will be filming interviews with key personal and a new #TeninTen session where they will select key innovators to pitch their technology or service to their delegates in a maximum 10-minute time slot.

As usual, they will be keeping the delegate fee for Planet Textiles to an absolute minimum – just US$170, which is almost unheard of on the events scene.

The event will also take place one day before the Sustainable Apparel Coalition member meeting – in the same venue at the Sheraton Wall Vancouver on 22nd May, making it easy for members to move between the two events.

Registration for the event is now open . A very limited number of exhibition tables are also available with early bird discounts and the organisers are still accepting content ideas for the event which will feature short technology pitches as well as interesting new ways to present innovations.