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The first training and mentoring sessions in the beat by be@t Ideação program have now taken place following their design and organisation by BCSD Portugal – Business Council for Sustainable Development under the project be@t textiles, to stimulate sustainably based creativity in the fashion industry. With the assistance of ModaLisboa, the sessions were held in the north of the country, last April, at the Riopele and Tintex Textiles manufacturing installations, partners in the program led by Citeve – the Technology Centre of Textiles and Clothing.
Among the different candidates applying for registration for the online beat by be@t Ideação program, there were fashion design talents, textile entrepreneurs and engineers and 21 were chosen for the two brainstorming sessions with the textile industry. Throughout two, two and half-day sessions, participants were invited to think collectively about new circular and innovative solutions based on the principles of eco-engineering and eco-design.
Between 11 and 13 April 2023, the first brainstorming session was hosted by Riopele, under the set challenge of: "how to design for circularity?" Riopele requested participants to think of proposals for producing textile pieces that integrate, from their origins, the principles of the circular economy, highlighting the catalysing role of design in the creation of innovative solutions.
Between 18 and 20 April 2023, another brainstorming session was held at the Tintex Textiles facilities and set the challenge of: "how to reduce and value textile wastes?" Also known for its forward position in the sustainable transformation of the Portuguese industry, Tintex called for solutions that could reduce the wastes generated by its production processes and that add value to them based on the principles of the circular economy.
These two beat by be@t brainstorming sessions seek to generate a swift and efficient “injection” of training in the field of sustainability, providing personalised mentoring and fostering the work of multidisciplinary teams in the transition to a green and circular economy, still more urgent in an industry that tops the list of the most polluting to the planet. Participants therefore also gain the opportunity to collaborate with successful companies in the sector and with the winners gaining direct entrance to the beat by be@t Acceleration program.
This first edition of beat by be@t brainstorming 2023, the first of three to happen prior to the of the be@t textiles program, ongoing until 2025, was won by the designers Carla Pontes, Paula Tomazi and Diana Lopes for the Riopele challenge and with Manel Baer, Marta Neto, and the researchers Laís Kohan and Ivis Aguiar, in the challenge set by Tintex.
All participants went on a guided tour of the factories, received training from the BCSD Portugal be@t team of specialists, such as Graziela Sousa, from the Fashion Design degree at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon, and participated in round tables with professionals from the design, textile and fashion sectors. At Riopele were Sandra Ventura, Director of Innovation at Cork-a-Tex, Rui Gomes, CEO of J Gomes, Albertina Reis, Director of R&D at Riopele and with Miguel Flor as the mentor, founder of the new talent competition Sangue Novo at ModaLisboa and Bloom in Portugal Fashion. At Tintex, there were Teresa Gomes and Pedro Magalhães, Manager and Director of Innovation at Tintex, Rosa Magalhães, Brand Coordinator at Valérius Hub, a launching point for sustainability in the Portuguese textile industry, Joana Jorge, Project Manager at ModaLisboa and Paulo Gomes, founder of Greencircle.
The next step was to interweave these beat by be@t brainstorming winners with six SMEs from the textile and clothing sector to work together on the beat by be@t Acceleration program, which begins on 12 May. In this phase, the working groups attend more specific workshops/webinars, including training in sustainable business models, eco-design and eco-engineering and personalised mentorship by specialists that support the team in advancing with their sustainable and circular pilot projects. The small and medium-sized companies selected for this phase are: Bloomati by Carvema, Empresa Têxtil Nortenha, FILASA, Lurdes Sampaio SA, TMR Fashion Clothing and Trotinete Lda.
The final projects to emerge out of these processes are to be presented at the ModaLisboa event in October 2023, when a winning team and other awards will be made with training and events exclusive to the beat by be@t 2024 program, specialist consultancy and the opportunity to launch their products in a circular economy focused international establishment. The final choice will be made by a jury including members of BCSD Portugal, CITEVE and ModaLisboa.
