Together, they will deliver the solutions needed to meet the changing demands and expectations of society and address the issues that have seen the fashion industry become one of the most polluting and wasteful operating today. 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.

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. 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, and W.L. Gore and Associates have already signed as participants, and others are invited to join.

“We believe the industry will not be able to continue to operate in the current linear way of take, make and dispose and therefore we have set a vision to become 100% circular. This system shift towards a circular fashion industry is an industry wide challenge, that one brand will not be able to solve alone. To be able to bring about lasting change, collaboration is key,” said Cecilia Strömblad Brännsten, Acting Environmental Sustainability Manager, H&M group.

By working towards this new vision, the fashion industry can capture US$ 460 billion, currently lost due to the underutilisation of clothes, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. An additional US$ 100 billion from clothing that could be used, but is currently lost to landfill and incineration, can also be captured.

“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 USS 1.3 trillion industry to create a system that delivers benefits for everyone,” said Ellen MacArthur, founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

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