Founder Krystle Moody Wood co-led the development and moderation of a 3 day conference for the California Chapter of the American Association of Textile Colorists and Chemists (AATCC) entitled “Resilient Textile Systems: Through the Lens of Soil and Sea”.

Circular Textiles Consultant Nicole Kenney served as registration and day-of logistics lead while Ocean Conservation Consultant Carolynn Box served as a speaker.

With over 30 speakers and 75 attendees from textile industry, science and innovation, the AATCC conference brought together many important topics through the lens of soil, sea and circularity. Materevolve’s goal with this conference was to show how important the curation of a nature-immersed venue and a high level of scientific content is to deeper learning and insight.

Successes from the program include:

-New relationships were formed between material innovators, non-profits, textile professionals and government representatives.

-Engaging hands-on workshops throughout the program which included:

a) Intro to Bast Fibers Workshop by Nick Wenner of Fibershed - Participants learned about a variety of bast fibers including hemp, linen and dogbane. As participants learned to hand process the fibers into yarn bracelets, they contrasted this learning with the scaled processing knowledge from the Hemp panel earlier in the day.

b) California State Park Ranger beach walk to learn about coastal restoration and management

-Many participants found the conference to be one of the most inspiring and thought-provoking sustainability programs they have ever been to. Some referred to it as an adult summer camp!

-It was the first time “Soil, Sea and Circularity” was rooted in the lens for a sustainable textiles program laying important groundwork for future programming and textile development programs through motivated attendees.

Follow this link to access the agenda and photos from the event here: https://www.aatccconferences.com/