Avantex talks: Rebuilding Urban Value Chains

At the major textile show Texworld Paris, within the Avantex area that is dedicated to innovation, FABRIX partner TCBL organized a day of talks and roundtables with the name “Bio-Fashion Innovation Day”. Opening the day with his keynote Making the Most of Fabrics – Social and Local Manufacturing Ecosystems, our project lead Prof. Karel van den Berghe (TU Delft) pushed the conversation on textiles beyond industry specifics into the bigger picture of globalization, spatial planning, and the future of cities. You can watch the keynote here, or read the summary below.

Although he was quick to admit that textiles are not his core field, van den Berghe framed the sector within wider economic and urban dynamics—a perspective that lies at the heart of the FABRIX project. FABRIX is dedicated to mapping and strengthening textile and clothing ecosystems, while also asking how these industries fit into urban space and planning.

From Globalization to Deglobalization

Van den Berghe traced the history of globalization in four phases: from the post-war Bretton Woods system, through the liberalization of capital flows, into the hyper-globalized era, and now into “deglobalization.” Each phase has reshaped how industries like textiles operate, pushing production further away from local contexts and making supply chains increasingly complex—and opaque. We now face a trilemma: ecology, affordability, and safety. Policymakers and businesses cannot maximize all three at once, which means tough trade-offs are inevitable. The challenge isn’t a lack of innovative ideas but the difficulty of scaling them up—a risky stage he referred to as the “valley of death” between start-up creativity and industrial maturity.

FABRIX: Mapping Supply Chains, Rethinking Space

Through FABRIX, we are mapping textile and clothing supply chains to understand where production and innovation happen—and where gaps exist. Early findings show that while manufacturing tends to cluster locally, technologies remain scattered and underutilized, especially in scaling efforts.

Urban areas like Rotterdam highlight the dilemma: space is scarce, and housing often takes precedence over industrial activity. Yet without allocating space for innovative scale-ups—sometimes noisy, sometimes disruptive—cities risk losing the very economic engines that could make them sustainable and resilient.

Van den Berghe closed his talk pointing out that if we want vibrant urban ecosystems, we need to reserve space for circular and regenerative industries within our cities. It is not just about factories or fabrics; it is about ensuring that the urban environment can support the messy, vital process of scaling sustainable innovation.