Alberto de Conti, head of the fashion division at Rudolf, described it as an example of a very sophisticated and safe chemistry during his talk for Transformers Ed, an education-focused online webinar series hosted by Mohsin Sajid (pictured) that aims to teach young designers and students to better understand the industry.

“Chemistry is the key foundation of modern life,” said Mr de Conti.

He introduced stone washing, lasering and enzymes, and discussed some of the less appealing chemistry on the market. “As an industry we need to come up with alternatives that are better,” he said, adding that responsible chemicals makers invest heavily in research and development.

Day one of the series included talks from Kingpins founder Andrew Olah, who discussed cotton and the confusion surrounding its sustainability credentials; Helen Latham from Lycra who explained the options for the group’s synthetic fibres; Michael Kininmonth, Lenzing’s business development manager; Mohsin Sajid, who spoke on hemp; and Simon Giuliani, Candiani’s marketing director, who talked about denim’s history and some of the mill’s latest fabrics and initiatives. 

The first day finished with a discussion with Jason Denham, who explained his experience and influences and how he built his Denham business in Japan and elsewhere. “Most of the denim we produce in Japan stays there, a lot of our Candiani denim stays in Europe and we work with Advance Denim in China, which are very active in sustainability. We produce in Japan, Europe and in Dubai, a good geographical place between Asia and Europe, so we reduce our carbon footprint.”

Day two and three (October 15 and 16) will include talks from Alice Tonello from machinery company Tonello, Alberto Candiani, and Sanjeev Bahl from Saitex. The talks will be subsequently available on the Transformers YouTube channel.

Andrew Olah said around 700 students had tuned in: “This third edition we shifted our timing to accommodate US students, which we couldn’t be more excited about, and spaced out the event over three days, at three hours per day. Our goal is to prepare students to enter our industry and hit the ground running with a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing the jeans industry.”