Today, three frontrunning companies VF Corporation, Auping and Orta Anadolu commit to partner with Circle Economy, to develop a circular decision-making tool for the fashion and textiles industry, which will enable businesses to move from circular intent to circular action.  

Despite best intentions, the majority of textiles is currently still downcycled or incinerated at end of life. We are producing and consuming at an ever-increasing pace – global consumption has doubled in the last fourteen years – and at that same time, consumers are using their garments for half as long. While an increasing number of companies recognize the logic of closing the loop, there is a significant lack of evidence on the tradeoffs between circular and linear business models. Therefore, many companies, unwillingly, are in ‘sit & wait’ mode.

That is why Circle Economy, with the support of the C&A Foundation, is developing The Circle Fashion Tool. A digital tool that empowers brands to move from the ‘why’ to the ‘how’. The Circle Fashion Tool is a decision-making tool built to help brands evaluate the end of life options and circular opportunities for their own textile excess and weigh the practical implications and environmental and economic impact between scenarios.

The Circle Fashion Tool aims to:

  • Support brands in creating insight into their textile waste streams, set smart targets, benchmark performance and track progress over time.
  • Educate brands on what circular opportunities are available to them and assess which are the best fit for their business.
  • Connect with relevant partners in order to operationalize selected circular opportunities.
  • Enable brands to model the practical implications (business & environmental case) of their chosen circular opportunities.

                                                                                      

Today Circle Economy is proud to announce that three global development and testing partners have joined forces with Circle Economy to develop the Circle Fashion Tool in the coming year: Auping, VF Corp and Orta Anadolu!

These global partners will work closely with Circle Economy to provide feedback on the concept and the functionalities of the Circle Fashion Tool, therefore enabling the development team to align with market demand and test the tool on real-life scenarios.

In addition to their core participation in the development of the Circle Fashion Tool, Auping, VF Corporation and Orta Anadolu have joined Circle Economy’s membership community. Circle Economy’s Textiles Programme is focused on developing the system innovations necessary to close the loop within the industry. Together with its members, the programme produces the critical data, tools, technology and business models that are building the new foundation for a circular textiles industry. Over the years the team has established there is a lack of effective decision-making tools in the industry that are focused on circularity. These tools are indispensable if we are to transform intent to action on the scale that is needed. The Circle Fashion Tool plays an important role in attaining this endeavour. Circle Economy is opening the tool for further testing later in 2018.