The European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing is a stakeholder forum that brings together the European textile and clothing industry, its research and education community, representatives of related industrial sectors and scientific disciplines as well as public authorities. The aim of the platform is to develop and implement long-term industry visions and a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) to improve innovation, competitiveness and growth potential for this key industrial sector in Europe. (see mission)
The European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing has been launched in 2004 and currently brings together more than 400 individual experts across an number of research-specific as well as horizontal working groups. (see structure)
The European Textile and Clothing Industry employs more than 2.3 million people in the EU in some 170,000 companies generating an annual turnover of close to 200 billion €. The European Union is the world's biggest exporter of textiles and the third biggest exporter of clothing.