MIT Fabric Innovation Hub aims for sustainable clothing manufacturing.“There have always been a lot of exciting ideas in textile research on campus,” says Gregory Rutledge PhD ’90, the Lammot duPont Professor in Chemical Engineering. He leads MIT’sFabric Innovation Hub, a network of MIT faculty, students, and industry thought leaders created to promote promising ideas and technologies from MIT laboratories that can help revolutionize the textile industry.

El equilibrio entre innovación empresarial y impacto social es clave en el emprendimiento. Conoce la historia de Colorchain en manos de la Dra. Carolina Hernández.

Cuando se tiene la idea de emprender, uno de los principales retos es lograr encontrar un equilibrio entre darle vida a un producto o servicio innovador y generar un impacto social. Al aprovechar los conocimientos y recursos para desarrollar un negocio exitoso no solo se deben medir las ganancias económicas que este pueda producir, sino también en cuál es la contribución que a través del emprendimiento se brinda a la sociedad.

Dr. Carolina Hernández, CEO Y fundadora para InfoScare:

El mundo de la medicina en Colombia se encuentra actualmente en constante cambio: se está cultivando el terreno para los primeros pasos de la implementación de la Reforma a la Salud mientras que los médicos se están recuperando de la pandemia que expuso precarias condiciones laborales.

In a scene from the summer blockbuster Barbie, Ken asks, “Can I talk to a doctor?” A female physician responds,
“You are talking to a doctor.”It had theaters globally laughing raucously. But I’ve spent some time wondering what the inclusion of this scene could mean for the medical industry.

...There’s been a shift in the last 20 years regarding physician’s apparel. It used to be a lab coat and formal attire — but now scrubs, casual attire and fleece jackets have gained popularity for nurses and surgeons alike. 

Dr. Carolina Hernández

Lina María Escobar es diseñadora, pedagoga y Directora de Marca de Colorchain, la startup colombiana que está revolucionando la industria del vestuario médico a través de innovación y sostenibilidad social. Anteriormente, Lina trabajó para empresas como Electrolux y Husqvarna

Con años de experiencia en el desarrollo de identidad de marca y diseño de producto, Lina ha sido pionera en la ejecución de propuestas como el branding experiencial. Tras ingresar a Colorchain como su primera Directora de Marca en 2019, ha estimulado un crecimiento considerable de los márgenes de beneficio neto en la firma.

The textile industry is as old as human civilization. Yet after all this time, working conditions are still precarious at best. Sweatshops for clothing manufacturing aren’t a secret anymore, nor how they operate under subhuman conditions.

Growing awareness of these issues has made consumers rethink their choices: A 2022 Deloitte study found that people are taking brands’ ethical labor practices into account when shopping.

For Dr. Carolina Hernandez, keeping a calm head in high-pressure environments is one of her innate strengths further honed after years of working in emergency medical and hospital settings. Yet even so, just a few short months after founding Colorchain – a sustainable, high-quality medical apparel brand – she was faced with a crisis of unprecedented proportions: COVID-19 put a halt to international travel and non-essential business processes.

Colorchain was founded a year ago by a team of experts in design and the textile industry who combined their business vision and medical experience. Instead of just creating clothing for their customers, Colorchain worked with them to create a line of high-end, specialized, and personalized medical clothing driven by adding value.