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Circular economy: how the textile industry could grab the opportunity

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SANE is the next-gen certification for sustainable fashion products.

SANE guarantees that certified products are made with equal respect for the environment, workers´ rights, and consumers' health.

It enables consumers to instantly recognize ethically made products and show their positive engagement to the world;

It also helps conscious fashion brands to credibly communicate their commitment to a brighter future in a desirable way.

SANE certification doesn't single out the planet, the people, or consumer safety: it covers them all.

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Meaningful Initiatives in the Sustainble Fashion Movement

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This platform focuses on circularity in fashion, addressing post-consumer impact and sustainable practices. It provides information on events, resources, and initiatives related to circular fashion.

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The XR global collective action community, accelerating circular fashion through Design, Technology and Sustainability.

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The Jeans Redesign durability durability recyclability recyclability Jeans Redesign The ability of a product, component or material to remain functional and relevant when used as intended. , material health, The ease with which a material can be recycled in practice and at scale. , and traceability of denim jeans. To date, over sixty leading brands, manufacturers, and fabric mills are using the Jeans Redesign Guidelines to produce jeans that will be available on the market by May 2021. In this episode we'll hear from the Make Fashion Circular team working on the project as well as Jeans Redesign participants, including Gap and Guess. The Jeans Redesign guidelines encourage leading brands, mills, and manufacturers to transform the way jeans are made. creates solutions for a world where clothes never become waste. The guidelines, as set out by over 80 denim experts, establish the minimum requirements for the

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Ep 50: The jeans redesign project | The Fashion Show (2/5)

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In this episode we'll hear from the Make Fashion Circular team working on the project as well as Jeans Redesign participants, including Gap and Guess.

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Maritaş Denim has invested in research to develop regenerative cotton production in its native Turkey.

What they do

As well as meeting all of the Jeans Redesign circular economy circular economy mandatory guidelines as part of The Jeans Redesign A systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. . Cotton has been a key priority. The Jeans Redesign guidelines encourage leading brands, mills, and manufacturers to transform the way jeans are made. and working to reduce its water consumption, Maritaş Denim has put a focus on researching and developing fabrics fit for a

In 2023, Maritaş Denim partnered with Harran University and Gaziantep University on a project to explore cotton production with regenerative outcomes for nature. Working with academics and farmers in the South East of Turkey, an important agricultural region, the project will supply cotton to the factory while also undertaking research into the challenges, and best practices for taking a regenerative approach to growing cotton in the area.

"The aim is to compare conventional cotton with regenerative cotton and create a guide to the regenerative future of our industry" described Banu Yenici, Marketing Consultant at Maritaş Denim.

Why it's an example of the circular economy

By ensuring that fabrics are made from safe chemicals, and factories implement wastewater safety and water efficiencies, the environmental impacts of fabric production can be lessened.

Regenerative farming methods emulate natural systems, and require fewer virgin inputs. By working with, rather than against, pollinators and soil microbes, they require fewer chemical inputs (which are often derived from petrochemicals), protect water sources, and allow soils to rebuild. Replenished soils retain more water and nutrients. Increasing the health and yields of the land used to grow cotton means less land is needed, leaving space for nature, and allowing biodiversity to thrive.

Agricultural challenges can be highly specific to a particular area. By conducting dedicated research into the best practice for, and benefits of, growing cotton in Turkey, Maritaş Denim can act as a lighthouse project for encouraging other producers to transition to regenerative farming approaches.

In turn, globalised supply chains are frequently fragmented. The steps involved in making our clothes, including jeans, can happen thousands of miles apart. In doing so, excess emissions are generated and transparency over the process can be lost. By collaborating with a local Turkish university to connect fibre cultivation with fabric production, Maritaş Denim is working to shorten and simplify the supply chain, which can boost transparency and so improve reuse reuse The repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification. and recycling opportunities.

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Maritaş Denim has invested in research to develop regenerative cotton production in its native Turkey.

