The Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) has launched a Circular Fashion Partnership in Indonesia as a collaborative initiative aimed at achieving a sustainable, fair, and scalable transition to a circular fashion system. This follows the success of a similar project in Bangladesh.
- The Circular Fashion Partnership: Indonesia is a cross-sectoral initiative that aims to develop effective circular fashion systems by capturing and recycling post-industrial textile waste.
- By increasing the availability of recycled materials, the programme seeks to reduce the use of virgin resources.
- It brings together global brands, local manufacturers, waste handlers, recyclers, and knowledge institutes through working groups and training sessions.
- This collaborative effort promotes best practices, enabling participants to educate other industry stakeholders on the principles of the circular economy, driving the adoption of sustainable practices across Indonesia’s fashion industry.
- The collaborating organisations called for broader participation of brands, manufacturers, waste handlers, recyclers, and government bodies to participate in the collective action programme to achieve impact at scale.
THE PARTNERS: The partnership is in collaboration with Rantai Tekstil Lestari (RTL), supported by implementation partners Reverse Resources, Closed Loop Fashion, Circle Economy Foundation, and funded by the H&M Foundation and private sector contributions.
- The project is part of the Global Circular Fashion Forum (GCFF), which promotes global and local actions to scale recycling of post-industrial textile waste in multiple manufacturing countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
THE CONTEXT: Indonesia, with its advanced vertical supply chain and substantial recyclable feedstock, is poised to become a leader in textile recycling—Reverse Resources estimates that 874 kilotonnes of recyclable textile waste are generated annually in Indonesia.
- Furthermore, Indonesia’s policy environment provides a conducive framework for promoting circular apparel manufacturing, moreover through its Roadmap to 2050.
LAUNCH EVENT: The project national lead, RTL, will ensure that the programme is appropriately tailored to the local context, includes and benefits all necessary local stakeholders, aligns with the government’s strategy, and connects with the right ministries to bridge the identified policy gaps.
- The launch event, ‘Establishing Circular Textile Systems in Indonesia’, gathered over 100 leading experts and stakeholders to discuss best practices for managing textile waste, ensuring traceability and the scaling of domestic recycling capabilities.
- Speakers from the Indonesian and global fashion and recycling industry, including representatives from Indonesia’s National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Environment & Forestry, the Danish Embassy, renowned brands such as H&M and adidas, and leading global manufacturer, IndoRama, shared their insights on the future of textile waste management in Indonesia, highlighting the national ambitions for circularity, textile waste management challenges, and initiatives to foster circular commercial collaborations.
- At the event, the Circularity Academy—a gamified e-learning platform for mass immersive learning experience—was launched with a dedicated track on circular textiles in Indonesia.
LOOKING BACK: BANGLADESH: The Circular Fashion Partnership: Indonesia builds on the success of the Circular Fashion Partnership: Bangladesh, which was initiated in 2020 and currently includes UNIDO’s Bestseller Switch to Upstream Circularity pilot programme.
- In Bangladesh, over 80 factories were trained to segregate textile waste within their facilities and digitally trace these material flows to recycling solutions.
- As of July 2024, the Reverse Resources platform has enabled the tracing of over 21,000 tonnes of waste (equivalent to approximately 116 million t-shirts)1, saving an estimated 140062 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- Additionally, seven global brands and 77 manufacturers committed to recycling efforts, with 28 recyclers participating.
- By leveraging the lessons learnt and successful strategies from the Circular Fashion Partnership: Bangladesh, while adapting to the unique characteristics and nuanced local context of the Indonesian sector, the Circular Fashion Partnership: Indonesia aims to replicate and grow these achievements, to establish a prosperous circular textile economy.
WHAT THEY SAID:
Global Fashion Agenda is proud to be working with its partners to accelerate impact in core manufacturing regions. Since 2018, Denmark and Indonesia have been in strategic collaboration to support a circular economy and more effective waste management. By working with key local stakeholders, we believe that there is great potential in scaling recycling solutions in Indonesia and hope to collaborate with a wide ecosystem of actors in the region to tailor programmes to the unique local context and, in turn, support the transition to a circular economy.
— Federica Marchionni
Chief Executive Officer
Global Fashion Agenda
It’s not going to be easy. We’re not aiming for something that is impractical here. But this partnership will also enhance the understanding of circular economy ecosystems that can guide local and national government officials, manufacturers, practitioners, academics, media and consumers in pursuing circular economy in the ecosystems setting.
— Basrie Kamba
Chair
Rantai Tekstil Lestari
Moving towards circularity is a continuous journey with many interdependencies, both within and outside the company. To achieve our goal of sourcing only recycled or sustainably sourced materials by 2030, we need to work with partners. We are thrilled to embark on this journey with the Circular Fashion Partnership, aiming to establish a sustainable and circular supply chain for fashion in Indonesia.
— Anya Sapphira
Sustainability and Public Affair Manager; Production Office, Indonesia
H&M
