The latest edition of FashMash Pioneers saw Dr Amanda Parkes, Chief Innovation Officer of Pangaia, talking material science.
In this live event, we discussed the long-held interrelation of science and fashion and the long-term plans for Pangaia's ethos of high-tech naturalism. "What you see is the tip of the iceberg. We have research plans going forward seven years. That's not like a typical fashion brand. Google plans 10 years out, so we've got to be thinking that way," Parkes explained.
You can watch the interview in full via YouTube above. Here are some of our highlights in the meantime:
ON PRIORITIES
"Everything in sustainability is a series of compromises and priorities, there's no one perfect solution to anything... I think it has way more to do with how we actually are transparent with the consumer [about] all the choices that are out there. We've chosen our priorities to be around this return to the bio-economy."
ON PRODUCT
"The best sustainable product is the one you don't know has been designed sustainably, you just buy it because you love it. Where there isn't a compromise between 'I want this tracksuit because it's softer' and 'I should buy this one because it's better'. It's not the consumer's fault - they just haven't been given the right products."
ON A NEW BUSINESS MODEL
"There's an argument that the most sustainable thing to do is just have less clothes. And that's entirely true. But fashion is like a language of personal expression. It's an art form; it's about identity. We need to figure out better ways to make things like repair, profitable."
ON HIGH TECH NATURALISM
"A big principle of our company is to remove fossil fuels from the entire fashion industry. At present, up to 60% of all apparel contain synthetics and that's just plastic.
[High tech naturalism] is not just a return to nature, it's seeing how we can optimise what nature is already doing, and bring new functionality with the latest technologies. It's not that we're trying to irresponsibly strip the environment of things, it's really looking at the entire ecosystem and what we can take from it safely, in a timescale that works, with effective processes."
FashMash Pioneers is sponsored by Klaviyo.