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Recycling Post-Consumer Textiles: Scaling Demand, Collection, and Logistics

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The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is the apparel, footwear and home textile industry's foremost alliance for sustainable production. The Coalition's main focus is on building The Higg Index, a standardized supply chain measurement tool for all industry participants to understand the environmental and social and labor impacts of making and selling their products and services.

Today the Coalition has over 200 members and represents more than 40% of the global apparel supply chain. Its focus remains the same: develop a standardized supply chain measurement tool for all industry participants to understand the environmental and social and labor impacts of making and selling their products and services. By measuring sustainability performance, the industry can address inefficiencies, resolve damaging practices, and achieve the environmental and social transparency that consumers are starting to demand. By joining forces in a Coalition, members can address the urgent, systemic challenges that are impossible to change alone.

For a comprehensive list of SAC Members visit: http://www.apparelcoalition.org

The centerpiece of the SAC's work is the Higg Index, a suite of assessment tools that empower brands, retailers, and manufacturers to measure their environmental and social and labor impacts at every stage of the product lifecycle. For those just starting to implement sustainable practices, the Higg Index guides their important first steps, helping to distinguish strengths and opportunities for improvement. For those already deeply engaged, it has more advanced potential, such as benchmarking sustainability performance against other SAC members, identifying macro risks and performing targeted research and analytics.

With the Higg Index, SAC aims to accomplish the following goals:

Understand and quantify the sustainability impacts of apparel, footwear, and home textile products

Reduce redundancy in measuring sustainability in apparel, footwear, and home textile industries

Drive business value through reducing risk and uncovering efficiencies

Create a common means and language to communicate sustainability to stakeholders

The Higg Index suite of tools are identified below. More information on each of these tools is available at http://apparelcoalition.org/the-higg-index/

The Higg Index comprises several easy-to-access, online tools or "modules" designed for members from every segment of the industry. By entering data about their business' impact areas, SAC members generate standardized performance scores that can be shared with current and future supply chain partners around the world at the click of a button. Scores are anonymized and aggregated, which allows businesses to benchmark their results against the industry and serves as a powerful incentive to strive for greater improvements and raise the sustainability bar.

All SAC members commit to using The Higg Index and to collectively revising and improving it. This ensures that the Index evolves into the most comprehensive, relevant and robust sustainability assessment tool possible-one that propels its users far beyond compliance measures and towards the upper reaches of innovation and impact.

Each Higg Index module is comprised of questions developed by the SAC's members, stakeholders, and experts, which are regularly reevaluated and updated to address all corporate policies and practices, from foundation-level measures (such as basic compliance) to medium-level to aspirational-level (such as advanced and far-reaching sustainability policies). Higg users accrue points for every policy or practice that they follow, and receive the highest number of points for positively answering the highest-level questions. These aspirational questions are based on the best practices currently followed by SAC members, and they act as guideposts that point all Higg users towards the most progressive sustainability innovations with the greatest impacts.

Brand Tools

The Higg Index's Brand Modules are used by apparel, footwear and homes textiles brands of all sizes to measure the environmental and social and labor performance of their design, sourcing and operations. The modules assess corporate policies and practices in every impact area and at every level of sustainability, from basic, compliance-level practices to advanced and far-reaching best practices. Users enter their own data and receive performance scores broken down by category (such as manufacturing, packaging, and transport) as well as an overall brand score. Scores are displayed anonymously to all users, allowing brands to benchmark their performance and discover where they stand compared to others. Brands that are SAC members may also request to share scores with other brands, retailers and facilities transparently, which can lead to new partnerships and the sharing of best practices.

Facility Tools

Manufacturers use The Higg Facility Modules to measure the social and environmental performance of their facilities. These modules measure impacts at individual facilities, not the parent company as a whole. Users conduct the assessments at least once a year and the Environmental Module assessments are now being verified by SAC-approved, on-site assessors. Benchmarking by facility type allows facility managers to compare their performance against their peers. The module's aspirational-level questions give manufacturers clear guidance on hotspots for improvement and outline the current best practices in the field.

