We want to make systematic change throughout the industry
The Mills Fabrica is an incubator and investment fund with a membership-led workspace dedicated to sustainable innovators. It is located at a stone’s throw from King’s Cross station, perfect for busy commuters, and set in the heart of Knowledge Quarter, one of the world’s largest knowledge clusters. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, Nikita Jayasuriya (General Manager, Head of Europe) talks about sustainable solutions for the fashion industry and how his organisation supports start-ups in eco innovation and sustainability.
As of today, do we have enough sustainable solutions to enable the global textile industry to tackle the challenges generated by current practices?
I firmly believe that we do have the solutions today. Actually, we have had them for a long time. What’s happened is that we have invented new solutions which are toxic for our industry. So, if we want to just solve the problem today, we can go backwards maybe 100 years and use the natural fibres in the textiles that we were originally using which can just dissolve and biodegrade back into nature with no harm. So, yes, we have got the solutions here on the planet to do it today and we have got technology. It is really about how do we ramp up and start producing more of the products which are good for you, and better for your environment. When we talk about linens, flax, cotton, and wool, they need to be produced with no toxic chemicals. If cotton is grown without any toxic fertilisers, it will be organic then. The problem basically is with using anything that is a by-product of oil. The oil industry is the biggest polluting industry, and fashion is the second biggest because it uses by-products of oil, for example, polyester.
How can the textile industry contribute to reduce global warming, and make earth a better place to live on?
In my opinion it’s really about changing the culture around plastics and oil derived products like polyester and nylon. There is a need to change the culture and perception back to natural fibres. Also, when buying new clothes, people should have to return their old clothes to retailers who I believe should be responsible for upcycling them. The fashion industry has a big responsibility. So, if I buy a pair of trainers, I should have to return the ones I purchased previously, and then whoever produces those trainers has the responsibility to upcycle them and deal with the problem rather than passing it down the line for someone else to deal with it. So, there is a need to figure out ways to really put them (in this case, the trainers) back into the ecosystem. Companies that produce products should also produce the solutions for them after they are used. In that scenario, if it is a challenge to upcycle them, which it seemingly is today, then they would innovate and design products which are better designed to be upcycled. That would really help solve a lot of problems we face today. I hope we will get to that point in the near future.
How has business changed post-COVID? Has the focus on sustainability increased?
COVID-19 has given everyone the opportunity to step back and question everything around them. It has really given the brands some breathing space to think consciously and brought global warming to the forefront. Now, people have started to ask questions like: what is my product made out of, where was it made, who made it, what were they paid, and what was the impact. People want to have more visibility on traceability and want to know from where are all the materials that go into garment making are sourced. People want to make sustainable choices. They want to make the right choices. Earlier, there was greenwashing, for example biomaterial—it could be a bioplastic, or it could be a biomaterial which is 100% natural and could go back into nature. So, as soon as consumers saw the word bio, they believe they are making a conscious choice without realising that it is a bioplastic, which is still a plastic. So, definitely COVID-19 has brought the focus on sustainability to the forefront and consumers are asking more about it. It has given brands in the industry time to work on what their plan is around sustainability going forward. The silver lining that has come out of it is that we are more conscious about our environment and what’s around us. So, I hope that it is only going to be positive from here on.
What is the story of The Mills Fabrica? What is the philosophy behind it?
The Mills Fabrica is an innovation platform dedicated to supporting techstyle (fashion, textiles and apparel) and agri-tech companies transition to a more sustainable future through innovations and collaborations. Officially launched in Hong Kong in December 2018, The Mills is a landmark revitalisation project by the Nan Fung Group, transforming their old textile factories into a new heritage, experiential retail and innovation centre. With its business incubator, investment fund, spaces in Hong Kong and London, and community-building initiatives, The Mills Fabrica aims to create success stories of collaborations between innovators, entrepreneurs, organisations and corporates, that together, will drive positive change for the future generations.
The Mills Fabrica is a co-working space and an incubation investment fund. We also have a retail space with Fabrica X, which is experiential retail. Then, we started supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups really making systematic change throughout the fashion and food tech industry. Then in 2021, we opened our headquarters in London which I head for Europe. We have a coffee shop and co-working space where we support the start-ups that we invest in. We provide office space for them to grow and what we are really doing is building a community of like-minded people. It is aimed at changing the trajectory of where we are going with the planet today and making better decisions in business around eco innovation and sustainability.
The Mills Fabrica has a vested interest in the following start-ups: Abillion, ADAY, Algaeing, Circ, Colorifix, Evrnu, Geltor, Goxip, Huue, Lumos, Mango Materials, MOTIF, Renewcell, Reflaunt, Simple Pieces, and Smartzer.
Having started in Hong Kong, why did you choose London for your next physical hub?
