WTiN brings together a lineup of industry professionals and thought leaders to join delegates virtually and explore circularity across the textile & apparel supply chain. Meet the speakers of Textile & Apparel Circularity Week.
Professor Yi Li University of Manchester
Sophie Ridler Textile Exchange
Keith O'Brien RE&UP
Aida Rafat DyeRecycle
Kristina Bull WEFT
Sarah Cook Samsara Eco
Cyndi Rhoades Circle 8
Hilde Heim FASHTRAX
Danielle Elsener DECODE MFG
Jad Finck Syre
Robyn Kimber Consultant (former Lululemon)
Adele Gingell Finisterre
Dr. Dag Wiebelhaus BASF
Yaqub Ahsan Interloop Limited
Carola Tembe H&M Foundation
Saurabh Dey Intellecap
Elizabeth Carttar Zalando
Andrew Xeni Fabacus and Nobody's Child
Nathaniel Crompton SwitchDye
Harrison Tatem-Wyatt Tianhai
Mark Sumner WRAP
Miguel Ramôa ROVO
Steven Bethell Bank & Vogue
Eileen Mockus Accelerating Circularity
Joanna Maiden SOKO Kenya
Wesley Ekman CGS
Chris Jones CGS
Madelaine Thomas WTiN
Jessica Robe WTiN

Interested in speaking

If you would like to join up as a speaker please share presentation abstract to events@wtin.com.

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Professor Yi Li

University of Manchester

Chair Professor of Textile Science and Engineering 

Professor Yi Li is the chair professor of textile science and engineering at the University of Manchester’s Department of Materials. He is a life fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the International Biographical Association, a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and the Textile Institute. Li is a leading figure in international textile standards – serving on expert committees for ISO, IEC, CEN, BSI, and AATCC – and currently plays an active role in shaping digital product passport (DPP) standards. Here, he was instrumental in launching the International Group Standard (IGS) initiative under the Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Society (TBIS) to support global sustainability legislation, including the EU’s Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Under Prof. Li’s leadership, the TBIS-IGS initiative now includes over 50 participants from 17 countries/regions. The consortium is developing four international DPP standards for textiles, focused on technical performance, environmental footprint, circularity and ESG.

Sophie Ridler

Textile Exchange

Recycled Engagement Manager 

Sophie Ridler is the Recycled Engagement Manager at Textile Exchange, where she ensures that the perspective of recycled stakeholders are represented across the organization’s tools, resources, and standards in support of the Climate+ Strategy. This strategy guides the industry towards reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fiber and raw material production by 45% by 2030. Her current work focuses on enabling an industry transition towards textile-to-textile recycled materials. 

Prior to joining Textile Exchange, Sophie worked in sustainability roles both at an early-stage fashion tech company and within the environmental sustainability team of a major global fashion brand. 

Keith O'Brien

RE&UP

Global Marketing & PR Leader

Keith O’Brien is a seasoned global marketing & PR leader with over 15 years’ experience shaping the reputation and growth of some of the fashion industry’s most recognised brands. He is currently senior global marketing & PR manager at ISKO and RE&UP, driving brand positioning, communications strategy and high-impact partnerships at the intersection of fashion, innovation and sustainability. At ISKO, he has designed global brand strategy and led major collaborations with industry institutions, while at RE&UP he has established the company’s identity from the ground up, securing recognition for its next-generation fibre and recycling technologies. Known for connecting strategy with storytelling, O’Brien uses communications to inspire change, build influence and advance the industry’s transition towards circularity.

Aida Rafat

DyeRecycle

CEO

CEO and co-founder of DyeRecycle Aida Rafat holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. Rafat’s expertise spans sustainable chemical process development to waste valorisation and treatment. Not only is Rafat a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow but she is also the recipient of multiple awards, such as the H&M Foundation Global Change Award and the IChemE Global Award. Under her leadership DyeRecycle has secured over US$1m in early-stage funding, formed strategic partnerships with global recyclers and retailers, plus built a growing team of engineers and scientists developing scalable recycling solutions for the textile industry.

