Future shock: TCF pundits told to march forward
CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technologies chief Dr Nigel Johnson believes the battle-weary textile industry needs to better confront rapid changes in global trade, technologies and consumer expectations.
Johnson said the best way forward for the volatile industry would be to develop a formal strategy to encourage growth and adaptation.
"Creating a strategy for the future will need industry leaders to step forward and get involved."
Johnson, who spoke at the Australian TCF Technology Network in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick recently, is a keen promoter of intelligent and new generation textiles and an avid supporter of what modern textiles can do in the 21st century.
He said Australia should not try to compete on the basis of cheap labour in the face of commodity production moving offshore and argued this would make Australia a poor country. Instead, the local industry should create platforms for new businesses in Australia and promote the use of cutting-edge fibres and textiles.
Johnson said the Australian industry would survive if it identified niche pockets of the sector in which it could become strong players.
"Perhaps we have to think of ourselves as part of the global textile industry, because we are too diverse and disconnected to be a coherent Australian textile industry.
"Really, there has been very little positive re-positioning of the textile industry.
"(As a result), some parts of the industry will die out, some will adapt and some new species will evolve."
While the more traditional manufacturing industry is declining, there are opportunities for entrepreneurial risk-takers, he said.
Johnson said the industry should consider promoting and demonstrating the potential for fibres and fibrous structures to trigger the development of new advanced materials.
But Manager of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Resource Centre of Western Australia Carol Hanlon argued Australia already operates in niche areas, particularly in cotton and knit fibres.
"Certainly I believe the more the merrier as far as getting people together to talk about the future of the industry, but there are already a lot of strategies for the industry around that have been being developed over many years," Hanlon said.
Leading Australian womenswear designer Jayson Brunsdon ? a regular attendee of the Shanghai Intertextile Fair ? supported Hanlon and said that close to "30 to 40 per cent" of his collections were made from cutting-edge wool fibres from both Australia and abroad. The designer even argued that his prolific use of the fabric secured his successful debut into New York Fashion Week in February.
"To create the mood, the sensuality, the fit, the comfort, and the luxury I needed; Australian merino wool was the perfect textile for this runway show."
But Johnson insisted there was still more room to harness "entrepreneurial risk-takers" and that more traditional manufacturing businesses were already in decline.
Johnson said the industry should consider promoting and demonstrating the potential for fibres and fibrous structures to trigger the development of new advanced materials.
"CSIRO scientists and technologists can create these opportunities and solutions. Turning these developments into commercial products requires entrepreneurial risk-takers, and anyone in the Australian textile industry today must have these sorts of qualities."