Fashion pioneers lead the way towards a circular economy
As part of a new initiative announced today (May 21, 2024) by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, some of the world’s leading fashion brands are exploring ways to make money without making new clothes.
Announced at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, ‘Fashion Remodel’ brings together a group of industry leaders from high street, luxury brands and other peers with the aim of making circular business models the norm.
Arc’teryx, ARKET, COS, H&M Group, Primark, Reformation, WEEKDAY and Zalando are the first participants in a Foundation-led demonstration project to identify solutions to overcome challenges, decouple revenue from the production of new clothing and advance the long-term journey towards a circular economy in fashion. Circular EconomyCircular Economy is a systems solutions framework that addresses global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution. It is based on three design-led principles: eliminating waste and pollution, circularizing products and materials (at their highest value) and regenerating nature.
Today’s fashion industry operates primarily on a “take-make-discard” model, with millions of tonnes of clothing being produced, worn and discarded every year.
Clothing production continues to grow, with 100 billion new items of clothing coming onto the market each year, yet tons of truckloads of clothing end up in landfills or incinerated every second.
Circular business models, such as rental, resale, repair and remake, are designed to keep products in use, and a recent Foundation study estimated that circular business models could grow to 23% of the global fashion market by 2030, creating a US$700 billion opportunity to transform the future of fashion.
The Foundation, an international charity committed to accelerating the transition to a circular economy, hopes that the project will serve as a starting point to enlist the support of policymakers in the fashion industry to change the way business is done.
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Jules Lennon, fashion lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “Through their participation in Fashion Remodelling, the group is taking another step towards a circular economy for fashion.”
“To challenge traditional linear models and create a new normal, brands must accelerate efforts to redesign their products for the future and decouple revenue from production by rethinking the services and business models that get products to customers and keep them in use.”
“The fashion industry is rooted in innovation and we welcome company-led efforts towards a world where clothes are used again and again and integrated into more people’s lives, rather than worn once and then discarded.”
The Foundation believes that shared learnings and experiences will pave the way towards a more resilient fashion industry.
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Leila Elter, Head of Sustainability at H&M Group, said: “We’re excited to work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation again. Jeans Redesign inspired us to explore what circular design could mean for our product range, and now Fashion Remodel will do the same with a circular business model.”
“The opportunities that arise from decoupling the fashion industry’s growth from its resource use are enormous, and this project will help us better understand how to further scale this model.”
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Dominique Showers, Arc’teryx VP of ReBIRD, added: “Arc’teryx is committed to a circular future, building products that last and equipping our customers with the tools and education to keep their gear going.”
“We are thrilled to be one of the first participants in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s demonstration project, ‘The Fashion ReModel,’ which is rethinking circularity in the outdoor industry, rethinking how we approach design and waste, and building a future where everything we create has a second life.”
The new initiative launched by the Foundation follows the “Jeans Redesign” project, which runs from 2019 to 2023 and asked participants to rethink wardrobe staples to fit into the circular economy.
Findings from the project revealed that further action was needed to build on the redesign of products, transforming the systems in which those products are embedded and the infrastructure that delivers and sustains their use.
About the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is an international charity with a mission to accelerate the transition to a circular economy to tackle some of the greatest challenges of our time, including climate change, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution.
Founded in 2010, we work with decision-makers in the private and public sectors, as well as academic networks, to build capacity, explore collaboration opportunities, and design and develop circular economy initiatives and solutions.
A circular economy is based on renewable energy (energy from resources that are not depleted on economically relevant time scales rather than geological ones), and is designed to eliminate waste, circulate products and materials at their highest value, and regenerate nature to create resilience and prosperity for business, the environment and people.