Kristina Bull

WEFT

Client Engagement Lead

Kristina Bull is the client engagement lead at WEFT and a leading voice in circular fashion and sustainability. She managed the EPR Sandbox, an Innovate UK–funded project with brands including Burberry, M&S and New Look, which analysed over 250 million data points to demonstrate how a variable EPR fee system can drive better design and fund circular infrastructure. With extensive experience across resale, repair, recycling and data-driven policy, Bull now leads WEFT’s work expanding the Sandbox internationally and engaging governments on intelligent, fair EPR systems that help businesses thrive while accelerating the shift to a circular fashion economy. 

Sarah Cook

Samsara Eco

Chief Commercial Officer

Sarah Cook is chief commercial officer (CCO) at biotech innovator Samsara Eco. Cook works closely with brands and partners to help them create circularity in their supply chain, replacing virgin plastics and textiles with recycled materials that are better for people, brands and the planet. Cook is a seasoned operator, director and leader with Board, ASX listed and global operating committee experience. With an extensive background in commercial, procurement and supply chain roles, Sarah has led operations at number of FMCGs including Nestle and Coca-Cola. This includes leading the development and delivery of Coca-Cola Amatil’s 2020-2040 sustainability ambitions and net zero. 

Cyndi Rhoades

Circle 8

Co-Founder

Cyndi Rhoades co-founded Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems, a UK-based company in development of a network of industrial-scale automated textile sorting and pre-processing facilities (ATSPs) for non-reusable textiles to pave the way and enable high-volume and cost-effective feedstock for existing and emerging mechanical and chemical recycling plants. Rhoades is an ardent advocate of textiles circularity, a thought leader and a regular public speaker, including at McKinsey’s Fashion & Luxury Roundtable at COP26 and the Financial Times’ Climate Capital. In 2005 she formed Worn Again and in 2012, she led the company, now Worn Again Technologies, in the development of a world-leading polymer recycling technology for end of use polyester and cotton blend textiles. In 2019, she was as an awardee of LAUNCH, the US based initiative founded by Nike, NASA and IDEO. In 2023, Cyndi received an honorary doctorate degree from the University Arts London (UAL) for her work dedicated to advancing the field of textiles circularity. She is an early pioneer of the sustainable fashion movement, a co-founder of the RE:Fashion Awards, the world’s first Sustainable Fashion Awards in London, and more recently a co-Founder of World Circular Textiles Day.

Hilde Heim

FASHTRAX

Founder

Dr Hilde Heim is an academic and former fashion SME entrepreneur whose research explores supply chain transparency and the digitalisation of the fashion ecosystem, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities for SMEs. At the Manchester Fashion Institute, she leads the textiles transparency research team, which is developing tools such as the Compliance Navigator – providing tailored legal obligation summaries – and an AI-enabled Compliance Companion for natural language guidance and live updates. She also founded FASHTRAX, a knowledge exchange platform hosting an open-access database of over 100 legal provisions mapped to eco-credentials, supporting industry-wide compliance and sustainability. 

Danielle Elsener

DECODE MFG

Founder

Danielle Elsener is a zero waste system designer, educator, industry consultant, and creative strategist specialising in research and development surrounding the future of sustainability in the fashion industry. For over a decade, Elsener has worked with industry, educational institutions and entrepreneurial ventures as a consultant and educator to shift the reality of sustainability in fashion. What began as a love for puzzle solving through zero waste pattern making became a way to fix the fashion industry’s biggest problem. This approach has caught the eye of industry leaders, from Virgil Abloh to Jony Ives. Her design system has won the Evian Activate Movement Grant and iDesign Covid Grant and has recently received accolades in the Smithsonian, Wallpaper Mag, Dezeen, Hypebeast, and Oregon Business Mag. Elsener is currently consulting with global fashion brands, co-running Zero Waste Design Collective and teaching at Fashion Institute of Technology on the MFA program’s Pattern Recognition course, educating the next generation of designers on innovative patterning methodology and 3D design. 

Jad Finck

Syre

Chief Commercial Officer

Chief Commercial Officer at Syre, a textile impact company on a mission to decarbonise and dewaste the textile industry through hyperscaled textile-to-textile recycling, starting with polyester. Jad is a high-impact decarbonisation operator and innovator with 25 years of experience in sustainable brand & product building. He has a proven track record of profitable success in originating and closing first-of-a-kind investments and scaling up operations and partnerships in novel bio-based & recycled materials, low-carbon renewable fuels, and driving the success of industry-leading sustainable IPOs. He’s also a key executive and original member of the company-building team at Allbirds.

