Meet the people who make it a reality: Enrique Herrero Acero
"We are tackling one of the biggest problems we have created: unsustainable textiles."
What is your daily role, what motivates you to contribute to this project and what makes you most excited about HeiQ AeoniQ™?
What motivated me to join HeiQ AeoniQ™ was to be part of a team, with a project vision that will have a real and positive impact on our environment and our lives. We are tackling one of the biggest problems we have created: unsustainable textiles. HeiQ AeoniQ™ is a completely new yarn available on the textile space, something that does not happen that often by the way, which is being designed and manufactured to be part of the solution towards a sustainable apparel industry. We have an extremely ambitious vision. With the support of our partners, we are increasing the resources to bring HeiQ AeoniQ™ to the market as soon as possible.
It is about making my individual contribution to help improve our current situation.
What is your point of view about sustainability in the textile industry?
In general, we need to reduce the resources we consume for our daily lives. It does not mean returning to the stone age but changing the perception of what resources are and taking consciousness that they are finite. Particularly in the textile industry, we need to increase the amount of like-to-like recycled materials. It is simply not acceptable that less than 1% of textiles are recycled nowadays. We are getting rid of, either in landfills or through incineration, over 70% of the textiles we produce globally. These are resource streams that we need to valorize and use in a true circular way to make new garments.
What can be done to reduce the impact of the industry on a global scale?
The textile industry is quite complex, with production hubs that are located far away from the final customer and not always operating in the most environmentally and humanly respectful ways.
From a global perspective, I believe we should be using fewer finite resources by increasing recycling, for example, and including materials and processes that are not harmful to the environment. But most importantly we as consumers need to be aware of the impact that comes from our purchasing choices since we are part of the solution by making the right choices when we are shopping.
What does your leisure time look like?
I like to spend time with my family. Inevitably, HeiQ AeoniQ ™ is taking a big part of my time, so I really want to spend as much time as possible with my closest ones. In winter I enjoy skiing, and in summer I take advantage of the nice weather in my homeland Spain.