The Hackathon of the CIRCULAR.Tèxtils.cat project takes place, coordinated by Tèxtils.CAT and the FITEX Foundation, with the support of the Waste Agency of Catalonia.
The objective of the Hackathon was to generate potential circularity routes from textile waste from the member companies of Tèxtils.CAT.
The event was divided into two sessions during which a total of 20 students from design and engineering degrees familiarized themselves with the industrial environment of the textile ecosystem alongside companies and experts in the sector while working on the challenge of generating new opportunities for textile waste.
ELISAVA, INTEXTER-UPC, and MODACC collaborated on the Hackathon, participating and facilitating workshops and providing training to the participants during the two sessions.
The session on April 27 took place at ELISAVA’s headquarters. Tèxtils.CAT opened the session by presenting the objectives and rules of the Hackathon. During the afternoon, the collaborating entities held several conferences, including: “Textile Waste and Circularity” by FITEX, “Experimentation with Textile Material,” and “Foresight and Creativity” by ELISAVA, and the working teams were formed.
Additionally, the director of the cluster member INTEXTER, Dr. Enric Carrera, presented the 42 waste materials available for the students to work on creating prototypes.
On Saturday, April 30, the day began with a visit to the company TEX51, a reference in the textile-fashion sector, where students could gain an in-depth understanding of the entire production process. The rest of the session, held at the Igualada Fashion Lab, included a workshop on “Ideation and Formalization.”
Subsequently, the four teams participating in the Hackathon began creating their prototypes. Throughout the process, they received help from collaborators, as well as mentorship from Isabel Murt, creative director of Sita Murt.
Isabel Murt was part of the jury, along with Dr. Marta Casadesús from Tèxtils.CAT, Dr. Enric Carrera from INTEXTER, Ms. Clara Mallart from MODACC, and Dr. Oscar Tomico from ELISAVA, who selected the winning team, which received two prizes: €1,000 and an internship at the cluster member companies: FINSA and ARPE, sponsors of the event, along with the company POLISILK.