London is definitely one of the cosmopolitan epicentres. Our space is nestled in the heart of London in King’s Cross which is known as the knowledge quarter. Our neighbours are UCL, Central St. Martins, the cricket institute, the British Library, Google and out of our window is the King’s Cross station. So, it is the epicentre for what I consider Europe, especially when you are talking about fashion, tech and food tech. So, the decision to move to London, and specifically into King’s Cross, was because it is the heart of London, and it is easily accessible for the rest of Europe.
What all does The Mills Fabrica do to drive social impact and sustainable development?
We are building a community to support our companies from our incubation and investment portfolio. When we invest in a company, for example, Renewcell which just launched IPO, we also help support them within our network and give them a platform to tell their narrative and educate the public through our experiential retail and innovation gallery which we call Fabrica X. Our role is also to see if there’s the opportunity to connect them with other investors/brands within the industry. Previously, I was working with Parley for the Oceans, where I was responsible for heading up partnerships in Fashion and Luxury, and so I aim to help support collaborations and partnerships in a similar way with our portfolio companies. When the opportunity is right, we will help connect them to brands, once their product is ready for commercial launch. So, that’s the idea as well as to how we help drive the social impact by investing in the company. Our main objective for investments has to be around eco innovation and sustainability. When we talk about the fashion industry, we invest in companies that can transcend from luxury all the way through value fashion and really impact the entire industry in this movement towards a better future. We really want to make systematic change throughout the industry to help support them. We are looking to change the industry as a whole. If we support one brand that’s great, but it is not going to move the needle for the whole industry. So, we are looking to support the entire industry.
Which all companies/organisations are The Mills Fabrica’s industry partners? How do they help your organisation?
We have three sections that we focus on: the sustainable supply chain and production, ingredient materials and product innovations, and sustainable platforms in circular models. We look across textiles and apparel and also agri tech/ food. Colorifix, for example, which makes natural dyes, just started a collaboration with Pangaea for all non-toxic natural dyes. Then, we have got Unspun who digitally scan your body and make you custom fit denim. At the moment, we have 27 portfolio and incubator brands that we support.
As a platform connecting innovative corporates and start-ups, how does The Mills Fabrica help them?
We help them connect. When we invest in a brand or a company, we invest not only to support them, but we also invest our time in helping build their network and help connecting them to our network. We support them within our co-working space so we can have like-minded start-ups sitting together in the same room, all striving towards the same goal of making better products for the industry. We also do monthly calls with all our start-ups. They could cross pollinate their ideas, from how to best hire or how to raise extra funding, for example. We support them all the way through. We are not just a silent investor, and that is the reason why we have the retail innovation gallery on our ground floor where we can put up our portfolio brands to show the general public who they are and what they are doing. We are here to support them because if they grow, we grow, and if we grow, they grow. We are investing in brands which are doing good for the planet. So, it is going to be win-win all around.
The Mills Fabrica partners with Central Saint Martins UAL too. Can you tell us more about this partnership?
Central Saint Martins UAL (University of the Arts London) offers a biodesign course. At the end of the biodesign course, we set up a competition where we give an award to the most inspiring innovative ideas. The award winners get a three-month residency whether it be in Hong Kong or in London. If it is in Hong Kong, we pay for their flights and accommodation. We also give them a cash prize and cover their day-to-day expenses. The idea is that once they graduate, they should continue to work on their amazing idea around innovation, instead of joining a big corporation like most people who come out of the university do and their amazing idea never gets to see the light of the day. So, what we are doing is that we believe in their idea, we pay them to invest time in themselves, we support them once they come out of the university, so they believe in their own idea and go forward with it. Then, we support them with network and connect them with our networks as well. In short, we help them to believe in themselves and continue their journey on trying to invent the new material to change the world. The scary thing would be for those people to come out of the university with an amazing idea but never get to explore it further because they needed to get a job. Ours is really a customised incubation programme providing a platform for them to accelerate their product. We have done this for the last 4 years, and we are continuing into our 5th year.
What new does The Mills Fabrica plan to do this year?
Our plan is to get The Mills Fabrica name out to the industry and to the world letting them know who we are and what we are doing. We want everyone to know about all the good work The Mills Fabrica does as an incubator support network and investment fund. So, when people do come up with an idea and have started a company and they are looking for funding support network, they think of us and come to us with their amazing idea and see whether we want to potentially invest, support or share them with our network. So, for example, if someone comes to us with an amazing idea and we do not think it is right for us and with our investors, we connect them with other people within our network who may be interested in investing as well. So, over the next year, the aim to is to be running network breakfast, network lunches, and speaker events around eco innovation and sustainability, and get our name out there, so people come to us for support. The idea is to make some sound investments to help support the change in the industry for a better and more sustainable planet.
