About Us
Ramos & Fortier’s history traces back to 2004. Our mission is to:
1) Disseminate innovative and sustainable practices in the textile industry through various types of events and training;
2) Support research in textile engineering and materials science;
3) Be the Canadian hub for the latest innovations in textiles and various materials;
4) Create men’s products that are innovative, sustainable, hard-wearing, and multifunctional; and
5) Help promote emerging Canadian menswear designers locally and abroad.
With 85% of textile waste ending up in landfills in Canada,3 “fast fashion” is a problem we can no longer ignore. The textile sector is one of the most polluting industries,1, 2, 5, 10 adding millions of tons of wastes into our landfills annually. We need to reassess the materials we use, and reflect on our consumption behaviour, i.e., buy to throw and buy again – or buy to keep and pass on.
Textiles are so inter-woven in our daily lives that it’s hard to overstate their importance. As our co-founder, J. Ramos, once said:
“Think about it, textiles are the only things that touch you – your skin, physically and continuously, for almost 24 hours each day. From your shirt, to your trousers, to your bedsheets, to your carpet, to your towels, to your bags, to your watch strap, to your umbrella, to your car seat, to your office chair, etc., etc. There’s no ‘getting away’ from it. Probably the only ‘escape’ is when you’re taking a shower – but even then, you could be wearing a shower cap. There’s no close second in terms of proximity and importance to our lives and well-being. But we have to do it right – produce and consume in a way that’s sustainable. We have to think of the planet and the wildlife that live in it. We can’t just be thinking of ourselves.”
Ramos & Fortier is one of the founding members of, what was then called, the Smart Textile and Wearables Innovation Alliance (STWIA). Initially facilitated by the National Research Council of Canada, the STWIA is an industry-led initiative that brought together over 60 Canadian companies from all levels of the supply chain. The company is also the founder and organizer of Vancouver Men’s Fashion WeekTM, a, 11 (Semaine de la mode masculine de Vancouver) or v.MFWTM. Launched on 30 September 2011, it was the first industry event focused on menswear in Canada.4, 6, 7, 8 v.MFW was created to give Canadian menswear designers a platform, and also to bring awareness to the textile waste issue we face as Canadians.
Through government, academic, and private initiative participation, partnerships, and events that it produces such as v.MFW, Ramos & Fortier continues to remain true to its mission. The company is active in city and provincial endeavours. It is one of the few companies invited to be part of British Columbia‘s inaugural creative conference sponsored by the Consulat général de France à Vancouver.9 BCreative 2012 was designed to bring together government, business, researchers and the creative sector to stimulate thinking to develop a strategy in building the creative economy of British Columbia. (Download the “Dreamcatcher” book about the conference published by Simon Fraser University’s CCSP below.6)
The company is currently developing an innovation centre, SusTAIN™ in Vancouver, BC to address the above problems and objectives. This centre is planned to be a hub for showcasing new textiles and materials, as well as output from new research. It is also planned to offer short courses on textile engineering, woven, non-woven and nanomaterials that will be taught by experts and academics from selected institutions, such as the Faculty of Textile Engineering and the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation of the Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic. Please contact us for more information or possible partnership with your university.
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Notes:
a Registered tradename in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.
TM Trademark of Ramos & Fortier Ltd.
References:
1 Conca, J. (2015). ‘Making Climate Change Fashionable – The Garment Industry Takes On Global Warming.’ Forbes, December 3.
2 Franco, M.A. (2017). Circular economy at the micro level: A dynamic view of incumbents’ struggles and challenges in the textile industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 168: 833-845.
3 Gould, H. (2016). ‘Textiles are the next frontier in recycling for cities looking to cut waste.’ CBC News, May 9.
4 Gram, K. (2011). ‘Eco Fashion Week thrives on fresh energy.’ Vancouver Sun, October 4.
5 Khan, S., and Malik, A. (2014) Environmental and Health Effects of Textile Industry Wastewater. In: Malik, A., Grohmann, E., and Akhtar, R. (eds). Environmental Deterioration and Human Health, 55-71.
6 Lorimer, R. (2013). dreamcatcher. Towards a creativity/innovation strategic plan for British Columbia: A BCreative 2012 conference report. Vancouver, BC: Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing Press.
7 Mercedes-Benz. (Fall/Winter 2013). ‘Men’s Fashion Week.’ Mercedes-Benz Magazine, November 6.
8 Rowland, S. (2012). ‘Vancouver’s Men’s Fashion Week ups the style quotient.’ Georgia Straight, August 1.
9 Simon Fraser University. (2012). BCreative 2012: Ideas. Culture. Business. Policy. Simon Fraser University.
10 Vandevivere, P.C., Bianchi, R., and Verstraete, W. (1999). Review: Treatment and reuse of wastewater from the textile wet-processing industry: Review of emerging technologies. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 72(4): 289-302.
11 Wikipedia. (2022). Men’s Fashion Week. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.