Robyn Kimber

Consultant (former Lululemon)

Consultant (former Lululemon)

Robyn Kimber has worked on all aspects of sustainability including climate, circularity and product sustainability. Specialising in circularity she immersed herself in all aspects of the supply chain - developing Circular Design guidelines, supporting factories in post-industrial waste collection, partnering on post-consumer waste footprints and setting up textile-to-textile recycling, including the world’s first enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 product.

Adele Gingell

Finisterre

Head of Positive Impact

Adele Gingell is Head of Positive Impact at Finisterre, where she leads the brand’s impact strategy and guides initiatives that respond to evolving environmental and social challenges in the outdoor apparel industry.

With deep experience across the industry, Adele has navigated the complexities of materials, supply chains, ethical sourcing, and environmental impact. She has successfully led Finisterre’s B Corp recertifications, using them as a platform to strengthen standards and embed lasting change.

Under her leadership, the brand has launched resale and take-back partnerships, accelerated circular business models, and advanced ambitious impact goals - all while fostering meaningful community engagement. Adele brings together commercial understanding and purpose-led strategy, influencing peers across the sector to drive higher standards of positive impact.

Dr. Dag Wiebelhaus

BASF

Head of Innovation Management at BASF’s Monomers division and loopamid® project lead

Dag Wiebelhaus started early in forging his career in the chemical industry. After earning his doctorate in Chemistry in 1998, he took on a role as a team leader in the R&D lab at BASF. Over the years, he gained valuable knowledge along his roles in Procurement, Business Development and Strategic Marketing. For more than a decade, he has been leading the Product Innovation department for the Monomers Division, driving forward new developments in the field, like the loopamid project which he is heading.

Yaqub Ahsan

Interloop Limited

Chief Information Officer

Yaqub Ahsan leads IT strategy, digital transformation, and technology innovation at Interloop. With over 25 years of experience across Pakistan, the Middle East, and North America, including leadership roles at IBM, he has built a career at the intersection of technology and business impact. At Interloop, Yaqub is driving initiatives in structured data systems and traceability, including Looptrace and digital product passports, positioning the company at the forefront of transparency and circularity in the textile and apparel supply chain.

Company Statement

Interloop Limited

Interloop is a vertically integrated manufacturer of hosiery, denim, knitted apparel, and seamless activewear for leading global brands. Recognised for its commitment to environmental and social responsibility, the company operates multiple LEED- and Fair Trade-certified facilities, and is a proud UN Global Compact member.

Today, Interloop is setting new standards for supply chain transparency through Looptrace, its traceability platform, and digital product passports including a collaboration with GS1 Netherlands on biodegradable Socklab socks, proving that responsible manufacturing at scale can accelerate the industry’s transition to circularity.

Carola Tembe

H&M Foundation

Programme Director for Collective Action

Carola Tembe is programme director for Collective Action at H&M Foundation, where she sets the strategic direction and co-designs initiatives that drive inclusive systems change across the textile industry. With 20 years of experience spanning the private sector, global non-profits, and philanthropy, Tembe brings deep expertise in international development, sustainability, human rights, and supply chain transformation.

Her work focuses on fostering cross-sector partnerships that champion diversity, equity, and innovative solutions for just transition and decarbonisation. She currently leads the Foundation’s collective impact initiative in Panipat, India—one of the world’s largest textile waste hubs—where inclusive circularity is at the core, and informal workers are engaged as key actors in building circular solutions for the green transition.

Driven by a collaborative approach, Tembe is passionate about reimagining the future of textiles to create systems that put people at the centre. Her commitment to equity and sustainability aims to inspire meaningful change across industries and geographies.

