2018 evaluation digest

TCBL HANDBOOKS

2018 EVALUATION DIGEST

Co-funded by Horizon 2020

ANNEX 1 TO TCBL D 6.9, 30 June 2018

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INTRODUCTION This ‘evaluation digest’ is part of a set of reports produced as part of the annual reporting cycle of the TCBL evaluation. It is designed to offer the reader a concise summary of some of the main findings from the evaluation work carried out thus far. This report is accompanied by a publicly available handbook which analyses the TCBL business pilots from an evaluation perspective and provides interested readers with a longer narrative about progress with the business pilots to date.

THE TCBL EVALUATION TCBL is an ambitious and innovative project. A large-scale change effort, it intervenes into the European textiles and clothing (T+C) sector by seeking to create an ecosystem based on open sharing of knew knowledge in order to ultimately effect four changes: 5 per cent increase in manufacturing capacity within five years after the end of the project; reduction in the environmental footprint by 20 per cent; creation of a novel supply network of 1000 organisations and individuals; and creation of new embedded services supporting the customer driven supply chain.. Evaluation is critical to supporting and assessing this change process as it offers insights and tools that allow individuals, participating enterprises and TCBL as a whole to learn and improve.

In TCBL, evaluation therefore does not just come at the end (as a retrospective tool to assess performance) but is embedded in the project process to support a cycle of continuous data collection, learning and improvement. It therefore has a broad scope and seeks to: help with the design and development of the TCBL change process (‘ex ante evaluation’); monitor and assess progress towards the planned change (developmental and process evaluation); and assess how far TCBL has travelled on their ‘change journey’ (‘summative evaluation’). Whilst the process evaluation is ongoing, the outcomes analysis takes place at a later point.

THIS REPORT This report therefore pulls together some of the key messages that have emerged from the process evaluation activities in the last year. The TCBL process evaluation tracks how the project has evolved and what is being produced as a result of project activities.

TCBL is a project that is designed to emerge in scope and content throughout its four years of delivery. After an initial period of preparation and ‘kicking off’ the real-world piloting of T+C business innovations, TCBL transitioned into its ‘engagement and impact’ phase, where the ecosystem was widened to include external actors as locations for labs and pilot activities. It is against this background that we report on some key emerging themes.

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EMERGING FINDINGS FROM THE PROCESS EVALUATION A GROWING ECOSYSTEM The size of the TCBL ecosystem continues to grow in line with the targets the project has set itself. After a successful second round of calls for Associate Enterprises, a new set of 70 Associate Enterprises joined the TCBL network, bringing the total number to 206. In addition, 35 Associate Labs, 30 Associate Advisors, 15 Business Services, and 15 start-ups are now part of the TCBL network and the total number of Network Members stands at 538. The Figure below shows the percentage growth since 2016.

TCBL Ecosystem Growth June 2016-May 2018 Total Network Members Start-Ups Service SMEs Associate Advisors Associate Enterprises Associate Labs 0%

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Figure 1 TCBL Ecosystem Growth June 2016-May 20181

The following trends are noteworthy: •

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On the whole, TCBL continues to be mostly on course to meet most of its scaling objectives. In particular, the number of associated enterprises linked to the TCBL ecosystem continues to grow and to exceed the targets set for each year. With a current number of 206, the target of 240 by the end of the project is likely to be exceeded.

Having grown by nearly a third last year, the number of network members currently stands at 538, from the 516 recorded in June 2017. This area is the furthest away from its target (of 5,000), potentially due to the priority being given to getting businesses to sign up to TCBL. However, with new service providers coming in, it is possible that this number will increase at a higher pace in next 12 months.

The size, composition and geographic spread of the TCBL ecosystem in June 2018 is shown in the figure overleaf.

The figure for the ‘Total Number of Network Members’ is from September 2017. In addition, the % growth calculated for Start-Ups and Service SMEs is between 2017 and 2018, as the number in 2016 was 0 (there was no envisaged target for that year).

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2018 Evaluation Digest TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

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TCBL in 2018

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Figure 2: TCBL in 2018 (Source: TCBL 2018-2019. TCBL Associates of the Third Call for EoI #TCBL_2019 and beyond. Presentation at #TCBL_2018 in Prato, Italy)

RESOURCES One of TCBL’s key assets is the resources it provides to its members. These come in various forms. One important resource is the opportunity TCBL offers for network members to connect (with each other and with new knowledge) in a number of ways. The TCBL Annual Conference is one important moment for connecting between network members and inspiring potential change in work practices. This year’s event, #TCBL_2018 was held in Prato (Italy) and focused on building alternative value chains in the Textile and Clothing industry with the perspective of digital, human, circular and transparent. Speakers addressed topics such as Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy and showed potential solutions to issues such as overproduction. Innovations carried out as part of TCBL’s six Business pilots were presented by twelve TCBL Associate Enterprises involved in the cases’ experimentations.

