Amongst the world leaders and multinational business executives who travel far and wide to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos each year is an ever-expanding group of pioneers. Together, they are enabling new solutions to traditional challenges, and together, they are stepping out of the shadows to celebrate their successes on the global stage. For the past three years, The Circulars, an initiative of the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders, has acknowledged the pioneering circular economy efforts of an array of innovative, new, and digitally disruptive enterprises, investors, foundations, leaders, and public sector organisations that are pushing the circular economy beyond established boundaries.Seen as a global movement that has the unique ability to provide answers to many of our planet’s most pressing challenges, the circular economy is now being welcomed into the spotlight, and those individuals and organizations that have taken the bold steps to adopt it are finally gaining the recognition they deserve.
Gabby Pieraccini, Head of Zero Waste and Circular Economy for The Scottish Government, accepts the The AB InBev Award for Circular Economy Governments, Cities and Regions from Tony Milikin, Chief Procurement Officer for AB InBev. Photo credit: The Circulars.As applications roll in each year, countless unique and inspirational stories of how individuals and organisations are making significant contributions towards driving awareness and understanding of circular principles across the globe are shared. Last year alone, the awards team received over 200 entrants from 37 countries, ranging from some of the world's largest multinationals to the most innovative start-ups, including:
Now in its fourth year, the Circulars are anticipating applications from an even higher number of innovative individuals and organisations that are yet to be discovered. Are you a forward-thinking member of the circular economy movement? Submit your entry to one of the following categories before September 30th to celebrate your accomplishments!
Circle Economy and the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) are delighted to announce HEMA as the lead sponsor and host for the 2017 edition of Beyond Green, held on October 20th at the HEMA headquarters in Amsterdam. Beyond Green is an annual symposium that uses the collective power of students and industry to design the future of fashion and tackle critical issues throughout the fashion system. This year, the theme is Beyond Blah Blah: 5 steps to circularity, where Circle Economy and AMFI will take both students and industry on a 5-step journey into circularity and introduce them to the latest tools, innovations, and know-how they need to challenge the status quo in the fashion and textiles world. HEMA, one of the biggest retailers in the Netherlands, is sponsoring and hosting the 2017 edition of the event. HEMA will also bring a sustainability challenge to the table in a half-day workshop, where select students will join forces with sustainability experts, entrepreneurs, and brands to design innovative solutions to real-life company challenges.
“HEMA is hosting Beyond Green - the annual symposium on the future of fashion – to stimulate knowledge about sustainable design. With a workshop to design out waste, HEMA is challenging the participants to take a deep dive into the world of one of the biggest retailers in the Netherlands and come up with circular solutions." - Eva Ronhaar, Head of Sustainability at HEMA
Beyond Green is a breeding ground for innovation and new connections. It brings the fashion industry and the world of circularity together in a new and dynamic way.
This is the third step of our 5-step plan to circularity. Catch up on step 1 and step 2 first.It is amazing to see such an explosion of interest in sustainability within the fashion industry. Over the past few years, the number of individuals and companies involved in the conversation is growing, and the level of knowledge is broader and deeper than ever. That's a really big deal -- it's a signal that industry transformation, seen for so long as a mere speck on the distant horizon, is getting closer. Take-back programmes are currently a hot topic, because getting clothing back from the consumer is critical to actually closing the loop and achieving circularity in the textile industry. Increasing the amount of used clothing collected is also high on the Global Fashion Agenda. Not surprisingly, the take-back discussion is focused around what can be done to reclaim more of the 20M tonnes of post consumer textiles that are landfilled across Europe and the US every year. In order to actually return the non-rewearable garments to the beginning of the supply chain, however, we must also understand how the system behind collection works. First, here is a high level overview of collection methods (options vary by location)Drop items into a public collection bin, donate them to a charity shop, use a brand / retailer in-store bin, or arrange for a residential pick up. Online second hand shops and other web-based re-commerce platforms or initiatives, like the Next Closet, will often send a prepaid shipping package to send items to their facility for sorting and resale.Garment leasing programmes such as MUD or Filippa K and libraries like LENA the Fashion Library own the items their customers wear, ensuring the return of these items once they are out of fashion or no longer wearable. These innovative business models have take-back built right in.Today the vast majority of used garment collections happen through bins operated by municipalities, private collectors, or non-profits and in-store donations at charity shops. Curbside programmes offering a home pick up service are also growing in popularity in some regions, and many brands and retailers are implementing in-store bins serviced by a textile collector / sorter. As time goes