About this Event
Join us at Shoreditch Sandbox for an evening with Kae Katz, Founder & Director of FibreLab, an award-winning East London textile recycling start-up.
Kae’s purpose grew out of her experience in fashion and her research at London College of Fashion. Today, FibreLab, Kae’s start-up business collects and processes textile waste, turning discarded fabrics into recycled fibres and exploring what those fibres could become next.
There is no shortage of textile waste. The harder question is what to do with it? Different fibres behave differently, recycling them can be technically and commercially challenging, and finding a useful life for the material afterwards is far from straightforward. That’s where FibreLab comes in.
Kae will share the story behind the business, what she has learned from trying to solve the problem, what has worked, what hasn’t, and where she sees opportunities for new materials.
Following an introduction by Kae and an overview of her professional history work, she’ll be joined by our moderator Dr Jade McSorley, FRSA Head of Knowledge Exchange (Sustainability), at UAL Centre for Sustainable Fashion, for a deeper, sector wide conversation about the challenges she has encountered and where she sees the opportunities for the future. We’ll then open things up to the audience, with plenty of time for questions and discussion.
We’ll also look beyond FibreLab. What could the next generation of materials look like? Where are the real opportunities? And what might it take to turn promising ideas into materials and products that people can use?
There’ll be time to continue the conversation over drinks afterwards, meet other curious minds and connect with people working across materials, fashion, design and making.
Come curious. Bring your questions. Stay for the conversation.
About Kae Katz
Kae Katz is the founder of FibreLab, an innovative textile-recycling company turning textile waste into new material.
The FibreLab concept emerged from Kae’s research for her MA in Fashion Futures at London College of Fashion. Her work has since received a number of awards, including the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Award for the Creative Industries and the Better Lives Award from Procter & Gamble. Most recently, she received an Innovate UK Fast Start Grant to support FibreLab’s future innovations.
About Dr Jade McSorley
As CSF’s Head of Knowledge Exchange (Sustainability) at , Jade leads their work with industry partners, CSF team members and the wider college to bring their co-created sustainability projects to life. Coming to CSF from diverse academia and industry roles, Jade works at the intersection of sustainable fashion and responsible tech innovation, aiming to disrupt the fashion industry to create a more sustainable future that prioritises climate, social and racial justice.
She is the co-founder of LOANHOOD and was most recently Lecturer in Fashion and Sustainability and Sustainability Lead for the School of Design and Technology at London College of Fashion (LCF), University of the Arts London (UAL). She holds a PhD in philosophy and digital anthropology exploring fashion and the digital self from University for the Creative Arts, London and is a MA Fashion Futures graduate, from LCF, UAL.
Expect an evening of ideas, conversation and a different way of looking at the materials all around us.
Shoreditch Sandbox is a new space for connecting, sharing ideas, and bringing people together around creativity, materials, and community.
Come In. Connect. Share. Explore.
Tickets are free. We’re proud to keep our events accessible and open to all. (If you can no longer make it, please let us know so we can offer your place to someone else).
Event venue & nearby stays
Shoreditch Sandbox, 103 Worship Street, London, United Kingdom
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