The Hochschule Niederrhein's young textile talents have come out on top: the two design engineering fashion students Charlotte Weber and Ramona Möllers from the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology have won the Materialica Award 2023 in the "Student:in" category.
With their project "The dilemma of returned textiles - A revolutionary approach for a greener, closed-loop material design in the automotive industry", they addressed a global problem and came up with an alternative to the mass disposal of returned textile goods.
For their sustainable textile solutions, they have now been distinguished as winners of the Materialica Award at e-move 360 0 Europe, the international trade fair for e-mobility and autonomous driving, in Munich.
Ramona Möllers (26) and Charlotte Weber (25) from Dülmen have created something completely new from returned items of clothing from the fashion brand Fynch Hatton as part of a 5th semester project with Team 11. They first made the "Denys" rucksack and the "Blixxen" bag. For the Materialica competition, the duo transferred and expanded the concept to the interior design of vehicles - specifically using the Audi AI:ME car as an example.
The result is the textile surfaces "ReVived" and "Re3kinned". They can be used in various areas of the car's interior design - for example in the seat, headrest or carpet. "ReVived" consists of yarns from the fiber recycling company Turns, which are made up of 30 percent used clothing and 70 percent recycled PET bottles. The textile surface "Re3kinned" was made from returned polo shirts. Möllers and Weber worked together with the Prodia workshop for people with mental disabilities in Aachen.
"Doors are now opening up for our professional future, allowing us to specialize in textiles and potentially pursue a career in the automotive sector," say the two winners happily.
"This project proves that it is possible to achieve a 100% sustainable, circular textile economy together," says Prof. Dr. Marina-Elena Wachs. She supervised the project, which was developed from the HSNR's 5th semester project. Here, students from five different degree programmes - from Design Engineering with a specialization in fashion or textiles, textile technologists to Textile and Clothing Management - always spend four months working on an industry-related sustainability topic, which they put into practice together with companies and other external cooperation partners.
Swetlana Koch from Mönchengladbach also made it to the final round of the Materialica Award. The 35-year-old, who is currently studying for a Master's degree in Textile Products - Design at HSNR, developed a sandwich design for the automotive industry with "Revival Fiber". She created a material from a hemp-corn starch mix that can be pressed into any shape under pressure and heat. For example, it can be used as a shell construction for door panels.
She has also developed felt pockets for the back seat of a car from recycled wool and surplus roving. Thanks to integrated light sources that light up when the pocket is pressed, users can see what is in the pockets even in the dark - without distracting the driver. Both textile surfaces are fully recyclable and biodegradable.
