UNLOCKING CIRCULARITY IN TEXTILE WASTE

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 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 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.

In early 2024, Fashion for Good and The Microfibre Consortium joined forces on “Behind the Break: Exploring Fibre Fragmentation”, a collaborative project designed to advance the industry’s understanding of fibre fragmentation. Although fibre fragmentation is an issue that spans multiple industries, this project specifically focuses on the textile and fashion value chain, aligning with the missions of Fashion for Good and its partners to drive systemic change towards a more sustainable industry.

World of Waste is an online tool dedicated to uniting industry-wide efforts to develop and disseminate data on textile waste. The platform consolidates data from individual studies by partnering with ecosystem players.

The European Green Deal and the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan highlight textiles as one of the particularly important material streams with regard to circularity potential and environmental footprint.

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.

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.

Fashion for Good and Textile Exchange launched the Tracing Textile Waste project in 2023, a two-year, multi-stakeholder initiative to standardise classification and traceability of pre-consumer textile waste. Central to this effort was developing a minimum viable product (MVP) based on the Textile Exchange Reclaimed Material Declaration Form (RMDF).

Following the completion of the project, Textile Exchange has confirmed it will officially launch a revised RMDF, using the learnings and recommendations from this project. The focus now turns to enabling widespread adoption and supporting continuous refinement.

To address the gaps in post-consumer feedstock for the development of textile-to-textile recycling in India, FFG has initiated the Sort to Sustain (STS) Project, in line with the broader ambition of the Re-START Alliance. This project focuses on enhancing the quantity, quality, and price of feedstock to support the recycling industry. The project aims to establish a circular textiles system in India by creating a robust collection and sorting ecosystem for widespread recycling implementation. Leveraging insights from the Sorting for Circularity India project, it seeks to scale sorting and pre-processing infrastructure. The goal is to support the expansion of at least four waste enterprises and set up their Textile Recovery Facilities (TRFs) by 2030.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The London Polybag Collection Scheme Pilot aimed to address the low recycling rates of polybags used in the fashion industry by trialling a scalable recycling infrastructure for collecting and processing polybag waste into new materials.

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.

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.