Saurabh Dey

Intellecap

Principal

Saurabh Dey, principal at Intellecap – an advisory service driving inclusive and circular supply chains for post-consumer textile waste and leading efforts to decarbonise textile and apparel manufacturing across India. With over 15 years of experience in impact advisory, Dey has consulted across a range of sectors, engaging deeply with governments, multilaterals, philanthropies, and private sector organisations in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Rwanda. He currently champions the circular transition of the textile sector, designing and implementing projects that create green, equitable livelihood opportunities for marginalized communities. At Intellecap, Dey is focused on advancing cluster-level circularity, just transitions for textile workers and closed-loop material value chains, making measurable strides toward a more sustainable and inclusive industry future. Based in New Delhi, he is passionate about building systems that transform waste into opportunity and support climate action through innovation and collaboration.

Elizabeth Carttar

Zalando

Head of Sustainability

As head of sustainability at Zalando, Elizabeth Carttar is responsible for embedding sustainability into the group strategy to deliver both ESG and commercial impact. She and her team work closely with internal and external stakeholders to set targets and shape roadmaps toward Zalando’s net zero and decent work ambitions. Previously, Elizabeth established and led the European division of the consulting firm Global Prairie, where she developed sustainability strategies and led transformational initiatives for DAX 40 companies. She began her career at Fleishman Hillard after graduating summa cum laude from the University of Richmond in Virginia.

Andrew Xeni

Fabacus and Nobody's Child

Founder - Fabacus and Nobody’s Child
 
Andrew Xeni is a visionary technology and retail entrepreneur; founder of award-winning businesses that are reshaping their industries.

After building a successful family manufacturing business supplying the UK high street, Xeni went on to establish responsible fashion brand, Nobody’s Child, named 2023 & 2024 Drapers Retailer of the Year (<£100m), as well as building technology ventures; Fabacus, where he serves as CEO, and Soreto, where he acts as Chairman. Operating globally, his businesses are servicing some of the world’s largest organisations in licensing and retail, including Tesco, NBCUniversal and Samsung. Xeni also welcomed Marks & Spencer as a strategic investor and minority shareholder in Nobody’s Child.

Passionate about shaping the future of sustainable retail, in 2023, Fabacus and Nobody’s Child collaborated to launch a Digital Product Passport solution driven by compliant product catalogues, in preparation for incoming legislation around the world, set to redefine and evolve the retail landscape.

Xeni is backed by a number of leading financial institutions and prominent individuals and in addition to managing a diverse portfolio of businesses, he is an active angel investor and mentor.
 
 

Nathaniel Crompton

SwitchDye

CEO

An alumnus of the University of Glasgow and the University of Leeds, Dr. Nathaniel Crompton has dedicated nearly a decade to pioneering research in sustainable textile colouration. During his time at the University of Leeds, he focused on developing innovative alternatives to disperse dyes, leading to the creation of SwitchDye Ltd. As CEO, he is driving forward a new generation of dyes that eliminate the need for auxiliary chemicals, significantly reduce water consumption and enhance circularity within the textile industry.

Harrison Tatem-Wyatt

Tianhai

UK Agent

Harrison Tatem-Wyatt is a second-generation lace expert, with 20 years of experience in the fashion industry. During this time, he has worked with a huge variety of businesses, from start-ups to globally recognised brands. He is passionate about sustainability and conscientious production. As well as representing Tianhai Lace in the UK, he has lectured in universities, such as central St Martin’s and De Montfort as well as at for companies internally, educating people about lace production. Tianhai Lace is a large vertical textile manufacturer, specialising in design and manufacture of high-quality warp-knitted laces for lingerie, outerwear, ready-to-wear, bridal, sport and athleisure.

Mark Sumner

WRAP

Programme Lead

Mark Sumner, programme lead for WRAP’s activities to improve the sustainability of textiles, develops the strategy for the Textiles Pact. This is the UK industry’s roadmap to reduce carbon, water and waste footprints - a strategy based on system transformation, shifting to a more circular approach. Sumner is also involved in growing WRAP’s international textile work.

He has worked in the textile and apparel industries for over 30 years and has an Engineering Doctorate in Textile Engineering. Sumner has spent over 15 years working with one of the UK’s largest clothing retailers. Additionally, he lectured in sustainable fashion at the University of Leeds for over 10 years, where he researched topics including consumer behaviour, modern slavery, microfibres and garment durability.