Product Tools

Designers and developers use The Higg Index's Product Tools to design the best products from an environmental standpoint. These tools help measure product environmental performance at different stages within the product-development cycle, from initial prototype to sourcing raw materials to final design. By giving designers the information they need to make better choices at every stage of development, and by providing inspiration on how to improve their designs, the Product Tools have significant impact in improving the entire industry. Put simply, the choices made by designers and developers drive the actions and choices of manufacturing partners.

Read more about The Higg Index Product Tools below!

The Higg Index Product Tools help users understand the environmental impacts of apparel, textile, and home textiles. In 2016 three different Product Tools were released: the Higg MSI, the MSI Contributor, and the Higg DDM.

The Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) is the quantitative underpinning of the SAC's Higg Index Product Tools. It is a cradle-to-gate index using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to engage product design teams and the global supply chain of apparel, footwear, and home textile products in environmental sustainability.

The Higg MSI was originally developed by Nike after years of research and analysis. In 2012, it was adopted by the SAC and incorporated into The Higg Index. Since then, SAC has been working to mature this index into a tool that can provide value for the whole industry.

In the Higg MSI you can view material scores, create "custom materials" by defining blends and specific processes used during production, compare material scores, and see useful source and methodology information.

The MSI Contributor allows anyone to submit materials production data to the Higg MSI. By submitting data to the Higg MSI through the MSI Contributor, you can help create a common language around materials sustainability for the apparel, footwear, and home textile industries. You can easily communicate to the world how a particular material is more or less sustainable than others. This can educate and influence brand purchasing and design decisions, and ultimately reduce significant impact that materials production has on the environment.

The Higg Design & Development Module (DDM), available to SAC members, is meant to be used very early in the product creation phase by apparel, footwear, and home textile designers and developers, where upwards of 80% of a product's environmental impact is determined. Designers and developers often want to understand how to create more sustainable designs but need to be equipped with tools to learn how. In the Higg DDM they can quickly answer a few questions about their designs to receive a design score and learn how they can improve the sustainability of a product. Each product can be benchmarked against average design scores within their company and within the industry.

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Sustainable Apparel Coalition - Higg Product Tools

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The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is the apparel, footwear and home textile industry's foremost alliance for sustainable production. The Coalition's main focus is on building The Higg Index, a standardized supply chain measurement tool for all industry participants to understand the environmental and social and labor impacts of making and selling their products and services.

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Worn Again Technologies' pioneering polymer recycling technology can separate, decontaminate and extract polyester polymers, and cellulose from cotton, from non-reusable textiles and PET bottles and packaging and turn them back into new textile raw materials as part of a continual cycle. It just makes sense.

Our aim is for the outputs from our process to compete with virgin resource prices, while saving energy and bringing us closer to a waste-free, circular resource world.

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Worn Again Technologies | A waste-free, circular resource world is within reach

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Worn Again Technologies' pioneering polymer recycling technology can separate, decontaminate and extract polyester polymers, and cellulose from cotton, from non-reusable textiles and PET bottles and packaging and turn them back into new textile raw materials as part of a continual cycle. It just makes sense.

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Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) - Textile Exchange

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The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook

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The UN Climate Change Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook provides a framework for how to align consumer-facing communication across the global fashion industry with sustainability targets.

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We are Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), a UAL research centre based at London College of Fashion.

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Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action

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Communication must play a critical role in fashion’s climate response

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Communication must be a driving force for fashion to contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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Fast fashion has plenty of detrimental effects on the environment. This ever-growing throwaway culture generates an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste globally every year and is expected to soar up to 134 million tonnes a year by 2030. The industry also contributes to nearly 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of global wastewater. Launched in 2018 and renewed in 2021, t he United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action is an international industry mission statement in which fashion and textile companies commit to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and address their roles in climate change.
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The global fashion, clothing, and textiles industry has soared in the past few decades to become one of the biggest commercial sectors in the world, boasting a worth of up to US$1.5 trillion. But with this meteoric rise comes a steep cost: about 92 million tonnes of textiles waste is produced every year and around 93 billion cubic metres of wastewater is generated from textile dyeing to keep up with current global demands. M ost worryingly, the fashion industry now accounts for nearly up to 10% of global carbon emissions, which is more than both the aviation and shipping sectors combined , meaning that fashion is now a major contributor to climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is therefore addressing this growing issue by launching a dedicated industry charter.

