Textile and Fashion 2030 - Use & Consumption

The Field Study in Textile Management started just over two weeks ago. The course requires an internship, which I was kind of early to find. During the first semester of the program Textile Value Chain Management we had a few seminars with researcher Jonas Larsson - who works at the Swedish School of Textiles. During his lectures he talked about several projects he has been a part of which caught my interest and was why I applied for a collaboration with him as a Research Assistant Intern. 

Unfortunately, as a result of Covid-19, several of my colleagues have had the misfortune of losing their internships at fashion and textile companies as many offices have closed down and resources have been withdrawn. This has forced many to change their plans. Fortunately, interesting research projects are continuing at the school, which have become alternative solutions for some. 

During my internship as a Research Assistant Intern, I will work with Textile and Fashion 2030 - a project where the school has been commissioned by the government to establish and lead the national platform for sustainable fashion and sustainable textiles. The five-year assignment is run by Smart Textiles, part of the Science Park Borås at the University of Borås, in collaboration with the Swedish School of Textiles, the Swedish Fashion Council, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Svensk Handel and TEKO, Sweden's Textile and Fashion Companies. The project is divided into 3 areas of knowledge; Materials, Chemistry & Recycling, Product design, Production & Technology and Business Models & Consumption. Jonas Larsson is the leader of the last area of ​​knowledge - Business Models & Consumption which is therefor also my research area. 

Currently I am in the beginning of my work and for me, the virus has only meant a few small changes where the method for collecting data has changed slightly - as interviews are no longer to the same extent optimally. My task during this internship is to develop challenges to be presented at an upcoming conference in November, as a part of the project Textile and Fashion 2030. I am supposed to present 5 graspable sustainable ”business actions” for textile and fashion companies to take on as a challenge. The actions will be connected to the area Business Models & Consumption, and will be presented in a way that is easy to understand with sub-categories such as: ”benefits”, ”potential impact”, ”sustainability aspect”, ”how easy” and ”innovation possibilities”. During my internship I will make some interviews with people that Jonas Larsson has introduced me to. I will also look at some previous projects such as Fact Movement and Mistra Future Fashion, as it will be of great use for me during the internship. Some of the people I interview have been a part of the projects mentioned. 

What I will focus on now in the near future is to make a literature review on past research in the field of Business Models & Consumption within the textile and fashion industry, which will form a basis for my research. I hope that within the next week the design of this project will be set. 

I look forward to carrying out this project and despite the circumstances, hope to have the opportunity to meet and share the knowledge of many experienced people. I feel very excited to be part of such an important project as Textile and Fashion 2030 and I am delighted to share my work with you here here while it is going on.