on, leasing and library models, as well as other digitally enabled collections models, are likely to increase.Next, let's clarify an incredibly important factorOnce used items are collected, real-life human beings evaluate, sort, and re-distribute them. This costs money, because any sustainable system must include fair pay and good working conditions for those who keep it running. Even charities, who essentially get items for free and may have low cost labor, incur expenses in handling items and putting them back into the hands of people who will use them again. Keep in mind, regardless of whether the organisations who manage used clothing collection systems are for or non-profit, they cannot consistently lose money and remain operational.This is the point where an understanding of how the system works becomes really critical, because a take-back initiative that enables closed loop (or circular) textiles must balance waste reduction and profitability. In other words, it cannot collect vastly more than it can sell, or it will eventually collapse. This makes creating sustainable take-back programmes tricky, because we must define and utilise the most effective methods of collection AND create more demand for the collected items.Data is the answerAn effective problem-solver knows identifying the problem and collecting and analyzing data must come before generating solutions. In order to build an effective, balanced take-back system, we must learn more about consumer behaviour and effective textile collection methods. We must also figure out exactly what is in the items that are collected so we can develop end markets to absorb the influx of them when collection rates increase.There has been some research done on the second hand industry by groups in the Nordics, France, UK, and the US. Unfortunately, the data sets either don't address collection and consumer behaviour, or they aren't comparable to one another. We need more clarity on what collection methods yield the highest number of garments per capita and how this varies between regions. We must also investigate what types of messaging, incentives, and other behaviours influence the decision to participate in a traditional collection system and / or brand sponsored take-back programme. This information will be extremely useful to plan, launch, and steer an effective textile collection model.The other half of the knowledge gap is understanding what is actually in the items that get collected. When it comes to recycling the non-rewearable stuff, or "recycling grade", most of the value depends upon the types of fibres, location of the goods, and how much work it will take to transform these materials into feedstocks for recycling technologies. This information is key to building up end markets for collected items and making take-back profitable. It's also a double bonus, because the data will help brands design new products for cyclability. Wrapping it upIncreasing used textile collections is not as easy as flipping a switch. However, doing some homework, becoming a project collaborator, and understanding the need for balance between waste reduction and profitability will truly accelerate our transition away from today's linear, wasteful system. It will also help you define the right take-back programme as your company strives to achieve its sustainability commitments. What you can do right nowBefore launching a new take-back initiative or refining an existing one, do some homework. Dig into the habits and interests of your own customers. Join a collaborative project focused on post consumer textile data collection. Understand your company's requirements and resources for launching and maintaining a take-back programme. Contact companies who manage take-back programmes, communicate the importance of collecting materials data, and see who is interested in working with you at this level to build a sustainable programme for the long term.This research will give you a lot of fantastic insight and information to prepare you to take the next steps to take-back. We strongly recommend collaborating with post consumer textile experts to analyse this data, probe a little deeper, and understand how your specific needs fit within the current and future systems. This will help you define a solution that is the best fit for your own resources, goals, and the future of the industry.[hr]
We’ll dig deeper into take-back systems at Beyond Green 2017. Until then, let us help you do your homework:
[cta link="http://circle-economy.com/beyondgreen2017"] Get involved with Beyond Green 2017[/cta]
Or sign up for our Textiles newsletter and get access to our “Top 10 questions to ask before starting a take-back initiative” worksheet!
Circle Economy is delighted to announce a new partnership with Fashion for Good, the global initiative to make all fashion good. Through this partnership, Circle Economy and Fashion for Good will work together to encourage the widespread adoption and implementation of circular principles, strategies and technologies in the fashion industry. Fashion for Good, an initiative launched with an initial grant by founding partner C&A Foundation, convenes brands, producers, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organisations, innovators and funders, united in their shared ambition to make all fashion good. By reimagining the way fashion is designed, made, used and reused, Fashion for Good focuses on sustainability and redesigning the global supply chainFashion for Good has six complementary programmes:
We look forward to the collaboration ahead!
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Together with our strategic partners, we develop game-changing, circular solutions that have the potential to transform entire industries. Through this pioneering work, we develop practical insights, tools and frameworks, that open up new opportunities to scale up and accelerate the transition towards a circular economy.