The event is an opportunity to gain new learning and insights, which nearly two-thirds of the delegates who had offered feedback thought they would apply at their workplace. This continues to show the important role that the TCBL conference has in triggering different ways of doing things amongst participants in support of its overarching aims.

As well as new learning, delegates use the event to make new connections. On average, at this year’s conference, individuals exchanged ideas with 20 people (higher than the previous conferences, with an average of 14). The figure below provides a ‘snapshot’ of the conversions held between different participant ‘types’ (TCBL Lab member, Associate Enterprise, Advisor, Partner, ‘Organisations in the T+C / another sector’’ and ‘Other’).

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2018 Evaluation Digest TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

Other type of participant

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Figure 3: Social network based on the conversions held between different types of participants (average)

While this analysis does not provide a fully accurate representation of the ideas exchanged between different TCBL actors and those not formally affiliated with TCBL, it does give an indication of the volume of conversations that occur between people and the potential they have, as many have been already followed up. Indeed, more than half of those who offered feedback had followed up connections made over the course of the conference within two weeks of attending. Of those who hadn’t, the vast majority (nearly 96%) stated they had plans to.

As TCBL begins to transition into its last year, a focus has been on the further development of items that members of the ecosystem have access to, and on the development of the website as a ‘resource centre’ that can be sustained. This includes a ‘Reference Library’, which links to TCBL_Zine, which has five content areas and publishes special issues on topics related to ongoing work of TCBL pilots. It also includes the ‘TCBL Library’, linking to a range of Handbooks and Guides (available through Issuu, which is an online document publishing platform) that have been developed from the TCBL project deliverables on a range of subjects - from an overview of TCBL Labs to case studies of business innovation to market and policy reports for the T&C sector. Currently, there are a total of 41 documents available via Issuu, produced to reflect the needs and interests of different audiences. Finally, 114 videos are available on the TCBL YouTube channel.

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2018 Evaluation Digest TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

THE SIX BUSINESS PILOTS: EVOLUTION AND EXPANSION TCBL is currently running six Business Pilots. These are innovative business operations that receive support from the project in order to determine scaleable practices. The pilots, each representing a different challenge faced by the T+C sector, are designed to develop over a number of ‘phases’: piloting or demonstrating feasibility of the pilot (Phase 1); expanding and deepening of the business pilot collaboration (Phase 2); and scaling (Phase 3).

The six business pilots represent the six evaluation ‘case studies’: by following their evolution over the course of the TCBL project, data is accumulated that contributes to understanding what results can be identified for TCBL overall.

The Business Pilots implementation has continued to be a key point of focus between 2017 and 2018. Following the pilo’ts’ first phase (‘piloting or demonstrating feasibility’), which took place last year, activities between 2017 and 2018 saw the ‘expansion’ of business pilot participation and collaboration (Phase 2).

Brief descriptions of the business pilots and how they have evolved are provided below: •

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The Sustainable Cotton (or Natural Fibres) business pilot seeks to exploit the increasing interest of consumers in purchasing ecologically and socially sustainable products. The pilot’s experimentation phase led to the creation of a new sample collection of clothes made exclusively from sustainable Greek cotton and its scope extended (transferring the cotton model to other natural fibres).

The Eco-Friendly Production business pilot aims to build an ecosystem consisting of businesses who share the same vision of creating a more sustainable supply chain.

The pilot, which involves a partnership with a technical partner (a TCBL enterprise) completed the development of a certification system and protocol for data collection, which contains five ‘observational domains’: Water, Energy, CO2, Chemicals, People (i.e. social compliance). By May 2018, an Associate Enterprise, leading the pilot’s experimentation, was in the final stages of the protocol’s testing also involving a number of organisations in its supply chain.

The Short Runs business pilot seeks to address key barriers to short runs producing related to the low volume, minimum order quantities, cost of fabrics and low priority of small order quantities. The pilot has extended its scope and slightly shifted its activities to emphasise the facilitation of transactions, highlighting the importance of TCBL acting as an ‘intermediary’ (and not just transacting on an online platform). The pilot currently involves over 15 companies.

The Independents business pilot seeks to work with, and empower, individuals and small-scale textiles and clothing enterprises by helping them improve their businesses with innovative services. The pilot further developed two Lab projects, the TCBL Café and a “Workspace Re-design”, which were short listed by the WORTH programme, the latter accepted for funding. Experimenting with, and testing, a new way of organising the production ‘space’ is currently taking place, through the collaboration between a TCBL Associate Enterprise (based in Paris) and a TCBL Lab based in Palermo. In addition, the pilot is continuing its plans to ‘skill-up’ independent designers in the use of digital pattern making and providing a space for them to experiment with innovative technologies (e.g. laser cutting).

