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WTiN will invite a host of industry professionals and key opinion leaders to join delegates virtually and discuss circularity in the textile & apparel supply chain. Meet our first Innovate: Circularity speakers. 
Professor Yi Li University of Manchester
Sophie Ridler Textile Exchange
Keith O'Brien RE&UP
Jessica Robe WTiN
Jehnna Yang DyeRecycle
Philippe Doliger EuRIC
Kristina Bull WEFT
Sarah Cook Samsara Eco
Cyndi Rhoades Circle 8
Hilde Heim FASHTRAX
Danielle Elsener Decode
Jad Finck Syre
Robyn Kimber Consultant (former Lululemon)
Adele Gingell Finisterre
Dr. Dag Wiebelhaus BASF
Madelaine Thomas WTiN
To be announced soon please keep checking for updates.

Interested in speaking

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

Contact Us

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.

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.

Jehnna Yang

DyeRecycle

Material Innovation Engineer

Jehnna Yang is a material innovation engineer specialising in textile recycling and sustainable material technologies. With over five years of experience spanning the automotive, petrochemical and fashion industries, she now leads polyester recycling technology development at DyeRecycle, an Imperial College London spin-out. Combining her background in material engineering and design, she works on transforming cutting-edge research into scalable solutions that drive circularity in textiles.

Philippe Doliger

EuRIC

Policy Advisor

Philippe Doliger joined EuRIC - the European Recycling Industries' Confederation - in April 2024, after more than five years of working as an EU public affairs consultant in Brussels, where he advised and supported private companies and trade associations on various issues including circular economy. At EuRIC, the leading voice for a competitive European recycling industry, Philippe is in charge of overseeing the work of EuRIC Textiles, which aims at promoting the collective interests of the European textile re-use and recycling industries. Philippe holds Master degrees in EU affairs from the College of Europe, Sciences Po Lille and the University of Münster.

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

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 Commerical 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.

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.

To be announced soon

please keep checking for updates.