Can New Fabrics Reduce the Environmental Cost of Clothing?

About the Speaker

Karin Hazelkorn works with companies to build more sustainable textiles, apparel and footwear with a focus on new fiber development, natural dyes and environmental impact. She has held positions at apparel and global technology companies in strategic planning, business development, marketing and operations for more than 20 years. Karin received her MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management with advanced coursework from The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). She serves on the Board of Directors of the Textile Arts Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Accessibility

The Museum’s newly renovated Gallery strives to provide excellence in accessibility for all visitors. The entrance and all exhibit spaces are wheelchair accessible and located on a single floor. Automatic door push-buttons are available at the front entrance. Content is provided at standard heights with all text in large, legible fonts. A variety of furniture is provided throughout the Gallery to provide resting points for all guests. All exhibit cases and displays are cane detectable. Public restrooms are located near the Gallery. With advance notice, we are happy to provide additional support for guests with specific needs. Please email pahma-gallery@berkeley.edu for more info.

The Lounge Lecture series, hosted alongside the current exhibit Cloth That Stretches: Weaving Community Across Time and Space, provides an opportunity to explore topics related to cloth and textiles with leading experts. This June, hear Karin Hazelkorn speak about leading technologies in the world of sustainable textiles.

What do orange peels, coffee grinds, algae and spider silk have to do with clothing?

These, and dozens of other resources, are the subject of research by scientists and brands investigating new materials to reduce CO2 emissions from textile fiber and material production.

Apparel companies and the fashion industry have come under the microscope for their poor environmental performance and contribution to the climate crisis. There have been improvements, but clothing and footwear brands are far from sustainable.

Experts have identified environmental and ethical issues with not only synthetic fabrics, but also with natural fibers. According to the UN, it takes 3,781 liters of water to make a pair of jeans, from cotton production to product delivery to the store. In this talk Karin Hazelkorn will shed light on innovative solutions and provide examples from agriculture to laboratories that are making the transition from R&D to large scale apparel production.