Textile industry honour for Professor Parik Goswami

The University of Huddersfield’s Professor Parik Goswami has been named as President of the Bradford Textile Society (BTS) for a tenure of two years.

The honour for the Head of the Department of Music and Design Arts, and Director of the University’s Technical Textiles Research Centre follows Professor Goswami becoming the first academic to join the board of the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) in 2021.

Professor Goswami says, “It is really important that we remain cutting-edge but at the same time we preserve the heritage we have in this region. The symbiosis between the two makes this region really special for Fashion and Textiles.”

Established in 1893, the BTS is the oldest textile society in Britain, if not in the world. Joseph Dumville, the patriarch of the textile industry in the area during the 20th century, once remarked that of all the organisations connected with the textile industry, none had played a more useful part than the BTS.

The Society has been addressed by Secretaries of State, High Commissioners, foreign ambassadors and bankers, and by those who set the fashion and make the clothes and accessories we buy. It has a tradition of opening up to the young designers and technicians of the future, offering them a glimpse of the richness and complexity of their profession. It still organises lectures by and for the industry, and organises a popular design competition to motivate bright talents to join the industry.

The Professor’s appointment further strengthens the links between the University’s research and the textile and fashion industry at a time when the industry's poor record on sustainability is increasingly under the spotlight.

Its links with the UKFT will also be underlined when Professor Goswami speaks at the UKFT’s 2022 Weaving Conference, which will be held at the Cedar Court Hotel in Huddersfield on 6 October.

The University will then host the 92nd Textile Institute World Conference on 3 to 6 July 2023. The conference theme, ‘Sustainability of the Textile and Fashion Supply Chain – Transitioning to Zero Carbon and Zero Waste’, is focused on identifying the current scenario as well as emerging sustainable practices and solutions throughout the whole supply chain of textile and fashion products, starting from raw materials to manufacturing processes, distribution and retailing, use by consumers and up to the end-of-life phases.

The conference will also address strategies to manage the impact of the textile and fashion supply chain on the environment and climate change.

“The University has an outstanding track record in leveraging the incredible textile industry heritage that the town of Huddersfield has, as well as being at the cutting edge of research into improving how the industry can react to the demands of the absolute need for better sustainability amidst climate change,” added Professor Goswami.