Designing for a circular fashion system starts with the materials. From leather made from cactus plants to viscose engineered using textile waste, Rose Ellis looks into the latest textile innovations helping to close the loop.
Making clothing circular is based upon the concept of designing out waste, while simultaneously reusing materials and regenerating natural systems. This is all the more pressing due to the unfathomable amounts of clothing that are consumed and then discarded, their origin or afterlife often not even considered. WRAP estimates that 350,000 tonnes (£140 million worth) of clothing is sent to landfill each year in the UK alone. It may not be the absolute solution, but making textiles that are circular plays a crucial role in combatting this.
To fully close the loop, consciously designing garments for their afterlife is imperative. This could mean the textile is entirely biodegradable, made without wasteful byproducts or even made from waste itself. It could also mean being endlessly recyclable and infinitely increase the textiles’ lifetime. Nature is innately regenerative and is the inspiration for some of the most sustainable materials. Let this be the inspiration for our own wardrobes too, and consciously close the loop on our newly acquired and once loved pieces. Delving deeper into circularity, considering not only the garment as a whole but right down to the fibre itself. Each of the following initiatives are really encouraging and some excitingly abstract.