Sorting for Circularity Framework
Launched in 2021, the Sorting for Circularity Framework aims to bridge the gap between the textile sorting and recycling industries by improving data collection on textile waste volumes and characteristics (such as composition, quality and colour). This initiative was designed to address the critical lack of information and implementation needed to enhance textile waste management and recycling processes using sorting and traceability.
What's the challenge?
Each year, significant amounts of post industrial and post consumer textile waste is produced but there is a lack of comprehensive data on volumes and characteristics. This impedes informed decision-making for policy, investment, and business models.
Alongside this, growing regulations and technologies for value recovery from waste are becoming essential. Current sorting practices prioritise reuse and downcycling, but there’s an urgent need to expand fibre-to-fibre recycling to create closed loop solutions and contribute to a more circular economy.
Improving sorting by composition and accessing traceability can also unlock new revenue streams for sorters by diverting more materials to fibre-to-fibre recycling, creating a stronger business case for investment in these technologies.
The Fashion for Good Sorting for Circularity Framework looked to bridge this gap, collecting the necessary data required in terms of volumes and characteristics and to assess the business case for sorting in different geographies around the world.
Executive Summary
The project spanned three key regions: Europe and the USA which focused on post-consumer waste, and India, which addressed both post-consumer and post-industrial waste. In the post-consumer pilots, data was collected from sorting facilities using advanced technologies like Matoha scanners and Picvisa systems. The focus was on identifying rewearable, and non-rewearable textiles, with data captured on product type, age group, colour, disruptors, and composition through handheld scanners and an application. For post-industrial waste in India, the emphasis was on the importance of sorting at the factory level and fostering traceability through collaboration with Reverse Resources. These initiatives are documented in various reports and a comprehensive Sorters Handbook was developed, applying the Sorting for Circularity methodology across all regions, adapted to regional contexts.
The primary goal of this project was to gather robust data, develop a streamlined waste supply chain, and enable sorting, traceability and advanced recycling through technological solutions. Additionally, it seeks to create connections within the industry and valorise textile waste while developing the end-use case supply chain.
Linked Projects
Sorting for Circularity USA
The project aims to assess the potential for fibre-to-fibre recycling in the United States. The project evaluated consumer behaviour around textile disposal and analysed post-consumer textile waste to determine its suitability for recycling. The goal was to promote circularity by improving textile collection systems and supporting the development of recycling infrastructures and technologies.
Sorting for Circularity India: Pre-Consumer Pilot
The Sorting for Circularity India Pre-Consumer Pilot aimed to organise the Indian textile waste market by establishing a circular economy that maximises value recovery from textile waste. This pilot addressed pre-consumer waste (factory floor cutting waste) and aimed to demonstrate a 360° closed-loop system, where factory waste is segregated, digitally traced, and then processed by recyclers to produce new fibres, which are returned to the production chain. The initiative sought to enhance transparency, traceability, and efficiency in India’s textile waste management system.
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.
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.
Relevant resources
Fashion for Good Launches The Sorting for Circularity India Project
Sorting For Circularity Europe: Project findings highlight immense opportunity to accelerate textile recycling
Sorting For Circularity; Fashion for Good Launches New Project To Drive Textile Recycling
Sorting for Circularity Europe Expands to Address Rewearable Textile Crisis
Sorting for Circularity India Toolkit Launched: Pioneering Partnership Sets India on Path to Next-Gen Textiles Leadeship
Driving Circular Innovation Forward: Fashion for Good Welcomes New Partners to its Sorting for Circularity USA Project
New Partners Join the Sorting for Circularity Project
Other Projects
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.
Behind the Break
Behind the Break is a multi-phase research initiative developed by Fashion for Good in collaboration with The Microfibre Consortium. The project takes a research-led approach to advance the fashion industry’s understanding of fibre fragmentation, addressing uncertainties in existing testing protocols and key knowledge gaps. By supporting the development of a more credible and consistent foundation, the initiative aims to enable stakeholders to make informed decisions and take decisive action to mitigate fibre fragment pollution, while leveraging the best available science.
Behind the Break 2.0
Behind the Break 2.0 is a targeted research initiative focused on addressing fibre fragmentation in textiles, building directly on the work started in Phase 1.0 (2024–2025), which tested the strengths and limitations of different methods used to measure fibre loss, identifying how much results vary between labs, and exploring what drives fibre shedding across three fabric types: cotton knit, cotton woven, and polyester knit. Phase 2.0 seeks to increase confidence in data quality, consolidate and refine existing testing approaches and knowledge across selected fabric archetypes, and deepen supplier engagement to support wider data collection within the space.
