The College of Design's Department of Product Design is excited to reveal a new, innovative partnership in Portland between the University of Oregon and NTX, a leading textile innovation company. NTX and the College of Design are both committed to being sustainability experts within their fields and lead the way when it comes to applying a sustainability lens to their work. 

As a way to bridge the gap between innovation and sustainability, NTX and the University of Oregon are bringing an innovation center to Portland that will house graduate students from diverse fields such as materials science, engineering, chemistry, business, and athletic technologies to create an innovative, one-of-a-kind collaborative environment where disciplines and cultures will converge for the bettering of the planet, thanks to the work of the co-founder and executive director of the university's Portland-based Sports Product Management program, Ellen Schmidt-Devlin. 

Named the "Bridges" Innovation Center, the unique partnership between the University of Oregon, NTX, and their long-time partner Luenthai creates a unique educational opportunity for all our disciplines and will afford our sports product designers an experience unlike anything as they are immersed in an interdisciplinary environment with access to cutting-edge sustainable technology, courtesy of NTX.

“Bridges isn’t just a hub of technology. It’s where creativity meets practical application,” said NTX founder and Chairman Kalvin Chung. “Here, students’ fresh ideas and researchers’ expertise combine, not just to imagine but to forge real-world solutions in textile sustainability. It’s about impactful innovation, turning sustainable concepts into industry standards for a more responsible future.”

Thanks to Schmidt-Devlin's hard work, the University of Oregon was able to secure a commitment from one of the leading textile innovation companies to help a portion of the industry's expertise from abroad. The College of Design's Sports Product Design graduate degree program seeks to prepare our students to be key members and leaders of multidisciplinary development teams and the addition of this center will push our students and graduates to even greater heights within the field. The college is excited to have NTX as another partner and to see its expansion into a market that has more than 800 sports product companies located in Oregon and beyond. 

NTX's innovative and sustainable textile solutions will resonate loudly with the Oregon community and the greater Western market, as more and more Americans are searching for sustainable solutions for every part of the human experience. The inclusion of their cutting-edge technologies with the innovation center will help bridge the gap with the growing demand for sustainable solutions while allowing the university's students greater access to technologies and innovative ideas that aren't present in other locations and degree programs.

Read More

NTX Announcement: https://www.ntx.global/ntx-luenthai-bridgesinnovationcenter-at-university-of-oregon/ 

UO Announcement: https://around.uoregon.edu/content/university-oregon-partners-global-eco-textile-company

The Oregonian Story: https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2023/10/university-of-oregon-announces-sustainable-textile-facility-near-new-portland-campus.html