UAL Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute (UAL FTTI) is a multidisciplinary research institute. We aim to address the sustainability challenges facing some of the world’s largest, most complex and fast-moving industries at the intersection of fashion, textiles and technology.
Working across UAL’s colleges and institutes, and in collaboration with other higher education institutions (HEIs), UAL FTTI brings together wide-ranging academic expertise from across materials engineering and manufacturing, consumer behaviour, eco-design, environmental science, fibre chemistry, bio-technology, digital design and production, anthropology, business and management and more.
We have two state-of-the-art research facilities, our XR Lab in Textiles and Dress and our Design-STEM Lab.
Our research is guided by five pillars which stand around a central pillar – humanity. These are
- Circularity and sustainability
- Materials
- Production
- Business and consumption
- Digital
What We Offer
We provide extensive research and development expertise and facilities to businesses and researchers. Working across the breadth of UAL, we draw on world-class academic expertise to give research projects the right support. Our facilities provide researchers and businesses of all sizes with a place to test, prototype, research and innovate.
Get in touch to find out more about how we could support your research and development.
Our impact for business, people, and planet
Our community
We are proud to collaborate with businesses, academic researchers and government agencies who are seeking answers to complex sustainability questions across fashion, textiles and technology.
Our community spans textile development, retail, AI, museums, theatre, extended reality, and many more areas. Our partners include businesses such as Sony and Segura, cultural institutions such as the V&A and Royal Shakespeare Company, and higher education institutions such as University of Cambridge and University of Leeds.
To date, we have collaborated with over 100 businesses of all sizes, and over 10 HEIs in the UK and internationally.
Our Story
Click through the photo gallery to see our journey so far, starting with the Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology creative R&D partnership, part of the Creative Clusters programme, funded by UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council. Click on the caption on the corner of each photo for more information.
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Spring 2019 - The Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology Creative R&D Partnership begins, focusses on delivering sustainable innovation within the entire fashion and textile supply chain. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and part of the Creative CIusters programme. -
Autumn 2020 - BFTT SME R&D programme funding begins, supporting SMEs in the UK as they innovate, research and develop the next generation of products, services and experiences in the fashion, textiles and technology sectors. This tailored package included funding, combined with academic expertise and strategic business support in total valued at over £3 million. (Image: AWAYTOMARS) -
Autumn 2021 - The UAL Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute is launched. -
September 2022 - The New Landscapes R&D Grant Scheme is launched in partnership with the British Council, partnering SMEs across the globe to tackle R&D and sustainability challenges together. Image: Factory workers overseeing the spreading machine in preparation for pattern cutting, Bangladesh (Image credit: Azim Group) -
Summer 2023 - BFTT and V&A launch Made in Code: Reimagning the Experience of Fashion, a prototype installation at the V&A to showcase the significant potential of digital fashion experiences across performance, film, games, archives, and other wide ranging cultural contexts. The experience combined state of the art (SOA) motion capture, garment simulation and cloth rendering, and display technology to create a unique and individual experience for users. Visitors were invited to have their body motion captured using marker-less motion-capture capability provided by MovieAI. Each individual’s movement data was then translated into a costume-based avatar, dressed in fluid digital representations of garments by British fashion designer Maria Grachvogel. Production company Happy Finish brought all the technical elements of the working experience together to provide the overall user experience, and Holition created the interface that facilitated audience engagement. -
Summer 2023 - UAL FTTI announce the development of a specialist Virtual Production (VP) and XR Lab in Textiles and Dress,creating capacity for innovative, transdisciplinary practice-led research in VP/XR textiles and dress. The new FTTI lab will be located at UAL’s new East Bank campus (2023). The campus will form part of a new powerhouse for research, innovation, creativity and learning through a novel collaboration between world-leading universities, cultural bodies, industry and local communities. -
Summer 2023 - Building on New Landscapes, UAL FTTI and British Council launch a new partnership, New Landscapes India, focused on connecting India and UK SMEs for collaborative R&D projects. (Image: Post Carbon Lab) -
Spring 2024 - UAL FTTI in partnership with V&A host the Material Futures Symposium - exploring the importance of archives, the value o material knowledge, and how both could be used to support knowledge exchange for more sustainable materials development across heritage, design, and STEM disciplines. -
Summer 2024 - In collaboration with Plexal FTTI brought together industry, finance and policy makers to make Sustainable Change with Investment in future Fashion, Textiles & Technology. -
Spring 2025 - UAL FTTI establishes DSTEM Lab, a Design-led STEM Sustainable Materials R&D Lab for SMEs, industry, researcher and wider communities to access advanced material, design and development - to support novel and sustainable FTT related material innovation.
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Natural dye tests, as part of the New Landscapes Research and Development partnership with the British Council
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FTTI team members in the XR Textiles and Dress research lab