Corporate
Background
The Fashion Research Institute was developed in
response to emerging technology that could be applied to problems
confronting the fashion industry. Focusing on issues as diverse
as bio-renewable, sustainable multi-channel production pipelines to
renovating antiquated product design methodologies, FRI leads the industry
through its innovative approaches to common problems plaguing the fashion
industry.
Our mission is to research and develop
products and systems for the fashion industry that sweepingly address
traditionally wasteful, environmentally unsound and unsafe business and
production methods. Current research foci include sustainable &
replicable eco-fashion processes which include optimizing the process of
obtaining high-viscosity cellulose in order to create new
cellulose-derivative forms of rayon and other man-made
non-petrochemical-based fibers; and developing Engineered EcotextilesTM
which reduce the carbon footprint and effluent discharge by more than 1/4
over traditional rayon and natural fiber development.
FRI is researching and developing new
technology infrastructures using web 3.0 and virtual worlds. These
infrastructures will reduce related fashion industry production landfill
wastes and by-products to up to 60% over traditional fashion production
methods and cut time-to-market for products by as much as six weeks. FRI's
goal is to research and develop bio-renewable, sustainable, multi-channel
production pipelines for the fashion industry, which will change the way
the industry handles raw materials, processed materials, product design
methodology, and product tracking technology. FRI is an IBM business
partner.
FRI maintains a substantial virtual
world presence, with five islands in Second Life and an OpenSim complex.
There is a substantial collaboration that occurs with IBM research
scientists, artists, fashion designers, and philosophers on the FRI island
complex of Shengri La in Second LifeTM.
Our core values include integrity, respect for its
business partners, owners, and workers; high value for human life and the
conditions those lives are lived in; and a desire to actively, positively
change the lives of those who are involved in FRI projects.
