Closing the Footwear Loop

The “Closing the Footwear Loop” project is a major initiative led by Fashion for Good, bringing together 17 leading fashion and footwear brands and their existing circularity programs to tackle the complex challenges of circularity in the footwear industry. The project aims to transform the current linear “take-make-dispose” model into a circular one.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

Sorting for Circularity Rewear

Fashion for Good expanded its Sorting for Circularity framework to address the challenge of sorting for rewearable textiles to understand better their resale potential and the demand across the second-hand market. We launched an 18-month initiative in January 2024 in collaboration with Circle Economy, brand partners adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co. and Zalando to enhance the sorting of rewearable textiles using innovative AI technologies. The project seeks to improve garment recovery for resale, promoting circularity in the fashion industry.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

New Cotton Project

In a world first for the fashion industry, twelve pioneering players came together to break new ground by demonstrating a circular model for commercial garment production.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

T-REX Project

The T-REX Project brings together 13 major players from across the entire value chain to create a harmonised EU blueprint and business opportunities for closed loop sorting, and recycling of household textile waste. Transforming end-of-use textiles, from waste, into a desired feedstock, and a commodity for new business models that can be adopted at scale.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

Fast Feet Grinded Collaborative Pilot

The aim of the pilot was to test and validate the FastFeetGrinded footwear recycling process by evaluating the quality of outputs and understanding the environmental impacts of the process. FastFeetGrinded is a company specialising in footwear recycling that accepts all types of footwear as feedstock to produce sorted material granulates with zero waste streams. FastFeetGrinded aims to deconstruct any type of pre- and post-consumer shoe, separating footwear into substituent components, which are then subsequently grinded down and processed to create material streams for repurposed use.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Fashion Decarbonisation Opportunity

The fashion industry is at a pivotal moment in its journey toward sustainability. With greenhouse gas emissions contributing significantly to global climate change, urgent action is needed to decarbonise supply chains. This report, developed by Fashion for Good in collaboration with the Apparel Impact Institute, outlines existing and innovative solutions to reduce emissions, unlock financing opportunities, and create a pathway to net zero by 2050. Through deep industry insights and financial analysis, this report serves as a guide for brands, manufacturers, policymakers, and investors committed to driving meaningful change.

Tracing Textile Waste

The Tracing Textile Waste Project by Fashion for Good and Textile Exchange focuses on improving transparency and traceability of textile waste in the reverse supply chain.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

Wealth in Waste

This report is part of the “Sorting for Circularity: India” initiative led by Fashion for Good and its partners. It aims to explore the untapped potential of India’s textile waste industry to transition into a circular economy by identifying waste streams, analysing current practices, and suggesting pathways for systemic improvements across the value chain.

Sorting for Circularity India

This project was designed to organise and optimise India’s textile waste supply chain. By evaluating various waste streams for collection, sorting, and pre-processing, the initiative aimed to enhance circularity in textiles. It sought to improve collection and sorting systems, foster recycling infrastructure, and introduce innovative solutions to generate new revenue streams and next-generation materials from textile waste-reducing reliance on virgin resources and minimising landfill and incineration.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included:

Sorting for Circularity India: Post-Consumer Pilot

India generates around 3,944k tonnes of post-consumer textile waste annually, with 48% viable for recycling feedstock, though inadequate sorting and recycling systems prevent full utilisation. This project involved two primary pilots that tested sorting innovations: Matoha’s FabriTell desktop scanner for semi-automated sorting and PICVISA’s ECOSORT for fully automated sorting. The pilots aimed to assess these technologies’ ability to categorise waste by fibre and colour efficiently, ultimately facilitating quality feedstock production for recycling. Initial findings suggest India could effectively harness a closed-loop textile recycling system, with cotton and polyester blends as dominant waste types.

Problem Statement

The apparel industry faces immense pressure to meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement, with fashion accounting for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 emissions, especially from processing (Tier 2), represent a critical challenge. Shifting to dry processing technologies has the potential to reduce water and energy use, contributing to lower emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.

Stakeholders involved

The D(R)YE Factory of the Future project brought together key industry leaders and innovators committed to revolutionizing textile processing. The project’s brand stakeholders included: