To enhance this possibility, an exchange is taking place between the two countries. Recently, representatives from several Finnish organisations and companies visited Sweden, including the Swedish School of Textiles and the Textile Fashion Center.

During their visit organised by Swedish School of Textiles, they also met with other Swedish organisations and companies working with textile circularity. This strategic effort aims to foster increased collaboration, not only between two parties but across the entire ecosystem. Professor Rudrajeet Pal, specialising in textile value chain at the Swedish School of Textiles, explained, “We hope that this exchange will lead to mutual learning and innovative outcomes towards expanding textile circularity through ecosystemic collaboration.”

As part of their visit to the Swedish School of Textiles and the Textile Fashion Center, the visitors took a tour of the complete Textile lab environment, Smart Textiles Showroom, and DO-tank Center. For Pirjo Heikkilä, Principal Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., this wasn’t her first visit. “I was impressed then, and I’m still impressed now,” she said. She particularly appreciated the comprehensive coverage of the entire textile value chain in education and research, enabling product development, collaboration, and networking.

The exchange began with a webinar in October 2023, and subsequently representatives from Sweden made a similar visit to Finland in November.