Fashion in a
circular economy
Fast fashion has triggered the consumption of clothes with a very short lifespan damaging both environment and societies like Sherman’s march to the sea. The circular economy framework shows ways of building a restorative textile economy along the value chain of production, sales, use, and recycling.
When we first heard about the circular economy, we believed this was just another term on the sustainable agenda. In a sense, it is. But after doing some research, we realized that changing from a linear to a circular approach in business reveals a more holistic picture and provides practical inspirations on how to improve a fashion brand’s operations.
From fast and linear to slow and circular
The idea behind the circular economy framework is simple: with the current, linear way of take, make, and dispose, we are heavily eating into finite resources. The permanent push of cheap fashion has led to a doubling of clothing production over the last few of decades, while the time that clothing items are used has declined almost 40%. In other words, fast-fashion triggers consumers to buy more and more clothes while these same buyers wear the purchased products less and less. At the same time, consumers do not pay the real price of their clothes’ production. Resources are wasted for future generations and the environment is polluted and degraded – costs that are not reflected in fast fashion. And fast fashion’s global workplaces are damaging societies along the production chain instead of contributing to positive development.
What’s the way out of fast fashion? It’s slow fashion and a regenerative, circular economy. Clothes should be designed and produced at high quality and durability. Their prices should be affordable yet cover the true environmental and societal cost of materials and processes. Materials and processes applied should not pollute the environment but let natural systems regenerate.
And slow fashion must think beyond sales so that clothes maintain their full value during and after first use: The design should aim at raising durability and long attractivity, permitting reuse, or resale. And finally, clothes should be produced so that they are open to recycling processes available today. It’s a more holistic view, called cradle-to-grave.
As the name says - recycling and upcycling of materials is a crucial element of the circular economy.
A lot of work to do
After we researched the circular fashion economy, we were both thrilled and frightened. At Le Picot, we are busy implementing best-in-class processes to source fibers and textiles and to produce, sell, and ship our clothes. But unfortunately, that’s only half of the cycle. We must join our clients and start thinking cradle-to-grave, supporting the use, reuse, and finally, recycling or regeneration. It’s the last part that is frightening because we know that a 100% Lyocell shirt or a 100% merino wool sweater decompose easily. But how can you recycle textiles with a mix of fibers? Do we have to ban synthetic fibers, that allow more durability and a longer use, because they do not regenerate? How do we get clients to give their clothes to reuse or recycling instead of dumping them? Many questions. To answer some of them, we need new technological solutions. For others, we need a better dialogue with our clients that goes beyond sales.
If you are interested in more details on fashion and the circular economy, we recommend visiting the Ellen Macarthur Foundation’s website. It has excellent in-depth information on this and many other topics of the circular economy.
