Unique Resources
Registered applicants and tutors can have access to the wealth of dedicated online resources which can inspire and inform applications.
Balance & Biodiversity
Official video of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010
Support material and information from the International Year of Biodiversity 2010
Biotrade Project with U.N. Television, on indigenous communities in Ecuador finding markets for sustainable-produced goods.
The Biomimicry Institute promotes learning from and then emulating natural forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable and healthier human technologies and designs.
The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network is a global community dedicated to the development and marketing of products that conserve threatened wildlife while contributing to the economic vitality of rural communities.
All Things Alpaca Ecuador produces exclusive garments from select alpaca fiber–without harming the endangered Andean (spectacled) bear or other wildlife that share the land.
Himalayan Bio Trade is a consortium of community based forest products enterprises in Nepal
Snow Leopard Enterprises are handicrafts that provide reliable income for women whose families use sound herding practices and prevent poaching of the snow leopard.
Wildlife Works creates jobs through an eco-fashion apparel company and building schools. Wildlife Works has helped cheetahs, elephants, zebras and more become an asset for the people living near Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary in Kenya.
The ‘Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook’ is one of the first comprehensive guides available to enterprises that takes on the business and biodiversity topic from an economic perspective.
Design
Ask Nature is a project by The Biomimicry Institute. AskNature can help you solve your design challenges.
The Biomimicry Group promote the study and imitation of nature’s remarkably efficient designs.
Generator.x provides software and generative strategies in art and design
Processing is an electronic sketchbook for developing ideas
Enterprise
British Fashion Council promotes leading British fashion designers in a global market and provides support for designers
Can You Cut It In Fashion provides advice on becoming a design and behind the scenes
Creative Careers offers CV and Career Advice, free events and workshops and more…
The Enterprise Centre offers free services and facilities to students and graduates (up to 3 years) of the University of the Arts London, about working for themselves or setting up a business in the creative industries. The Enterprise Centre provides an Enterprise Directory, Advice Sessions, Events & Workshop by industry practitioners and specialists and Enterprise Resources.
Fashion Capital has a wide variety of information regarding the industry, lifestyle and trends, live active forums and a range of services to help designers succeed today
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts – an independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative. NESTA provides Fashion Economy Reports and Fashion Enterprise Toolkits and much more…
Skillset is the Sector Skills Council for Fashion, Textiles and Creative Media
Materials and Processes
Natural fibres are a responsible choice
Natural fibres are of major economic importance to many developing countries and vital to the livelihoods and food security of millions of small-scale farmers and processors. They include 10 million people in the cotton sector in West and Central Africa, 4 million small-scale jute farmers in Bangladesh and India, one million silk industry workers in China, and 120 000 alpaca herding families in the Andes. By choosing natural fibres we boost the sector’s contribution to economic growth and help fight hunger and rural poverty.
Natural fibres are a sustainable choice
The emerging “green” economy is based on energy efficiency, renewable feed stocks in polymer products, industrial processes that reduce carbon emissions and recyclable materials. Natural fibres are a renewable resource. Growing one tonne of jute fibre requires less than 10% of the energy used for the production of polypropylene. Natural fibres are carbon neutral. Processing produces residues that can be used in biocomposites for building houses or to generate electricity. At the end of their life cycle, natural fibres are 100% biodegradable.
Natural fibres are a high-tech choice
Natural fibres have good mechanical strength, low weight and low cost. That has made them particularly attractive to the automobile industry. In Europe, car makers are using an estimated 80 000 tonnes of natural fibres a year to reinforce thermoplastic panels. India has developed composite boards made from coconut fibre that are more resistant to rotting than teak. Brazil is making roofing material reinforced with sisal. In Europe, hemp wastes are used in cement, and China used hemp-based construction materials for the 2008 Olympics.
Natural fibres are a fashionable choice
Natural fibres are at the heart of an eco-fashion or “sustainable clothing” movement that seeks to create garments that are sustainable at every stage of their life cycle, from production to disposal. Natural fibre producers, textile manufacturers and the clothing industry need to be aware of, and respond to, the opportunities provided by growing demand for organic cotton and wool, for recyclable and biodegradable fabrics, and for “fair trade” practices that offer producers higher prices and protect textile industry workers.
List of Natural Fibres
Alpaca
Soft and dense, or lustrous and silky, alpaca is used to make high-end luxury fabrics and outdoor sports clothing
Angora
Fine, silky and exceptionally soft to the touch, the wool of the Angora rabbit is used in high quality knitwear
Camel
The best quality camel yarn is spun on drop spindles by women in nomadic households of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China
Cashmere
Its luxurious, rare and expensive: the wool of six kashmir goats is enough to make just one cashmere sports jacket
Flax
One of nature’s strongest vegetable fibres, flax was also one of the first to be extracted, spun and woven into textiles
Hemp
Easy to grow without agrochemicals, hemp is used increasingly in agrotextiles, car panels and fibreboard, and “cottonized” for clothing
Jute
The strong threads made from jute fibre are used worldwide in sackcloth – and help sustain the livelihoods of millions of small farmers
Mohair
Thin surface scales make mohair smooth to touch, while light reflected from its surface gives it a characteristic lustre
Ramie
Ramie fibre is white with a silky lustre, similar to flax in absorbency and density
Silk
Developed in ancient China, where its use was reserved for royalty, silk remains the “queen of fabrics”
Wool
Limited supply and exceptional characteristics have made wool the world’s premier textile fibre
Shared Talent India is a resource that highlights the many culturally vibrant and ecologically sensitive textiles and textile processing techniques that both exist and are being developed in India
