The memorial seminar for crafts adviser Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki, dealing with current themes in the craft and textile industry, was organized for the 20th time on Kertu's Day, March 17, 2023, at the Päivälehti museum under the titleTowards sustainable development - The story of textiles is being renewed. The seminar continued the theme of the previous seminar (2020) and paid attention to the responsibility of the textile industry, clothing design and fashion and their consumption, such as the development of more environmentally friendly materials, reducing textile waste and the possibilities of textile reuse. The Omin Käsin magazine, edited by Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki, partly covered similar topics in the 1940s during the textile regulation period, when the magazine's craft instructions were based on the frugal use of materials, the utilization of old materials, or substitute materials. Now the same needs have become topical for different reasons.

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In the speeches of the seminar, the goals from systemic change towards a circular economy to more sustainable development solutions already under development and in operation were brought up. The presentations discussed both the industry's outlook and the consumer's influence in the change towards sustainable development. The first talk was from Suomen Tekstiili ja Muoti ry CEO Marja-Liisa Niinikoski, who talked about the growth opportunities of the Finnish textile and fashion industry specifically in the solutions of more sustainable development. Minna Halme, professor of responsible business at Aalto University's School of Business, drew attention in her speech to the fact that not all solutions in the circular economy are equally ecological. The speakers had a good dialogue on the topic.

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Several textile fiber innovations have been made in Finland in the last ten years, and since the last seminar a lot of progress has been made in the field: Aalto University has joined Ioncell Oy as a founding partner, Infinite Fiber is currently establishing a factory in Kemi, and Spinnova's factory was completed in Jyväskylä in late 2022. Of these, Ioncell was presented at the 2020 seminar. In this seminar, the subject of materials was discussed by FluffStuff Oy's strategist Tea Auramo, who talked about the possibilities of cattail down as a substitute for down and polyester in the textile industry. As a material, cattail down is not new, but it has been used as a filling for pillows already a hundred years ago. FluffStuff Oy's vision is to replace 80% of down and polyester with ecological and ethical cotton wool, which can be cultivated in wetland areas.

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In addition to the development of more environmentally friendly materials, the reduction and reuse of textile waste must be promoted. Paimio's waste textile circular economy facility started its operations at the end of 2021, and the separate collection of textile waste became mandatory at the beginning of the current year.  The seminar was about the recycling process of post-consumer textiles by disposal textile expert Anna Garton from Southwest Finland's Jätehuolto.

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In her speech, designer Katariina Rainio presented a clothing designer's perspective on disposable textiles and cutting waste. She had taken her thesis Rainbow hunt as a starting point and utilized the materials by braiding. Rainio graduated from LAB University of Applied Sciences' wearable design education program in 2022.

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Textile designer Minttu Wikberg's subject was visible mending, where the idea is to mend the garment visibly, choosing signs of life. Darning a broken garment gives appreciation to the material, and to hand skills, as well as the original makers of the garment and the environment.  

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The seminar featured samples of the work of the last two speakers, as well as a towel woven partly from Jokipii Pellava's Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto disposal textile fiber and waste fabrics from Aija Lundahl's Woven waste project. About fifty people participated in the seminar, and the audience commented on the speeches and praised the program as interesting.

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