The European project REMAIN participated as a guest at the conference organized by the Interreg Sudoe Fashion Forward project, held within the framework of the la EU Green Week 2025, under the theme ‘Circular economy: Reuse, repair, recycle for a better life’. The event took place at the iconic venue Halles de la Cartoucherie in Toulouse (France), and brought together numerous experts, professionals and institutions committed to the sustainability of the textile and footwear sectors.
The REMAIN project was represented by José Francisco Gómez, Head of the Advanced Manufacturing Area at the Inescop technological center and project coordinator, who delivered a detailed presentation on the current challenges of the footwear industry and the opportunities that robotics offers as support to facilitate remanufacturing, a key tool in the transition towards a circular economy.
In this regard, Gómez explained that among these challenges are “the dependence on raw materials and the obsolescence of products,” although remanufacturing and repair can represent a new line of business for companies. “The handicap lies precisely in providing companies with the tools and knowledge necessary to address this new challenge,” stated the advanced manufacturing expert.
During his presentation, Gómez showcased the main advances of REMAIN, focused on the development of technologies such as computer vision, collaborative robotics and eco-design, applied to the automated remanufacturing of used products, especially in the footwear sector. He also highlighted the creation of an automated system with two robots and a tool adaptable to footwear, designed to facilitate its repair. On the other hand, he explained that a dataset of footwear damage is being developed, which will allow for the detection of recurring defects and the evaluation of their reparability with a dual objective: optimizing production processes to minimize the appearance of certain defects and prolonging the useful life of products.
In addition to the REMAIN project’s presentation, the day began with speeches by Lidia Morcillo, Innovation Manager of the Catalan Fashion and Textile Cluster (Modacc); Prisca Giraudo, from the Region of Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée; and experts Violette Pelissou (Groupe AFNOR) and Valérie Foropon (Paul Boyé Technologies), who gave a masterclass on the application of ISO 26000 in the field of textile circularity. Modacc is the lead entity of the Fashion Forward project.
The session continued with a debate on the challenges of the circular economy in the fashion sector, followed by a presentation by the general director of RECYCL’Occ-Textile, Olivier Leduc, on the Recyclocal project, an initiative that promotes local textile recycling in the Occitanie region. In the afternoon, a collaborative workshop was held, led by the association Les Munitionnettes and its founder Zakia Rabi, focused on sharing good practices in circular fashion and local activation strategies.
Both REMAIN and Fashion Forward share a common mission: to transform the textile and footwear industries by promoting circular economy practices. Both projects, co-financed by the Interreg Sudoe Programme through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), aim to reduce waste, encourage collaboration among sector actors, and boost innovation to advance towards more sustainable and responsible production in Europe.
The REMAIN project is led by Inescop – Footwear Technology Center, with the participation of the Universities of Zaragoza, Alicante, Coimbra and Clermont Auvergne INP; the Federation of Spanish Footwear Industries (FICE); as well as the French company SMA-RTY, the Spanish company Automática y Control Numérico S.L, AIDA CCI, and as a collaborating entity, the social association Proyecto Lázaro.
For its part, the Fashion Forward project is formed by a consortium composed of the lead entity Modacc (the Catalan Textile and Fashion Group), the French regional association RECYCL’Occ Textile, CITEVE (Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industry of Portugal), the company Têxteis Penedo, S.A., the Galician waste management service Coleo Reclclying, S.L., the Deixalles Foundation of Mallorca, the City Council of Vila Nova de Famalicão in Portugal, the Waste Agency of Catalonia, and the political cooperation organization Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion.