Throughout his work in Textiles, Sumner has focused on understanding the system dynamics of the textile and clothing industries to ensure solutions are sustainable and reflect stakeholder needs based on key frameworks such as the UN SDGs and Just Transitions principles.

Miguel Ramôa

ROVO

VP Comercial and Verticalisation

Miguel Ramôa is a textile technologist and innovation leader with over 25 years of experience transforming the textile industry through disruptive innovation and sustainability. As Head of Innovation & Sustainability at Adalberto Textile Solutions and now leading Comercial, Verticalisation & Industrial Scaling at ROVO, he has developed several groundbreaking textile processes. These include technologies that drastically reduce water, energy and chemical consumption while improving product performance and circularity. Miguel’s mission is to design the next way of producing textiles, efficient, fully transparent and regenerative.

Steven Bethell

Bank & Vogue

Co-Founder

Steven Bethell, co-founder of the Bank and Vogue group, has been a pioneer in the post-consumer textile space for over 20 years. Passionate about tackling the “crisis of stuff,” he has worked in 30+ countries, engaging deeply with global second-hand markets. Steven founded the world’s largest textile remanufacturing plant, turning post-consumer waste into relevant products and helping major brands elevate their sustainability efforts. Off the grid in the Canadian wilderness, Steven is a regenerative farmer, avid woodsman, and lover of the outdoors.

Eileen Mockus

Accelerating Circularity

Chief Operating Officer

Eileen Mockus currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at Accelerating Circularity. With decades of leadership in sustainable product development, she has advanced circularity and innovation across leading brands. Her experience bridges product design, manufacturing, and supply chain strategy — all anchored in environmental innovation.

 

Joanna Maiden

SOKO Kenya

Founder & CEO

Jo Maiden is an inspirational force in the world of sustainable and ethical fashion manufacturing. She is the founder and CEO of SOKO Kenya, a sustainable and ethical clothing manufacturer in Kenya. 

In 2009, driven by her belief in fashion's power to bring about positive change, she established SOKO Kenya with a vision to create a factory that prioritises social and environmental responsibility. At the core of Jo's vision is the commitment to fair wages, employment opportunities, and making a meaningful difference in the local community. Today, SOKO Kenya embodies this vision, employing 150 local workers and producing garments for international fashion brands. With unwavering dedication, Jo has transformed her passion for fashion into a force for good, inspiring others to embrace ethical practices and sustainable production.

Wesley Ekman

CGS

VP, EMEA

With over 16 years in enterprise software, including roles at Sage and Coats Digital, Wesley specialises in ERP, fashion tech and digital transformation. At CGS, he drives customer growth through AI, IoT and automation to enhance supply chain efficiency and client success.

Chris Jones

CGS

ESG Product Manager

Chris Jones is Product Manager for ESG Solutions at BlueCherry by CGS, with over 30 years in fashion technology, and has worked with major global brands like Coach, H&M and Samsung Fashion. He leads development of tools for CSRD, ESPR and DPP compliance, helping brands advance sustainability through data integration and supply chain transparency.

Madelaine Thomas

WTiN

Head of Content

As WTiN’s Head of Content, Madelaine is responsible for all WTiN content. Working at WTiN for over seven years, Madelaine has witnessed the move towards digitalisation in the industry and was a key player in launching WTiN’s Textile 4.0 branded products. As current editor of Nonwovens Report International and former editor of Digital Textile, International Dyer & Finisher and Textile 4.0, Knitting International journals (and their online counterparts on WTiN.com), Madelaine has a wealth of knowledge across the textile & apparel value chain. She is also the Editor of the ITMA Daily News and INDEX News. She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Leeds, UK and a First Class Honours degree in International Journalism from Liverpool John Moores, also in the UK.

Jessica Robe

WTiN

Senior Business Innovation Lead

Jessica Robe is senior business innovation lead at WTiN, where she leads consultancy projects and contributes expert insight to WTiN.com. Her work focuses on emerging technologies, materials and solution providers across the textile and apparel value chain, with particular emphasis on functional and sustainability-driven innovation. Jessica also heads WTiN’s sports and outdoorwear coverage, tackling the likes of  circular business models, safer chemistries, user-centric design strategies and shifting market dynamics.