[cta link="http://www.circle-economy.com/work-with-us/strategic-partnerships/"]Join us[/cta]
On July 14th, Circle Economy opened its doors for another edition of Open Office Hours and welcomed circular fashion and textiles enthusiasts for a tour of what the Circle Textiles team has been working on over the past few months.
We're here to 1. Be merry 2. Put our finger on the pulse 3. Share our work! #openofficehours pic.twitter.com/tEeozWw4Ff
— Circle Economy (@circleeconomy) July 14, 2017
As circularity gains new ground, our team of textiles experts continue to work hard on ensuring the missing link to close the loop in fashion is accounted for. Brands can source recycled content, design for cyclability, and collect and resell used garments, but without the right infrastructure and technology in place, the majority of our clothing will inevitably end up landfilled or incinerated. This is where our work comes in: from Beyond Green and Fibersort to Circle Market, our Circle Textiles Programme is constantly pioneering and investing in the projects that will move the textiles industry beyond the why and get down to the nitty-gritty of how to make circularity a reality in fashion. Learn more about the Circle Textiles programme.
Beyond Green 2017 will dig deeper into our 5-step plan to circularity. [cta link="http://circle-economy.com/beyondgreen2017"]Why not join us?[/cta]
This is the second step of our 5-step plan to circularity. Read step 1 here.Designers are often seen as being at the helm when it comes to driving sustainable change in the fashion Industry. And it's no wonder why, when an estimated 80% of a product's environmental and economic impact is determined at the design stage. But with great power comes great responsibility, and we must ensure that designers have both in equal measure. In order to inform and empower designers to effectively drive this change and enable a circular fashion industry, we’re expanding on two of the design principles we believe are critical in moving past the concept of waste.
After WW2, the bid to encourage ‘consumption as a way of life’ triggered a unanimous drive toward mass-produced, disposable goods, and new levels of hyperconsumption were made possible through the twin methods of planned and perceived obsolescence. Today, both strategies continue to be adopted by the fashion industry, and with success: between 2000 and 2014, for example, consumers have increased yearly consumption by 60%, but use their clothing for about half as long. The first cornerstone in beating planned and perceived obsolescence is to design garments that last: extending the life of clothes by an extra nine months of active use alone would reduce carbon, water, and waste footprints by around 20–30% each. Physical DurabilityWhether it is using high quality materials, finishings, and construction, or ensuring that style and fit are timeless and not trend-sensitive - physical durability is all about designing and constructing a garment so that it can resist damage and wear, and serve a long and useful life. In the past, this was common practice (who can forget these infamous unbreakable stockings from the 1950s!) but now it is a novelty and a niche, with a few pioneering souls pushing durability to the max. Emotional Durability That said, durability this is not all about quality - emotional durability plays an important role too. After all, why is it that we cling so dearly to the 80s denim our mother gave us, or the sweater we bought during college years? Research posits that by designing garments that engage and delight the consumer over time, such as Patagonia's pre-loved Worn Wear collection, our heightened emotional attachment to and satisfaction with them can ultimately save them from landfill. Mythbuster:Some scientists and design experts are questioning whether longer garment lives are always necessarily a good thing. A new school of thought, trialed by Filippa K and Mistra Fashion Futures, is pushing for fashion to adopt appropriate lifecycles. The groundbreaking research is debunking the notion that 'slow fashion' is always preferable to ‘fast fashion’. When designed with intent, could a short-cycle, hyper-recyclable garment be the future of fashion?
