I’m interested in your Biosynthetics Round Table. Can you tell me more about it?

Textile Exchange’s Biosynthetics Round Table (previously called the Biosynthetics Working Group) kicked off in 2016 and the inaugural in-person meeting in Hamburg attracted much interest from attendees wanting to learn more about this lesser-known fiber. Biosynthetics is part of Textile Exchange’s work due to its potential to offer a replacement made from renewable rather than fossil fuel-based feedstocks. The topic is gaining much traction in the industry, but there are still many questions.

The Biosynthetics Round Table, driven by the priorities of its industry members, attempts to make sense of the opportunities and challenges we face as an industry, including the sustainability of feedstock production and innovations in future feeder materials.

Previous outputs of the Biosynthetics Round Table include the AboutBiosynthetics.org microsite and accompanying Quick Guide, which gather and synthesize available information and resources on biosynthetics with the goal of enabling this relatively new alternative to fossil fuel-based synthetics to become better understood and a more sustainable choice.

In 2019, the Biosynthetics Round Table formed a Working Group focusing on the sustainability assessments of biosynthetics and initiated a Biosynthetics e-learning series to explore different sustainability standards for biobased feedstocks. A second Working Group is working on the update of the microsite including the supplier directory and a broader communication strategy.