Innovation in Colorants: Binding Nature to Textiles

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen,

Dear students in Fashion Design

Allow me to start by expressing my gratitude to everyone present here today, and to our United Nations Environment Programme partner, the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, for hosting this workshop:“Innovation in Colorants: Binding Nature to Textiles”, held within the framework of the West Asia Sustainable Fashion Academy established by UNEP in 2021.

Universities are key partners for the United Nations Environment Programme to link science to policy as well as to drive innovation and empower youth. It is with great enthusiasm that we designed and developed in partnership with UTAS this one-of-a-kind event on colorants to make students reflect on the topic and inspire future actions.

This partnership embraces the ambitious goals set forth in the Oman 2040 vision, prioritizing sustainability and environmental protection, and setting the scene for the sultanate transition towards a sustainable future.

The United Nations Environment Programme is proud to stand alongside the people and government of Oman in their endeavours.

Dear guests,

The textile industry is one of global importance, providing high levels of employment, foreign exchange revenue and products essential to human welfare. The UN Environment programme estimates that the textile industry employs 300 million people around the world.

The current textile and fashion industry has immense environmental impacts. Each year the textile industry emits 3.3 billion Mt of greenhouse gases contributing largely to climate change. In addition to that, the industry consumes up to 215 trillion liters of water annually.

Colorants play a key role in the textile and fashion work. The use of colorants in the fashion and textile industry has a long history, dating back to ancient civilizations extracting natural colorants from plants and minerals to today's dominant use of synthetic colorants in the industry.

It's crucial today, especially in West Asia region, a region vulnerable to climate change and characterized by water scarcity, to deviate from water and energy intensive processes and to adopt sustainable practices in colorant extraction, synthesis, and application of whether natural or synthetic colorants.

It is the collective responsibility of all the stakeholders across the fashion and textile value chain from designers to manufacturers to consumers to commit and take the required actions to move towards more sustainable habits and lifestyles.

The United Nations Environment Programme encourages sector-wide collaboration to accelerate a just transition towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain, while supporting sound management of chemicals.

In line with that, the UNEP Regional Office for West Asia has established the West Asia Sustainable Fashion Academy late 2021.  The vision of the Sustainable Fashion Academy is to share expertise, build a sustainable fashion network, promote best practices, induce behavioral change and to mainstream circularity in the fashion industry for a greener planet.

Dear students joining us from various Fashion Design Schools from all around the West Asia region,

This workshop is an opportunity for you to explore the world of colorants, dive into sustainable and circular fashion practices, and hear from experts on their experiences in the industry. We rely on you to make this experience a dense one and take home all the resources, knowledge, and expertise that you will gain from this workshop and to be our drivers of change today and every day for a greener and sustainable future.

Thank you and wish you a good, fruitful and inspiring workshop!