Figure 1 - Phelan, B. (2022). Heron Preston spring/summer 2022 collection. In Heron Preston. https:// pausemag.co.uk/2022/03/heron-preston-takes-sustainable-approach-to-ss22-collection/
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SUSTAINABLE FASHION OUT... CIRCULAR FASHION IN!
Sustainability has become a trend and not a movement of importance, so circular fashion has become the future.
The world of fashion that we currently live in feeds off waste. As a result of this, millions of textiles are burnt or sent to landfill, every year brands are bringing in new technology. The problem labelling products with buzzwords like circularity and creating bags made from recycled fishing nets or shoes crafted from plastic bottles. But the industry still needs to find scalable solutions to its overall waste problem (Chasing the Holy Grail of Circularity, 2021).
Circular Fashion takes your clothes out the linear cycle and replacing it with circular loop cycle. This means your clothes will never reach wastage.
Circular Fashion is a system where our clothing and personal belongings are produced through a more considered model: where the production of an item and its end life are equally as important (Hill, 2022). This has become the way forward over the past couple of years, with apps such as Vinted and Depop becoming more popular, more people are selling their clothes and buying second hand. When carrying out a survey asking 100 people, 76% of people use these apps for both buying and selling. However, 81% of the people hadn’t heard of circular fashion (Jones & Unknown, 2023). This article is about creating ‘Circular Awareness’ and how they can implement this into their life to make the future of sustainable fashion better.
Parker, L. (2023). Unknown. [Online Image] WGSN. Available at: https://www-wgsn-com.salford.idm.oclc.org/fashion/article/
642c02aba7f2c9322b947819 [Accessed 3 Nov. 2023].
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on is a system ing and personal produced through d model: where of an item and life are equally
(Hill, 2022)
WHAT IS CIRCULAR FASHION
The new cycle has become a sub-sector to the main sector of which is ‘Sustainable Fashion’, this is down to people understanding the world of sustainability. The idea of a circular economy is about focusing on how we can take products and materials already in existence and use them to create products of greater value. This trend separates economic growth and the use of finite resources. A circular economy consists of both upcycling and recycling (Little, 2019, pp. 35–36). With concept of circular fashion, you can use any materials, just like the company Matt & Nat who recycle water bottles for the lining in their luxury handbags.
Circular fashion first came into effect 2014 just a year after the events of Rana Plaza in 2013, where over 1,000 workers were sadly killed in unstable working conditions. The term ‘Circular Fashion’ was mentioned in a seminar in Sweden, where a more circular approach to the fashion industry was the core focus (Hill, 2022) to the future of fashion. Since 2014, there has been a tenfold increase of the rigorous shift to promote more sustainable, ethical, and circular systems in several industries, in terms of how society may behave, select, and do more sustainably. Helping the circular fashion cycle is one well activist herself, Ellen MacArthur who started her foundation in 2010. It has been running for over 10 years to help people understand the circular cycle. The vision of the foundation is a circular economy for fashion creates better products and services for customers, contributes to a resilient and thriving fashion industry and this regenerates the environment. Together, we can build an industry that designs products to be used more, made to be made again and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs. (Unknown, 2023). Knowing what the foundation is all about can help the consumer strive to understand how they have helped the industry keep in the circular cycle.
(2023). Yellow Jacket in Park. [Photoshoot
Bepo (2023). Corner Shop. Bepo. Available at:
https://www.flaunt.com/post/heron-preston-fall-winter-2023-collection
Meatier, B. (2023). Heron Preston | Fall/Winter 2023 Collection. In www.flaunt.com.
Nast, C. (2023, July). Heron Preston Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2023-ready-to-wear/heron-preston/ slideshow/collection#1
https://www.gbadebo.uk
Grade, K. (2023). Our Story. In Gbadebo.co.uk.
How can the consumer help?
The consumers have the superpower to change the world. It’s all about how we as consumers use our knowledge and time to know how we can implement the circular loop cycle into our own lives. The increased demand and support for the circular fashion models has directly resulted in more brands offering take-back programs, enabling resale, using sustainable materials, etc. (The Sustainable Fashion Forum, 2023). Educating consumers about this will help them really understand how they can keep their clothes in the circular cycle. Circular economy is conscious of sustainable production, recycle, reuse, redesign, and repair before discarding resources into the waste bin, in turn leading to the minimal waste of natural resources and sustainable development (Pintu Pandit et al., 2020, p.254). Researching into some of the main ways a consumer can help change the cycle within their lifestyle, we have: Reuse, Repair and Recycle, these are just three ways that the consumer can help the cycle with its uplift. Let’s take a dive into the three headings to give you an understanding of how you as the consumer implement them into your wardrobe or style.
