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Waste-Free Fashion: How AAU is Bridging the Gap from Lab to Factory with 13 European Partners

Recorded on: 11 February

Published on 2 March

The future of fashion is circular, but getting there requires more than just goodwill. It needs groundbreaking engineering, seamless logistics, and unprecedented cross-border collaboration.

STREP is at the forefront of transforming how Europe handles textile waste. By bridging the gap between high-level research and industrial application, the project aims to create a truly circular economy for fashion.

In our first Partner’s Spotlight Interview, we speak with Iskra Dukovska-Popovska, Associate Professor at Aalborg University and a key Project Coordinator within the STREP initiative. She provides a behind-the-scenes look at the complexities of international collaboration and the technical hurdles of textile recovery.

In this session, Iskra addresses three critical pillars of the STREP project’s mission:

Question 1: Managing Cross-Border Collaboration As the leader of this massive project, how do you get 13 different organizations from across Europe to work as one single team toward a waste-free future?

Question 2: The Efficiency Gap in 100% Recycling We often hear about “recycling,” but your focus is on making it more efficient. What is the one thing currently stopping us from recycling 100% of our clothes, and how is the STREP project fixing it?

Question 3: From Research to Retail STREP aims to bridge the gap between university research and real-world factories. How soon do you think the average consumer will be able to buy a shirt made using the methods perfected through this project?

Watch the full interview below: