At the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, some of the biggest names in fashion are joining forces to create a thriving industry based on the principles of a circular economy.
Make Fashion Circular builds on the vision outlined in the Foundation’s 2017 report A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future. Today Dame Ellen MacArthur announces the industry leaders who are joining forces to Make Fashion Circular, and leads a panel discussing the topic at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit.
As core partners of Make Fashion Circular, Burberry Group plc, Gap Inc., H&M, HSBC, NIKE, Inc., and Stella McCartney, will work with the Foundation to radically redesign the fashion industry. 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 project has been made possible with the support of C&A Foundation and Walmart Foundation.
A further 16 participants including city authorities, fashion producers, designers, and brands have joined the initiative to help drive momentum towards the vision for a circular economy for fashion.
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:
• Business models that keep clothes in use
• Materials that are renewable and safe
• Solutions that turn used clothes into new clothes.
By working towards this bold new vision, the fashion industry can capture USD 460 billion currently lost due to the underutilization of clothes. An additional USD 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 USD 1.3 trillion industry to create a system that delivers benefits for everyone.
– Ellen MacArthur, founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Clothes are an everyday necessity, and for many an important aspect of self-expression. Yet the way clothes are made and used today is extremely wasteful and polluting. Make Fashion Circular drives collaboration between industry leaders and other key stakeholders to create a textiles economy fit for the 21st century. Its ambition is to ensure clothes are made from safe and renewable materials, new business models increase their use, and old clothes are turned into new. This new textiles economy would benefit business, society, and the environment.
About the Initiative
Launched in May 2017 at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit as the Circular Fibres Initiative, this initiative brings together leaders from across the fashion industry, including brands, cities, philanthropists, NGOs, and innovators. Its aim is to stimulate the level of collaboration and innovation necessary to create a new textiles economy, aligned with the principles of the circular economy.
One year later, at the 2018 Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the Circular Fibres Initiative enters its second phase: Make Fashion Circular. To thrive, and not just survive, the fashion industry needs to radically redesign its operating model. By transitioning to a circular system, where we keep safe materials in use, the industry can unlock an enormous economic opportunity.
To really Make Fashion Circular, businesses, governments, innovators, and citizens need to join forces. Make Fashion Circular brings together industry leaders including Burberry, Gap Inc., H&M, HSBC, NIKE Inc., and Stella McCartney as Core Partners. Make Fashion Circular has been made possible by C&A Foundation and Walmart Foundation.
