The Ellen McArthur Foundation, Global Fashion Agenda and Fashion Positive PLUS are establishing and sharing the importance of circular textiles.
They are independent organizations, but their message is clear. The textile industry needs to reduce waste and consumption, and find new ways to prevent apparel entering landfills.
Ideally, zero-waste supply chains will become the norm. Nothing will go to the landfill because everything has a value. Companies are already developing sustainability strategies that embed zero-waste into product design and manufacturing.
The first blog article in my circular series discusses why the textile and apparel industry needs to address the way products are designed, produced, used and then thrown away.
This blog provides information about these organizations, and their approach to creating and supporting the implementation of circular textiles.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Ellen MacArthur started her foundation in 2010 after she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe.
The Foundation has developed Make Textiles Circular “call for action.” It presents different business models that brands can adopt as they move towards minimizing waste and implementing circular textiles. (One of my upcoming blog posts will dive deeper into this topic.)
The focus of the foundation is to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy and catalyze zero-waste supply chains. Her foundation aligns its efforts on five broad initiatives across many different industries, of which textiles and apparel is just one.
- Education by providing material that inspires learners to rethink the future through a circular economy lens.
- Business and Government to create scalable business initiatives that embrace the circular economy.
- Insights and Analysis that provide evidence about the benefits of the circular economy.
- Systemic Initiatives that transform material flows to scale the circular economy.
- Communications by engaging a global audience around the circular economy.
In 2017, the foundation published a report, specifically about the textile and apparel industry that laid out a pathway to get to a circular textiles economy.
Global Fashion Agenda
Global Fashion Agenda is a call to brands, large and small, to address and implement sustainable fashion initiatives. It hosts the well-attended Copenhagen Fashion Summit, an annual meeting of stakeholders, now in its 9th year, that convene in Copenhagen to share best practices in sustainable products and circular textiles.
Their mission is to make sustainability fashionable by guiding and supporting industry leaders in changing the way fashion is produced, marketed and consumed for a world beyond next season.
In 2017, at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the Global Fashion Agenda called on its members to made a commitment to circular fashion by 2020. The aim was to increase the number of fashion brands and retailers taking action on circularity in order to accelerate the industry’s transition to a circular fashion system.
To set a direction for this transition, Global Fashion Agenda outlined four immediate action points:
- Implement design strategies for cyclability
- Expand the volume of used garments and footwear collected
- Increase the volume of used garments and footwear resold
- Increase the share of garments and footwear made from recycled post-consumer textile fibres
94 companies, representing 12.5% of the global fashion market, had signed the 2020 circular fashion system commitment by June 2018
Also, in 2018, Global Fashion Agenda published the following
- The second annual Pulse of the Fashion Industry report
- The first annual CEO Agenda that provides guidance to what fashion CEO’s need to prioritize to future-proof their company.
Fashion Positive PLUS
Fashion Positive PLUS is a group of brands that are working together in a precompetitive space to develop circular materials, i.e. those that can be either endlessly recycled or will biodegrade without causing harm.
The group uses the Cradle to Cradle standard to verify circular materials. A gold or platinum level must be achieved for a material to be considered circular.
Once a material has been certified, it is added to the Materials Collection and shared publically on the Fashion PLUS website.
The group has other tools including its Emerging Materials Innovators report and a series of short videos that further explain key parts of the Cradle to Cradle standard.
Impacts to your business?
Questions to consider:
- Do you know what impacts are associated with textile production or the production of your product?
- Is the Circular Economy an important part of your sustainability strategy?
For help with any issue associated with sustainability, circularity and chemicals, contact Amanda Cattermole at (415) 412 8406 or Amanda@cattermoleconsulting.com. We can help you develop powerful solutions to protect your company and brand reputation.
Tips and Insights contains information to help you make informed sustainability decisions. Each post highlights a particular topic and includes questions you may want to consider for your business.