Passion for
Sustainability
The Fashion Competence Center brings together research, technology, eco-design, material intelligence and circular innovation to support fashion and textile companies in designing the next generation of sustainable, recyclable and regulation-ready products.
The Fashion Competence Center
The Fashion Competence Center is a new research and innovation platform within Switzerland Innovation Park Ticino, dedicated to circular innovation for the fashion and textile industry.
It supports companies in transforming sustainability challenges into concrete design, product development and business opportunities. By integrating eco-design methodologies, Life cycle assessment (LCA), advanced material recognition technologies, artificial intelligence and robotic disassembly research, the Center creates a unique environment where products can be tested, improved and validated from design to recyclability.
Born from a direct dialogue with fashion companies and industry stakeholders, the Center focuses on real business needs: regulatory compliance, product recyclability, lower environmental impact, faster innovation cycles and stronger brand credibility.
of textile
products
& AI
Fashion
1. CIRCULAR INNOVATION & R&D
We don’t just support sustainable innovation — we help companies turn it into measurable product performance.
The Fashion Competence Center coordinates and facilitates applied research projects between companies, universities, technology providers and industry associations. Its mission is to close the gap between design intent and real recyclability performance, helping brands and manufacturers develop products that are sustainable by design and scalable by industry.
Through collaborative R&D projects, companies can explore new materials, improve product construction, test design-for-disassembly solutions and validate circular strategies before full industrial deployment. The Center is a neutral pre-competitive environment where companies can cooperate on common challenges while accelerating their own innovation roadmap.
2. ECO-DESIGN FOR CIRCULAR PRODUCTS
Circularity starts at the design table.
We support fashion companies in integrating sustainability criteria directly into product design and development workflows. Activities include eco-design lab sessions, redesign workshops, design-for-recycling assessments, material selection support and LCA-based decision-making.
The objective is to help designers, product developers and sustainability teams make better decisions at the earliest possible stage: choosing materials, reducing unnecessary complexity, improving durability, enabling repairability and preparing products for end-of-life recovery.
The Center helps companies transforming sustainability from a reporting exercise to a design capability.
3. MATERIAL INTELLIGENCE & TESTING
Understanding materials is the foundation of circular fashion.
The Fashion Competence Center develops and applies advanced material recognition and classification technologies, including VIS/NIR spectroscopy, AI-assisted classification and data-driven material analysis.
These tools support the identification of fibers, blends, colors, trims and product components, creating the basis for better sorting, recycling and Digital Product Passport data.
Our laboratory will support material and fiber testing, recyclability assessment, incoming material checks, dataset creation and validation protocols for industrial products. This enables companies to better understand the real composition and circular potential of their products and materials.
4. DESIGN-TO-RECYCLABILITY VALIDATION
The Fashion Competence Center offers a distinctive design-to-recyclability validation environment.
By combining digital design tools, material recognition laboratories, LCA models, Digital Product Passport requirements and robotic disassembly research, the Center helps companies understand how design choices affect end-of-life performance.
This integrated approach creates a feedback loop between product design and material recovery. Companies can test how different constructions, seams, trims, accessories and material combinations influence recyclability, disassembly time, component removal and downstream recovery options.
The result is practical circular design intelligence: actionable insights that help companies create products that are easier to recycle, easier to document and easier to align with future regulation.
5. COMPLIANCE, LCA & DIGITAL PRODUCT PASSPORT
Regulation is becoming a driver of innovation.
We supports companies in preparing for emerging sustainability requirements, including CSRD, ESPR and Digital Product Passport expectations. Its services include regulatory readiness assessment, LCA-based decision support, product data structuring and sustainability validation.
The Center helps companies translate complex regulatory requirements into practical product development criteria, making sustainability data more reliable, comparable and useful across the value chain.
From environmental impact assessment to recyclability scoring and DPP data fields, the Center enables companies to connect compliance with innovation, transparency and competitive advantage.
6. TRAINING & KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
Sustainable transformation requires new skills.
We provide training programs for designers, product developers, engineers, managers and sustainability teams. Activities include executive training, technical training, workshops on circular design, AI for sustainable product development, LCA, material innovation and Digital Product Passport readiness.
The goal is to build practical capabilities across the fashion value chain, helping companies embed circular thinking into everyday decisions.
Training is not an accessory to the Center’s mission: it is one of the key tools to accelerate industrial transformation.
Location
The Fashion Competence Center is in Lugano, Ticino, within Switzerland Innovation Park Ticino.
Its position connects the Center to a dynamic industrial region, a strong fashion and textile ecosystem, applied research institutions, technology providers and public stakeholders.
The decision to use a former industrial building is perfectly matching our philosophy or circularity and sustainability.
RESEARCH PARTNERS
Join us
Join Switzerland Innovation Park Ticino to access expertise, connect with a dynamic network and benefit from dedicated infrastructure. Accelerate your innovation.