Packaging, in all its different forms, is ubiquitous across the fashion industry. This is no more evident than the single-use plastic and cardboard packaging that enables the burgeoning e-commerce market.

The last 5 years have seen a pronounced increase in excitement around “biomaterials” for the fashion industry. As brands consider their environmental and social impacts, along with rising ethical concerns from consumers, the search for more ‘sustainable’ alternatives is driving innovation. Wider trends are further contributing to interest in biomaterials; from climate change and the potential for lower carbon footprints vs fossil based synthetic materials, the war on plastics, to the rapid growth of veganism1 and a rush to find alternatives to animal derived materials. Biomaterials, however, remain an ill defined category.

This project involved a detailed analysis and assessment of physical tracer technologies for the textile industry, aimed at improving the traceability of fibres and materials across the supply chain. It evaluated forensic and additive tracers as solutions to verify the origins of materials and strengthen transparency in the textile supply chain.

The Sorting for Circularity Europe project aims to increase harmonisation between the sorting and recycling industry and stimulate a recycling market for unwanted textiles that can generate new revenue streams for sorters. Conducting analyses across Europe, in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, the project provides the most comprehensive and representative snapshot of post-consumer textiles composition generated in Europe to date.

The Sorting for Circularity Europe project was launched in early 2021 and initiated by Fashion for Good together with Circle Economy. The project was made possible by catalytic funding from Laudes Foundation and brand partners, adidas, BESTSELLER, Inditex and Zalando, with H&M Group as key project partners. The project addressed the need for data on textile waste in the market, identifying waste types and recycling opportunities.

The impact of today’s fashion industry has far reaching environmental consequences. And while raw material production and end of use may spring to mind, the processing stage of the supply chain, including pretreatment, colouration (dyeing and printing) and finishing, is often overlooked as a critical area for pivotal and positive change. This guide, based on industry and Fashion for Good research, is designed to provide an overview and deeper understanding of the processing stage, including innovative technologies that would help drastically reduce the water, energy and chemistry used, as well as replacing hazardous chemistry currently used.

The project aimed 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.

About 48% of the Post-consumer Domestic Waste (PCD) has the potential to be valorised via formalised sorting hubs. Out of this, 35% of the waste can have better utilisation by adopting semiautomated & automated technologies, leading to a revenue increase of 10%. At an industry level, this translates to 1,380 kilo tonnes of waste and INR 388 Cr (going up to INR 1,348 crores in some cases) of additional revenue in one year. However, an enabling environment needs to be created to make these technologies economically viable for a sorting hub.

In the next ten years, the textile and apparel industry will adopt new materials that deliver unprecedented performance and eliminate harmful chemicals from products and manufacturing processes, emerging as a circular and regenerative sector of the economy.

We need to create a circular fashion system. A system that combines new business models with innovative design, technologies and materials that eliminate waste and pollution and drive positive impact across the fashion value chain. Accenture Strategy and Fashion for Good have collaborated to produce this report, combining our unique expertise of the circular economy and fashion industry, to explore the financial viability of circular business models.