Digitally enabled local-for-local textile and apparel production (Textiles for the Future Partnership) (IA)

Expected Outcome:• Demonstrate economic viability of local on-demand production of fashion and other complex textile products, including for professional or public end markets, through integration of advanced digital technologies across the full product life cycle from creation, production, distribution, use and end-of-life;

• Accelerate adoption of advanced digital product creation and manufacturing technologies by European textile and fashion SMEs; and
• Increase share of re- or near-shored production of time-critical textile products, made in socially and environmentally responsible ways, including recycled materials; and in this way contribute to the mitigation of GHG emissions.

Scope:Up to 80% of textile and apparel products consumed in Europe are partially or fully made outside Europe, exploiting lower labour cost as well as laxer local standards and regulations with regards to environmental, human health and labour rights protection. This offshoring of production has slowed textile manufacturing technology innovation in Europe and led to a complex long-lead time supply chain, generating unnecessary production and pre-consumer waste from unused mass-produced materials and unsold products not meeting actual demand.

Digitalisation in product development, production and on-demand supply chains has the potential to significantly reduce such overproduction, and enable business models that can competitively offer rapid short run or single piece production as well as related repair or end-of-life dismantling services for effective local recycling.

These aspects are particularly important in view of the new requirements to be set under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation under which textiles are flagged as one of the priority product groups for the elaboration of a sustainable policy framework that could consider durability, recyclability, repairability and recycled content the most important product aspects

Proposals should address at least one of the two following activities:

1. Small scale demonstration, experimentation or piloting of approaches, processes or technologies for:

• Complex manufacturing operations including yarn or fabric production and final product assembly that go beyond state-of-the-art processes such as digital garment printing;
• Seamless interoperable data flows and transparency towards the end user that pursue and harness waste minimisation, short time to market and trust-building between supply chain partners and end users;
• Valorisation of locally available renewable raw materials (biobased or recycled) and regional production capacities that allow for shortest time to market and lowest environmental footprint;
• Micro-factories that can flexibly combine small-scale local production, repair, and re- and de-manufacturing operations.

2. Uptake of innovative service-driven business models that maximise consumer value creation and lowers total cost of ownership from high-quality long-lasting products.

Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.

Proposals should include financial support to third party (FSTP) to maximise the number of SMEs involved in small-scale innovation projects. All such innovation projects should include at least one advanced technology provider; one manufacturing SME; and one end-market facing company, such as a retailer or a professional or consumer service provider. The partners should be from at least two different countries. FSTP funding can be provided only to SME participants, while the active participation of larger companies in such innovation projects is encouraged. The involvement of start-ups is also specifically encouraged. To ensure a focused effort, each third-party beneficiary should receive funding up to EUR 60 000, in projects with an indicative duration of 18 months.

International cooperation may be considered, in particular with countries that are advanced in the field.

Where relevant, projects should build on or seek collaboration with existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives and funding programmes.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership ‘Textiles for the Future’.