FAMALICÃO - Portugal's CITEVE Technological Institute, which provides technical support and services to companies acting in the textile & clothing business, has joined The Microfibre Consortium (TMC).

With an increasing concern about the release of microfibres in the environment, both from natural and synthetic sources due to its accumulation potential, namely in the oceans, the TMC has been set up to facilitate the collaborative development of practical solutions for the textile industry to minimise the release from textile manufacturing and product life cycles.

As a research member, CITEVE says it will support the textile and clothing industries through the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology.

“We, as the Textile & Clothing industries technological centre in Portugal and aware of the Portuguese industry priorities and challenges, understand the need of collaboration between different industry stakeholders and we felt the responsibility to help with our expertise in such an important topic," said Antonio Braz Costa, General Manager of CITEVE. "It is part of our duties to be frontrunners in representing our industry and creating awareness and future business opportunities to industry.”

CITEVE has the biggest textile laboratory facility in Portugal, with more than 700 associated companies and advanced technologies and highly qualified human resources aimed at guaranteeing the reliability and credibility of the tests provided.

“As we look to support our deep research needs within the Microfibre 2030 Commitment and Roadmap, we are delighted to welcome CITEVE to our growing remit of Research Signatories," said Sophie Mather, executive director, TMC. "Although commercial microfibre specific testing is currently out of scope of this relationship, we are excited about the rich depth of textile expertise they provide to our collaborative forum and support to future testing needs as the topic expands.”

CITEVE Laboratories perform hundreds of thousands of tests annually of which around 90 per cent are covered by a broad scope of accreditation in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025, which encompasses tests in accordance with more than 600 test standards. The organisation intends to work together with TMC to increase the understanding and engagement of the industry related to microfibres release in an industrial level.

“This partnership with TMC represents the practical implementation of actions foreseen within the scope of our strategy, in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. In addition to defining strategies and contributing to public policies as representatives of many companies in the sector, CITEVE's commitment in this area is to put into practice action plans that lead to the development of the industry in terms of sustainability,” said Ana Tavares, Coordinator of the Strategic Agenda for Sustainable, Bio and Circular Economy.

A number of different industry stakeholders are taking part in this consortium including Lenzing, Gore, ZDHC, WRAP, Adidas, Pangaia and Kering among many others.