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Reuse - Repa
Reusing your clothes, in this day and age is vital to reducing your fashion footprint, and us as consumer need to make this normal to reuse our garments. You don’t need to worry about what other people think as I can guarantee they most probably have clothes in their wardrobe that they reuse all the time. There are many ways you can make reusing your clothes for fun. For example, Halloween costumes. Like a white shirt think of how many costumes you could produce with just that one item of clothing. I bet you have more than that one item of clothing to make a full costume with, with reusing your clothes as well your saving money #GirlMath. Which is a massive trend that everyone seems to know in 2023. ‘Girl Math’ is an invented set of rules that girls keep when justifying impulse spending (Shiny New Clients, 2023). For example, reusing an item of clothing ten times when it costs £20 would be like seeing it as every wear is £2 so your saving money the more you wear it.
When looking at a broken and worndown garments, the first thing to pop into our minds is that they aren’t good enough or wearable again, and I will just throw them in the bin. Let’s try to get out of this habit as consumers and start thinking of creative ways to repair them. Repairing can be as simple as sewing up a hole, or as dedicated as taking your shoes to a professional cobbler for new soles (Hill, 2023). Right! Let’s get creative… take an old pair of jeans for example, find spare fabric or old denim, and make some patch work jeans. Channel that inner grandma in you, grab a needle and thread and get creative. Lengthening the life of our clothing from one to two years decreases their carbon footprint by 24%, so it has an environmental effect (Abu, 2019). If you don’t trust yourself with a needle and thread, then there are also the high-street tailors that will be happy to help you or even door-to-door tailers like Sojo. Josephine Philips first recognised a lack of easy and accessible clothing repairs after she became a top seller on Depop in 2018, just by buying and selling one-off vintage garments. To fill this void, Philips launched Sojo, an app that has become known as the Deliveroo of clothing repairs (Webb, 2021). Since the start of Sojo, more big brands like Selfridges, Hermes, Barbour, and Levi’s have all opened repair sectors to their brand. With Selfridges being a leading department store they have taken the opportunity to explore this further and creating Reselfridges. (see page 20)
ir - Recycle
Circular Fashion Check List...
. Can I sell unwanted clothes
. Keep your clothes in good conditions
. Shop second hand
. Sell your clothes
. Support brands that use a circular ecomony already.
. Swap clothes with family
As the years and seasons carry on and the trends roll around, a lot of consumers want to revamp their wardrobes, with this it means decluttering our spaces and starting fresh. Most of the consumers don’t know that a lot of brands have recycling programmes, such as Patagonia and their ‘Worn Wear Programme’. Patagonia collect unwanted items from their brand that’s in your wardrobe and turn them into something new for collections within the future. I understand that not everyone has their brand within their wardrobes, and this is where the likes of apps such as Vinted, Depop and eBay come in to play! You can use these apps to sell and recycle your unwanted clothes. It’s better to make money off your unwanted clothes rather than throwing them in the bin, the money can go towards a new wardrobe!
Levi’s (2022). Vintage Clothing: Your Ultimate Guide | Off The CuffLevi’s. www.levi.com. Available at: https://www.levi.com/GB/en_GB/blog/article/ vintage-clothing-guide [Accessed 4 Jan. 2024].
Reshaping Retail!
Some brands have started to open tailoring and repair shops within the retail stores, so let’s explore what they are doing looking at Levi’s, Reselfridges and H&M:
The establishment of Levi’s Tailor Shop aimed to promote environmentally friendly methods within the garment sector. The creative area where Levi’s customers may fix and personalise their jeans rather than send them to waste. This is reducing waste and overconsumption of fashion. By helping their customer with upcycling this is going to benefit the circular economy. That the fashion industry is trying to fully adapt to.
As Selfridges continue to explore a more sustainable way forward for retail as part of Project Earth, Reselfridges is their way of showcasing the brilliance of pre-loved, achieve and vintage pieces, and giving you more planet-friendly ways to shop as consumers. Close the loop on waste (Selfrides & Co, 2023). As a leading brand it’s nice to see that they are trying to give a voice for the fashion industry sector that it lies in, as most brands haven’t yet focused so much in keeping the fashion industry circular.
Leading high street retailer, H&M have recently launched a clothing collection sector to their brand. This is a service where they accept unwanted clothing and textiles regardless the brand or quality of the item or garment. The brand then goes on to recycle them to new or give them a new purpose maybe in and another garment. This provides materials a new life, reduces material wase and helps H&M create new revenue and profit for themselves, as well as good brand image.
These three brands are showing that the industry is really starting to change, no matter what segment of the industry it is. If the likes of big brands like these can do their bit to help the environment, it shows that other brands can do it too.
If the fashion industry could easily and quickly adapt to the circular loop, then there will be less waste and landfill, which then eliminates pollution helping our planet environment. Unfortunately, it’s not an overnight process as many people need to be educated still, and the circular loop needs to be heard. So now you have read all about it, shout about it! The more you talk about the phrase ‘Circular Fashion’ just like ‘Sustainable Fashion’ it will become the next trend. Will it be the future of Fashion?
Brain, E. (2022). Heron Preston Focuses on Sustainability for SS22 Co-Ed Collection. [online] Hypebeast. Available at: https://hypebeast.com/2022/3/heron-pres
ton-spring-summer-2022-collection-lookbook [Accessed 7 Nov. 2023].