While designing for long life is a basic and critical principle, the unavoidable truth is that all garments will eventually be disposed of by the consumer. And what then? All good things must come to an end, and good design will plan for this inevitable moment of disposal. The extension of a long-life garment, is a garment that is built to have multiple lives. Design for Repair and RedesignWhile the repair and reuse of garments is often tackled through the business model itself - e.g. Mud Jeans’ jean leasing scheme or the LENA library - clever design and the application of disassembly and modularity principles can further optimise such strategies. Conducting research and user testing to assess where the damage is likely to occur in a garment allows us to design in such a way that product parts can be easily replaced, upgraded, or fixed. Design for Recycling At present, many design approaches to recycling are ‘reactive’ as they attempt to work with existing waste streams at the point of disposal. Designers need to adopt a more ‘pro-active’ systems-based approach that identifies potential barriers to recycling at the outset and in doing so ‘design out’ complicating factors. In order for this to happen in practice, manufacturers and designers must first understand the processes that occur at a product’s end-of-life, so that they can ensure their products have effective ‘inbuilt’ recycling routes and can be easily (and fully) incorporated back into the material cycle. Basic guidelines include the use of mono fibre and mono material for ease of recycling (Kate Goldsworthy’s collection is a great example!), the elimination of hazardous toxins, dyestuffs, and coatings, and the elimination of heavy hardware and/or electronics. Of course, designing for cyclability is context-dependent and should be flexible, as technology is in constant development. Therefore, it is critical that designers foster active and ongoing relationships with the recovery solution providers themselves, to move beyond 'guesstimate' principles and co-develop dynamic and comprehensive design guidelines that match the input material requirements of available and advancing recycling technologies. Mythbuster: Unfortunately, just because a garment is technically'recyclable' does not mean that it will be practically recycled. No matter how much care is put into the design, after a garment ‘made for recycling’ has reached end of use, to expect it to get back to a producer with the recycling capabilities needed to actually turn it back into usable fibres is currently unrealistic. Approximately 75% of post-consumer textiles are never even collected and from the 20% that is collected most is sold on for re-use or downcycling. Keep an eye out for step 5 in the series, where we will explain what is needed to overcome this leak in the system. Here’s what you can do to get started!
We will dig deeper into our 5-step plan at Beyond Green 2017. [cta link="http://circle-economy.com/beyondgreen2017"]Stay in the loop[/cta]
Jump to the full conversation.The circular economy holds enormous promise for the fashion and textiles industry to revamp its current systems and move away from unsustainable practices. But while the ‘why’ of circularity is increasingly understood, the ‘how’ is still largely unanswered. What’s holding back the supply chain from moving beyond intent to action? What are the barriers to circularity, and what can brands, designers, and consumers already do to get started?On June 21st, The Next Closet, Loop.a.life, and Stating the Obvious joined our Circle Textiles team (Gwen Cunningham, Traci Kinden and Jade Wilting) on Twitter to discuss both the current state and the future of circular textiles. Here are insights from our conversation.
There are many ways to go about sourcing circular materials. You can start with giving materials a second life by using recycled materials or mono-materials whenever possible, sourcing excess rolled from traders/jobbers, or using manufacturers’ offcuts for small runs!
A1: 1 option is to focus on giving used materials a new life by sourcing recycled materials like @RecoverUpcycled cotton or RPET #circlechat
— Stating The Obvious (@Helene_STO) June 21, 2017
A1a: Check out @ReverseResourcs to use manufacturers' offcuts and rolled goods #circlechat
— REvolveWaste (@REvolveWaste) June 21, 2017
Dig deeper into the topic here.
Some companies are already leading the way. The Next Closet, for example, operates as a reselling platform to give luxury clothes a second, extended life; Loop.a.life transforms post-consumer garments into beautifully designed, high value products; Mud Jeans is making important strides in designing for disassembly and cyclability; Kate Goldsworthy only uses mono materials in her collections; and Filippa K and Mistra Fashion’s Circular Design Speeds initiative is challenging designers to use constraints as a springboard for circularity.
A2: @KusagaAthletic is doing great work. #circlechat https://t.co/GZXje6TCZJ
— costrike (@costrike) June 21, 2017
A2a: @mudjeansNL is a nice example of Design for Cyclability. Labels printed on fabric and working on screw on/off buttons. #circlechat
— Stating The Obvious (@Helene_STO) June 21, 2017
yes and aside from @thenextcloset let us not forget @LENAlibrary where you can borrow/exchange clothes like a library. Love it! #circlechat
— Stating The Obvious (@Helene_STO) June 21, 2017
Know of any others? Tweet us!
Designing for circular fashion is not without its hurdles. The number of constraints designers have to work around, coupled with a lack of understanding of just how much of an impact they have on the end of life of a garment, and a mismatch between what designers intend for a garment’s disposal and what consumers actually do with it, all make designing for circular fashion seem borderline impossible.However, with the right training and tools, we can empower designers so they find inspiration rather than frustration in these constraints and make informed decisions to design for a more circular fashion industry.
