Circularity

The UK Government has been urged to adopt a variable EPR system to support and safeguard textiles manufacturing businesses by designing and selling more circular products, and by offering circular services like repair and reuse.

Nonprofit WRAP has warned that if the UK’s used textiles sector goes under, charities, local authorities and consumers will have to pay the cost of dealing with unwanted used textiles.

The leitmotif across panels and presentations at the just-concluded 19th edition of the Textile ETP Annual Conference in the Spanish city of Alcoy was unmistakable: the textile sector is hungry for specifics. Companies—large and small—are calling for clearer guidelines, harmonised standards, and structured pathways to circularity and digital transition.

The Circular Fashion Innovation Network (CFIN) has come out with a landmark report detailing two years of industry-led collaboration to accelerate the UK’s transition to a circular fashion ecosystem.

A press conference for the upcoming Textiles Recycling Expo to be held in Brussels this June discussed how the event could be a catalyst to spotlight real-world solutions and accelerate their adoption across the European market, especially at a time when the political and economic case for transformation is finally aligning—if only precariously—with technological readiness.

The Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) Association works towards strengthening economic opportunities by promoting the interdependence of the for-profit textile recycling industry segments and provides a common forum for networking, education and advocacy. SMART President Brian London dwells at length on the second-hand clothing waste and global trade.

The path to circularity in fashion is not paved with singular solutions or isolated innovations. It is shaped by the willingness of stakeholders to come together, question assumptions, and collaborate in new ways. The ESCF project has shown that manufacturers, when given space and voice, are not just implementers—they are co-creators of the future. 

A major player in the Enabling Systemic Circularity in Fashion project of the Forum for the Future was leading apparel manufacturer, Crystal International Group. A spokesperson of the group talks about how brands and retailers can collaborate with their manufacturing partners in making the concept of circular fashion work in reality.

Taiwanese player Yee Chain International Ltd was a key participant in a project that sought to understand the systemic challenges that are stymieing the fashion industry’s efforts to go the whole hog. Chief Sustainability Officer, Martin Su, and Global Sustainability and Circularity Scaling Manager, Anett Soti, talk about ground truths in this engaging conversation.

The world needs systems, not islands — scaling circularity means scaling integration. At the just-concluded 4th Sustainable & Circular Textiles, Apparel & Footwear event in Brussels, the call was clear: circularity won’t happen by chance—it takes bold collaboration and aligned action across the value chain. The conversations were honest, the momentum real but with an underlying message that was consistent: circularity requires clarity.