WTiN will invite a host of industry professionals and key opinion leaders to join delegates virtually and discuss the development of Digital Manufacturing. Meet our first Innovate: Digital Manufacturing speakers. 
Madelaine Thomas WTiN
Ajay Kumar Pandey Agilitas
Adriana Pereira The Fabricant
Kevin Smith Made Smarter
Florian Pohlmeyer RWTH Aachen University
Zhanna Naymankhanova Senstile
Michael Mayr Silana
Kat Thiel Robotics Living Lab
Dr Thomas Fischer DITF
Marcus Ott Halo GmbH
Prakash Menakel Philip Cotton Connect
Rupert Hodges Oritain
Roman Houlbreque Retraced
Ningtao Mao University of Leeds
Michael Cusack ACS Clothing Ltd

Madelaine Thomas

WTiN

Head of Content

As WTiN’s Head of Content, Madelaine is responsible for all WTiN content. Working at WTiN for over nine years, Madelaine has witnessed the move towards digitalisation in the industry and was a key player in launching WTiN’s Textile 4.0 branded products. As current editor of Nonwovens Report International and former editor of Digital Textile, International Dyer & Finisher and Textile 4.0, Knitting International journals (and their online counterparts on WTiN.com), Madelaine has a wealth of knowledge across the textile & apparel value chain. She is also the Editor of the ITMA Daily News and INDEX News. She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Leeds, UK and a First Class Honours degree in International Journalism from Liverpool John Moores, also in the UK.

Ajay Kumar Pandey

Agilitas

Director, Quality, Production & Manufacturing Excellence

Ajay Pandey brings over 25 years of global experience across sourcing, manufacturing, quality, and digital transformation. Before joining Agilitas, he played a pivotal role at PUMA, where he elevated global product quality, enhanced operational efficiency through supplier collaboration , and built high-performance teams with deep technical strength. At Agilitas, Ajay is shaping a collaborative, tech-first sourcing ecosystem focused on agility, supplier empowerment, and execution excellence. His approach blends first-principles thinking with practical innovation, co-developing scalable systems that reduce waste, improve product integrity, and accelerate speed-to-market. He is committed to building resilient value chains that set new standards for how sport, fashion, and technology evolve through collaboration and innovation.

Adriana Pereira

The Fabricant

Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer

Adriana Pereira is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of The Fabricant – a European Fashion-tech start-up. Before co-founding The Fabricant in 2018, she held senior positions in marketing, digital and e-commerce at major fashion and retail companies. She is a thought leader and sought after speaker in industry events about the future of fashion and its potential to create more sustainable and profitable alternatives to physical fashion consumption.

Kevin Smith

Made Smarter

Lead Technology Adviser

Kevin Smith is the Lead Technology Adviser for the Made Smarter North West Adoption Programme, making new technology accessible to SME manufacturers. Before this, he spent over 20 years leading transformation projects in the Digital and Creative sector for a wide range of clients. His expertise lies in bridging the gap between complex tech solutions and practical applications, driving digital growth in the manufacturing industry.

Florian Pohlmeyer

RWTH Aachen University

Head of Digitalisation

Florian Pohlmeyer is the head of digitalisation at RWTH Aachen University’s Institut für Textiltechnik – whose research aims revolve enabling a sustainable, fibre-based future – where Pohlmeyer primarily focuses on the development of a data space for the textile industry, making possible digital transformations and sovereign data exchanges within the industry. Doubly, Pohlmeyer is a research associate in the Nonwoven and Paper department at the ITA of RWTH Aachen. Other areas of expertise include digital and sustainable transformation in textile technology; the sorting and recycling of textile waste materials; and several theses on the nonwovens industry. 

Zhanna Naymankhanova

Senstile

Co-Founder & Co-CEO 

With a global background in production and a vision to transform the textile and fashion industry, Zhanna recognised the power of true digitisation and founded Senstile to redefine how material industries develop and collaborate. Her mission is to introduce smarter, more sustainable, and efficient processes, making material innovation seamless, stress-free, and inspiring for creators and manufacturers alike.

Michael Mayr

Silana

Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder

Michael Mayr is the chief operating officer (COO) and co-founder of Silana, an innovative Vienna-based startup focused on developing a fully automated sewing robot. With a solid education in product development at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City and Business & Intellectual Property Law at WU Vienna, he brings both technical and legal knowledge to his professional role.

His career includes several key positions that have provided him with a broad range of experience. At his family company Fussl Modestraße, Austria's biggest fashion retailer – which has a turnover of around €250m – he was responsible for the company’s supplier relations and implementing Germany's Supply Chain Act (LkSG) on a group level. He also served as a textile engineer at various factories, gaining in-depth technical expertise in textile production. Additionally, he gained valuable experience in intellectual property law at the internationally renowned law firm DLA Piper, where he dealt with legal aspects of trademarks and intellectual property (IP).

Silana aims to revolutionise textile production by providing an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable solution with its sewing robot. The robot enables faster and more precise production, making Europe and the US attractive again as manufacturing hubs. With total investments of over €8m secured from some of the leading VCs worldwide and a partnership with the German textile manufacturer Trigema, which uses Silana’s technology for producing T-shirts and undershirts, the company is well-positioned to drive lasting change in the textile industry.

 

Kat Thiel

Robotics Living Lab

Senior Research Associate

Kat Thiel is a Senior Research Associate at the Robotics Living Lab (RoLL) at Manchester Fashion Institute. Her research focuses on emerging technologies in Industry 5.0 for sustainable and innovative fashion practices, particularly in the design of agile ‘cobotic’ tooling solutions for localised fashion manufacturing. Thiel piloted co-design processes for RoLL’s first cobot end-effector development in collaboration with POMO Robotics, funded by the Cotton Textiles Research Trust. She is the co-author of the reports ‘Advancing Automation and Robotics for Sustainable Manufacturing’ and ‘Reshoring UK Garment Manufacturing with Automation’. 