A3. Designers' freedom seems to be a recurring barrier in the research - If it's not in the brief... @circleeconomy #circlechat
— Rhiannon (@_rhiannonhunt) June 21, 2017
A3a No zippers, no buttons, no lurex, no elastan, etc, etc, etc. #circlechat
— Loopalife (@loopalife) June 21, 2017
A3 Getting an education in sustainable design is critical @AMFI #circlechat
— Gwen Cunningham (@Gwenhams) June 21, 2017
Reasons abound for brands to invest in take-back schemes: they foster brand value and loyalty; they allow brands to retain control over precious resources by turning consumers into suppliers; and they provide great alternatives to fashion-conscious consumers not quite ready to shop second-hand. Perhaps more importantly, they help raise awareness and shed light on just how much textiles waste we continue to dispose of around the clock.And it can be done. Patagonia, ever the environmental champion, has been ahead of the game for a while with their Worn Wear initiative, but fast-fashion giants like H&M and Zara are also starting to pull their weight.
A4 Leasing models give brands control of resources for the long term. Hello sustainability, good bye resource scarcity. #circlechat
— Jade (@notjaded) June 21, 2017
A4 long lasting relationship with the consumer. Clothing as service #circlechat
— Ricardo Weigend Rdz (@RichoWeigend) June 21, 2017
A4 Fosters brand value and loyalty. Your consumer is now your supplier & missing link in the chain! #circlechat
— Gwen Cunningham (@Gwenhams) June 21, 2017
A4 Used goods can become secure inputs for new materials @mudjeansNL #circlechat
— REvolveWaste (@REvolveWaste) June 21, 2017
Learn more about our post-consumer textile waste problem.
Consumers are currently both unaware and unable to gain proper access to education and information about the impact of their consumption choices. Sustainable fashion brands have also done a poor job at marketing to them, focusing on the niche rather than the mainstream and often missing the mark with the eco-fashion value proposition. But clothes are incredibly personal, and getting consumers to be part of the transition to a circular fashion industry requires us not only to inform and admonish them, but attract them and reel them in.
A6 Circular fashion can be sexy and exciting: communicate it can have a positive impact on consumer @circleeconomy #circlechat
— Orange Fiber (@OrangeFiber) June 21, 2017
A6 lack of education, information and accessibility. Unattractive marketing for consumers. Movement not yet as big as it should #circlechat
— Ricardo Weigend Rdz (@RichoWeigend) June 21, 2017
Totally agree! Even the fair fashion industry must be consumer oriented! We should also act on consumers to close the gap #circlechat
— Massimiliano Böhm (@Massimiliano982) June 22, 2017
Check out the @AMFI Hello Goodbuy activist group for constant inspiration! https://t.co/jnmEhrlBFM
— Gwen Cunningham (@Gwenhams) June 21, 2017
For all the pieces of the puzzle to fit together – for take-back schemes to serve their purpose, for consumers to get on board, and for designers to make the right decisions – we still need to build the right infrastructure to support our current, disjointed efforts. This both includes the physical infrastructure needed to close the loop, but also the research, resources, and incentives needed to drive change.
A4a: Take back schemes need an effective recycling infrastructure. Few high-end brands have invested in this. We fill the gap. #circlechat
— The Next Closet (@thenextcloset) June 21, 2017
We're taking a break for the summer but #circlechat will be back in September! We’ll also be releasing the full calendar for the next few months soon. [cta link="http://circle-economy.com/twitter-chat-signup"]Sign up to get it here.[/cta]
Do you have a suggestion for a topic? Let us know!
Look back on the full conversation here.
Circle Economy is excited to launch the Beta version of our Knowledge Hub!Throughout the past 5 years, we have discovered countless inspiring and innovative case studies, articles, and reports that highlight the circular economy in practice. Now we want to share them with you!Our ambition is to make the Knowledge Hub a go-to source for circular economy knowledge. By bringing together information that is currently spread across various organisations and industries, we hope to bring all of the insights, best practices, and research on the circular economy to one place.We invite you to search, discover, and request features and additional content you wish to see included to help us grow this open-source hub.Join us in co-developing the Knowledge Hub to create a community of collaboration and knowledge-sharing to make the circular economy a reality![cta link="http://www.circle-economy.com/knowledge-hub" ]Get Access[/cta]
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