What is the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action?

The UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, or simply the UN Fashion Charter, was created with the mission to address the undeniable environmental impacts of the global fashion industry and to drive the sector towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2050 , in line with keeping global warming below 1.5C from pre-industrial levels set out in the Paris Agreement.

First launched at the UN climate summit COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018, the charter was once again renewed at COP26 in Glasgow, UK, in November 2021.

The UN Fashion charter recognises the detrimental impacts the fashion, clothing and textile industry has on the environment and must take an active role in contributing to achieving the goals in the Paris Agreement. It also acknowledges that current business models and solutions are not sufficient to meet the climate targets in order to avoid a climate catastrophe. The industry as a whole needs to adopt a deeper, more systemic change and scale up low-carbon solutions to realise this vision.

"The fashion industry has a unique opportunity to drive climate action by using its collective strength to transform the industry to low carbon technologies and products through its Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action," Niclas Svenningsen, Manager of the UN Global Climate Action writes . "Brands, suppliers, retailers, industry associations and coalitions that signed up to the Charter have the opportunity and responsibility to translate words into decisive action."

The overarching goals are underpinned by other climate commitments; dedication to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social justice and responsibility, and respect for human rights.
You might also like: How to Recognise Fast Fashion Brands and Which Ones to Avoid
In signing the charter, signatories and supporting organisations of the charter are committed to climate action and decarbonising across the fashion, retail and textile global value chain. Signatories are to work together with fashion stakeholders and experts to deliver the commitments enshrined in the charter via 'working groups'.

Key Features of the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter

Hitting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and halving greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019 levels by 2030.

Materials such as cotton, viscose, polyester, wool and leather must have a low climate impact by 2030, meaning they must be recycled in a closed loop, and are deforestation-free, land conversion-free, and produced using regenerative practises.

Phasing out coal from owned and supplier sites as soon as possible and by 2030 latest. There should be no new coal power by January 2023 at the latest.

Key Areas for Working Groups to Develop On
You might also like: New York Introduces First Fashion Sustainability Act in the US

Developing roadmaps for companies and fashion stakeholders to decarbonise and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Securing and adopting 100% of electricity from renewable sources across supply chains

Promoting and facilitating greater policy engagement.

Tools and measures to promote broader climate action.

Signatories of the UN Fashion Charter
Image by: The UN Fashion Charter
Since the launch of the charter in 2018 as well as its renewal in 2021, nearly 130 fashion, clothing and textile companies have committed to climate action and to meet the goals embedded in the document. Among the signatories are some of the biggest fashion houses and retailers in the world including Adidas, Chanel, LVMH, and Nike, while fast fashion companies such as H&M and Primark, who are some of the worst culprits of environmental pollution, have notably also made climate action commitments.

43 organisations that are actively engaged in the fashion sector, including Condé Nast - a global media company that owns publications such as Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair, World Wildlife Fund, and Fashion Revolution - have also signed on the charter, who are in a position to contribute significantly and effectively to the aforementioned goals.

Fashion Industry's Climate Progress So Far
You might also like: Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact
According to the official UN review of the 2020 reporting cycle, in which more than 70% of signatories submitted climate disclosures, nearly 60% of charter members have indicated a reduction in emissions since the last reporting cycle. Another positive finding is that over 85% of responding signatories have embedded the Charter's climate commitments in their own organisation's public sustainability strategy.

Based on the disclosure submitted by the companies - public disclosures are also made mandatory from 2021 - the report revealed that an estimated 3.48 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent were reduced annually, and US$117.14 million were saved as a result of emission reductions. It also found that companies have purchased an average of 33% of total power from renewable sources.

However despite progress, there are still several crucial areas in which signatories are behind, such as the lack of leveraging of internal costs of carbon, and supporting and engaging companies' own value chain.

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Explainer: What is the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action? | Earth.Org

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The United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action aims for fashion companies to achieving net zero emission by 2050.

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Did you know less than 1% of old clothing becomes new clothes? Make a circular economy for fashion