Dr Thomas Fischer

DITF

Head of Management Research

Dr Thomas Fischer is the head of management research at the German Institute for Textile and Fibre Research in Denkendorf (DITF). After studying cybernetics engineering, he finished his PhD in cooperative innovation management. He deals with Textile 4.0 – ie, the digitalisation of the textile value creation – and the resulting issues regarding innovations, production, sustainability and business. His work also focuses on knowledge-based systems, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) in production and product development. Since June 2024, he has coordinated the €6.9m-budgeted EU research project, BioFibreLoop.

Marcus Ott

Halo GmbH

Managing Director

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Marcus Ott – managing director, Halo GmbH, and co-founder of the inteos® software solution for the textile industry

Marcus Ott has been a driving force in the digitalisation of the textile industry for over three decades. After studying textile chemistry at Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences and spending several years abroad in Italy, France and the US, he founded Halo GmbH together with engineer Roland Hassler in 1988. Over the past ten years, Ott has been instrumental in driving forward the development of the inteos® software solution – an ERP/MES solution developed specifically for the textile industry. He benefits from his in-depth understanding of textile production processes and the specific challenges of the industry. This practical experience enables him to create digitalisation solutions that are not only technologically innovative, but also precisely tailored to the requirements of the textile industry. His motto, “Nothing is impossible,” describes his commitment to consistently translating even complex requirements into efficient and sustainable processes. His focus is always on the transparent, integrated optimisation of the entire production chain. 

Prakash Menakel Philip

Cotton Connect

Global Director of Strategy & Impact

Prakash Menakel Philip, PhD, is the global director of strategy and impact at CottonConnect, a pioneering organisation committed to reimagining the future of supply chains through sustainability, traceability and innovation. Since joining CottonConnect in 2021, Prakash has led transformative initiatives that advance the organisation’s vision of creating more transparent, resilient and regenerative cotton supply chains.

In his current role, Prakash spearheads global strategies across standards and partnerships, traceability and impact, integrating these pillars to align with evolving industry expectations and legislative requirements. A key area of his leadership is the management and implementation of cutting-edge traceability solutions that bring end-to-end visibility from farm group to fashion. Under his lead role, CottonConnect has strengthened its traceability architecture – through digital innovations such as QR code integration, incorporation of physical markers and robust data systems. Prakash brings both technical depth and strategic foresight to his work – ensuring traceability is not only a compliance requirement but a mechanism to foster trust, accountability and shared impact in the cotton sector and beyond.

Rupert Hodges

Oritain

Chief Commercial Officer

Rupert, Oritain’s Chief Commercial Officer, is responsible for developing and maintaining exceptional relationships with key customers, acting as a trusted advisor and strategic partner. Rupert’s background includes a strong financial market understanding alongside developing and implementing of customer-centric initiatives.

Roman Houlbreque

Retraced

Director of Partnerships

Roman leverages his extensive expertise in sustainability within textile supply chains to drive forward discussions and partnerships. His focus is on interoperability, data standardisation, and the development of effective strategies to overcome key challenges in data collection and analysis.

His comprehensive understanding of textile supply chains has developed through practical engagement: He has initiated cooperative efforts between brands and suppliers. In line with Retraced's philosophy, Roman directs attention towards suppliers' needs to foster close cooperation and transparency in fashion supply chains, to tackle emerging global legislative challenges. 

Ningtao Mao

University of Leeds

Professor

Professor Ningtao Mao is a leading fibre and textile technology expert with extensive experience in academia and industry. He holds a PhD in Textile Technology from the University of Leeds and both BSc and MSc in Textile Technology from the Northwest Institute of Textile Science and Technology (NWITST), China. Professor Mao teaches technical textiles and textile product innovation in postgraduate programmes such as MSc Textile Sustainability and Innovation and BSc Textile Innovation and Sustainability, impairing expertise that bridges sustainable practices with technical advancements.   

His research delves into functional textiles and fibrous assemblies for technical applications, including fluid transport, heat transfer, and particle interactions in fibrous materials. He also focuses on sustainable material engineering, life cycle assessment, digitisation and digitalisation of textile materials. His work on tactile and aesthetic properties and engineering of protective textiles highlights his dedication to innovation in functional and technical textiles. 

Michael Cusack

ACS Clothing Ltd

Chief Sustainability Officer

Michael Cusack is chief sustainability officer (CSO) at ACS Clothing Ltd, Europe’s leading circular fashion operator and a certified B Corporation. At the forefront of the transition from linear to circular systems, Michael leads on embedding regenerative, reuse-based models across the fashion sector – reducing waste, decarbonising operations and creating inclusive green jobs. Drawing on experience in international blue-chip companies, Michael now spearheads ACS’s transformation into a fully integrated circular economy infrastructure provider – supporting global brands, governments and charities to adopt scalable reuse, repair, rental and resale solutions. His work leverages advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digital twinning to close material loops, extend product lifecycles and future-proof operations.

A champion of inclusive employment within the circular economy, Michael has pioneered workforce programmes that empower individuals from underrepresented backgrounds – including disabled people and those facing barriers to work – to thrive in high-skill, low-carbon roles. His initiatives link circular economy practice with social mobility, proving that sustainability and equity can go hand-in-hand. Michael also plays a leading role in bridging industry and education, contributing to training standards, curriculum reform and employer-led qualifications aligned with circular economy principles. His mission is to ensure that future talent pipelines are not only green and skilled, but also representative and resilient.