TCBL
TCBL – Textile & Clothing Business Labs
(2015-2019)
Horizon 2020
€ 8.214.760,45 €
€ 105.000
Fab Lab Barcelona
Description
Renewing the European Textile & Clothing sector by exploring new ways of design and making
Partners
Comune di Prato (coordinator), Waag, Fab Lab Barcelona / IAAC, Denkendorf, Istituto Superiore Mario Boella, The Open University, The Tavistock Institute, Sanjotec, Oxford Brookes University, Skillaware, Deutsche Institute Fur Textil, Hellenic Clothing Industry association, Imec.
The project
TCBL Textile & Clothing Business Labs is building a multi-faceted business ecosystem of sector enterprises, innovation labs, service providers, and business advisors, all working together to transform the Textiles and Clothing industry. The common objective is to build alternative paths to over-production and diminishing value while returning 5% of production capacity and reducing environmental footprint by 20%, within 2025.
In its first two years of operations, TCBL has built a valued-based community of 136 enterprises, 28 business labs, 75 expert advisors, 12 service providers, and 7 startups collaborating towards this shared goal. Innovative business models are currently being explored for re-structuring supply chains (natural cotton and eco-friendly production), re-shaping production processes (short runs and independents) and re-framing customer values (bacteria dyeing and digital heritage).
It brings together 22 organisations from 11 EU Member States. The four-year work plan runs from July 2015 through June 2019, with a total budget of over 8 Million Euros.
Our contribution
Fab Lab Barcelona participated in the EU-funded project as one of 50 Labs. Through on-going research into textile production supported by digital fabrication and circular principals, we contributed to the project with expertise in project development an experimental textile and bio lab. This was supported by the Fab Textiles project and the local Fabricademy course. Together, these programmes contributed to the TCBL program by nurturing the training of creative individuals to work at the intersection of textiles, biology, digital fabrication and innovation. The approach created a boundless space for imagination, generating projects ranging from bioplastics, digital wearables, bacteria dying and more through workshops, project acceleration and educational program design.
Who is it for?
TCBL is for anyone who wishes to transform the textile and clothing industry, from Artisans, Artists, Biologists, Curators, Designers, Chemists, Entrepreneurs, Fashion Designers, Makers, Other Researchers, SME Students, Teachers, Textile Designers.
TCBL is a research and innovation project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under Grant Agreement 646133.