The BioShades business pilot seeks to address the environmental harm caused by conventional dyeing processes by exploring the feasibility of using dye produced from bacteria on textiles and eventually creating a service offer on this subject to support wider take-up. The pilot expanded its network and widened the scope and scale of testing.

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2018 Evaluation Digest TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •

The Digital Heritage business pilot aims to exploit the potential value of historical material – sample books and data sheets, in the case of textiles – to designers by raising awareness of the importance of archives and testing/experimenting potential heritage-based innovations and creative processes (such as archives digitisation, creative re-interpretation of textile heritage, new marketing strategies based on heritage marketing). The pilot developed an online tool for digital archiving (Heritage Manager), which has now been adopted by 10 companies.

Case study work this year shows that the business pilots continue to be at different stages of development, with some currently in the final phase of completion of their experimentation and piloting phase (Phase 1) and others having progressed more solidly into their expansion phase (Phase 2) and gearing up to their scaling phase (Phase 3). Despite the different ‘speed’ of progression, in all cases participation has expanded.

The figure below visually illustrates the increase in participation in the business pilots, as they moved into Phase 2 (Expansion) over the next year.

Figure 4: TCBL Business pilots’ expansion2

Initial collaborations between business pilots also began to take place (for example between the Short Runs and the Independents and Sustainable Cotton pilots and between the Sustainable Cotton and BioShades business pilots), leading to some examples of concrete 2

The bubbles in lighter shades represent new participants.

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2018 Evaluation Digest TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

business transactions, with plans to continue to do so. Indeed, as business pilots move into Phase 3 ‘Scaling up’, we expect them to grow further and draw on other members of the TCBL network. One indication of the potential for cross-overs is the expression of interest by the new Associate Enterprises to participate in the business pilots. Around half of the new associates who were interested in at least one business pilot also indicated interest in two or three others.

With their activities, the business pilots are expected to make a contribution to the longer-term TCBL impact objectives (5% increase in manufacturing capacity; 20 per cent reduction in ecological footprint; creation of new embedded services; and creation of a novel supply network of 1,000 organisations). Following on from last year, results of the work carried out within the framework of the business pilots include: further creation of novel supply networks due to the pilots’ expanded membership. This also relates to the ‘manufacturing capacity’ impact area: activities undertaken this year generated some examples of (transnational) collaborations which have led to the completion of concrete business transactions (that can be further replicated) as well examples of knowledge, skills, and learning gains for those involved.

There are also beginning to be early signs of potential contributions towards new embedded services supporting the customer driven supply chain: for example, particularly successful interactive workshops and follow up meetings (designed to generate knowledge and collaboration), coaching/training sessions and outputs created (such as online tools), might all become services that can be made available widely.

LEARNING In each of the themes explored in this digest, TCBL has generated rich learning. For instance, over the last twelve or so months there have been major developments in TCBL’s ICT infrastructure, leading to the development of the website as a ‘resource centre’. In order for TCBL to provide a leadership and authority role in a newly-transformed textile and clothing sector, this shift in focus needs to not only continue in the final year of the project but should be accelerated.

To date, the primary function of the business pilots has been to model and showcase a different way of working in the T+C sector and how a new state of production in the T+C sector can be achieved. Through their experimentations they make an alternative vision ‘real’ and by doing so attract new participants. The business pilots are therefore instrumental in driving forward TCBL’s vision because they provide the energy and drive that are needed on a large scale to deliver a reversal of the current production-driven paradigm in the T&C sector.

Going forward, the pilots will need to ‘keep the story going’ and enable more and more people to make the transition from experimentation to real world’ activities.

Finally, the TCBL annual conference continues to provide an important moment for facilitating connections between individuals linked to TCBL via the associates programme and also with those not yet formally affiliated. This year, a post-conference survey also collected feedback and views on TCBL’s future direction and services it offers. Three areas for improvement emerged, as well as areas where TCBL could bring greater benefits to businesses. Examples include: the need for a better overview of who is involved in the TCBL ecosystem and how to interact; providing support with finding suppliers and business collaborations; focusing on platforms giving ‘a sense of community’ and improving communications.

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DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY REVISION

DATE

Version 1

Version 2

AUTHOR

ORGANISATION

DESCRIPTION

22.6.2018 Giorgia Iacopini

TAVI

Production of digest

25.6.2018 Joe Cullen

TAVI

Review

30.6.2018 Jesse Marsh

Prato

Layout and graphics adjustments

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise.

Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.

COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnolรณgico (SANJO) Portugal; Reginnova NE (Reginnova) Romania, Centexbel (CTB) Belgium, Institut Franรงais de la Mode (IFM) France, IAAC (FabTextiles) Spain, Cleviria (Cleviria) Italy, and Sqetch (Sqetch) Netherlands.

DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n.646133.

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