#Sustainability
Industry leaders join forces to Make Fashion Circular
- Burberry Group plc; Gap Inc.; H&M; HSBC; NIKE, Inc.; and Stella McCartney announced as Core Partners of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative
- Made possible by C&A Foundation and Walmart Foundation, the initiative will develop solutions to some of the biggest issues faced by the fashion industry
- A circular economy for fashion that phases out harmful materials and keeps clothes in use can unlock a USD 560 billion economic opportunity
- Actors from across the fashion industry will work to realise the vision
The initiative was made possible with the support of C&A Foundation and Walmart Foundation. A further 16 stakeholders, including city authorities, fashion producers, designers, and brands have joined the initiative as participants. The group will help drive momentum towards the vision for a circular economy for fashion, first set out in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 2017 report ‘A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future’.
“For the fashion industry to become truly circular, each part of the system must change and every actor must play its role. C&A Foundation understands the power of collaboration, which is why we supported the Circular Fibres Initiative and why we believe Make Fashion Circular is so crucial going forward. This initiative represents a significant opportunity to worktogether to fundamentally redesign and recreate the fashion system in a way that benefits everyone", said Douwe Jan Joustra, Head of Circular Transformation, C&A Foundation.
Participants of the Make Fashion Circular initiative will unite behind three key principles to create a system that delivers benefits for citizens, the environment, and businesses:
1. Business models that keep clothes in use
2. Materials that are renewable and safe
3. Solutions that turn used clothes into new clothes.
DuPont Biomaterials, Fung Group, Hallotex, I:Collect, Inditex, Kering, Lenzing Group, London Waste and Recycling Board, Nanushka, Primark, RadiciGroup, Solvay, Texaid, Tintex Textiles, VF Corporation, W.L. Gore and Associates have already signed as participants and others are invited to join.
By working towards this bold new vision, the fashion industry can capture USD 460 billion currently lost due to the underutilisation of clothes. An additional USD 100 billion from clothing that could be used, but is currently lost to landfill and incineration, can also be captured.
Ellen MacArthur, founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “For the fashion industry to thrive in the future we must replace the take-make-dispose model, which is worn out. We need a circular economy for fashion in which clothes are kept at their highest value and designed from the outset to never end up as waste. By joining forces to Make Fashion Circular we can harness the creativity and innovation that is at the heart of this USD 1.3 trillion industry to create a system that delivers benefits for everyone.”
And Julie Gehrki, Vice President-Program, Walmart Foundation, added: “The launch of Make Fashion Circular is an exciting step in the journey toward achieving a waste-free apparel industry. We hope this roadmap serves as a tool that helps build partnerships across all regions and markets, catalyzes action and accelerates innovation on critical issues related to sustainable apparel.”
