AI, Breaking Bottlenecks and Circularity Were on the Agenda at Sustainability Talks Istanbul
Advancing sustainability in the apparel and textile industry will take collaboration. Sustainability Talks Istanbul, held this week on Nov. 28, brought everyone from brands to manufacturers together to discuss the latest developments in sustainability and the strategy for overcoming obstacles.
Launched in 2019, Sustainability Talks Istanbul is organized by Orbit Consulting and Kipas Textile, with the strategic partnership of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB). This edition, themed “Interaction and Collaboration,” gathered a strong turnout of more than 1,500 participants to the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Conference Center for education and networking.
Lenzing Group’s vice president corporate sustainability Krishna Manda spoke on a panel about Next Gen Fibers, joining speakers from Aksa, Eastman’s Naia and Unifi to discuss who is financing these material innovations. Another panel dove into the role of artificial intelligence to handle waste management, while a different panel covered regenerative farming. Sessions also featured brands like Ikea, Tom Tailor and Inditex talking about their visions for addressing the industry’s current sustainability bottlenecks.
In addition to speaking, Lenzing sponsored the event and hosted a denim roundtable event for the top management of Turkish denim mills including Bossa, DNM, Kipas, Iskur and Sharabati. TENCEL™ also had a booth in the convention center that highlighted our latest developments.
Running concurrently in the same conference center was a Transformers Foundation ED event, in collaboration with Ereks Blue Matters. Geared toward students and the broader denim community, the event centered its educational talks on circular fashion, regulations, chemicals and other sustainable topics, with speakers from Lycra, Santis Textiles, Renewcell, Bluesign and more. Lenzing’s head of global business development, denim Tuncay Kilickan joined a panel about textile-to-textile recycling.
“The Sustainability Talks event performed very well for the fourth time,” said Tuncay. “It was full of insights, networking and inspiration. It was very valuable for our industry to gather under this great event where we can share thoughts, challenges, solutions and more.”
Click through the slideshow below to see the scene at the event.
