The Future of Fashion & Sustainability | 5 A Circular Fashion Model

Feb 3

Consumer pressure on fashion brands to act sustainably has prompted a select few brands to embrace a circular fashion model. The ongoing pressure to shift from the linear “take-make-dispose” model is a result of the harmful environmental practices attributed to modern-day fashion. The concerns specifically boil down to the fashion industry’s over-reliance on non-renewable resources across the supply chain, high use and pollution of water, annual greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e), waste accumulation, and microplastic pollution.[i] Defined by Nike as “creating products that last longer and are designed with the end in mind,” the circular design model requires brands to take responsibility for designing and implementing sustainable standards in all facets of a product’s life cycle. [ii] Adidas, Patagonia, and Rent the Runway, along with Nike, are actively engaged in the pursuit of circular models. Among a crowded field of solutions for the future of sustainable fashion, the circular design model proves to be the most comprehensive.

[Graphic: Ellen MacArthur Foundation]

A circular design model considers a product’s impact from inception to end, one in which waste and pollution are eliminated; it is a closed-loop process. With the “end in mind,” circularity adopts an approach that measures environmental impacts across the supply chain, and actively implements solutions that lessen or eliminate the negative environmental consequences of the linear process.

Adidas and Nike are two major players in fashion that have both developed design frameworks to guide their product supply chain decisions with an overall goal of creating sustainable high-quality performance apparel. Nike is aided by their Circular Design Guide, while Adidas has initiated its Made to be Remade initiative. Among Adidas’ other innovations, they released a line of shoes made from recycled plastics recovered from the ocean in collaboration with Parley for the Oceans – a nonprofit environmental organization, with the aim of reducing their reliance on virgin plastic and switching exclusively to the use of recycled polyester by 2024. [iii] Adidas is heavily invested in the future of natural fibers as part of a consortium to implement Bolt Threads’ Mylo, a mycelium-based leather alternative.

The newly introduced Made to be Remade line of apparel, footwear, and select Adidas by Stella McCartney pieces are products with an “end-of-life solution.”[iv] Adidas designed these products to be worn, returned, and remade without compromising on style or quality. Consumers return apparel that can be turned into new yarn, which is used to knit the next line of Made to be Remade products.[v] Returned footwear is cleaned and shredded, with the resulting raw materials collected and used to produce different parts of the shoe.[vi] Adidas knows that the quality and style of their new innovative products makes them a force in the larger fashion landscape and the world of sustainability.

The Nike Circular Design Guide is a set of principles that challenges designers to consider material choices, waste avoidance, durability, packaging, among other factors across a product’s supply chain. Nike continues to innovate its footwear and apparel material selection with the creation of Nike Flyknit and Flyleather materials.[vii] In 2020 Nike designed 59% of all apparel with sustainable materials.[viii] Meanwhile, the sportswear brand sourced 100% sustainable cotton for use in their and Nike subsidiary Converse’s apparel.[ix] Recycled polyester use increased consecutively between 2015 and 2020, accounting for a quarter of Nike’s polyester use in 2020.[x] In line with its circularity standards, Nike also continues to expand the Nike Grind initiative of taking scrapped product materials, unused materials, and shoes to repurpose and remake a range of new products.[xi] Like all brands, Nike has room to improve its sustainability standards, but the Nike Circular Design Guide is key in guiding its initiatives.

[Image: Nike Circular Design]

Patagonia, the outdoor and adventure-wear brand, is a true changemaker that advances circular design. Patagonia is inspired by a ’90s concept referenced Cradle to Cradle that sets up a design framework applicable beyond the confines of fashion and considers every material “a resource for something else.”[xii] Over the last two decades, Patagonia has experimented with solutions aimed at generating a circular design model, and since 2005 Patagonia has been experimenting with circularity in its product design. Patagonia, in partnership with a Japanese tech company, Teijin, piloted a recycling program for their Capilene® baselayers that created polyester from recycled baselayers. However, Patagonia quickly encountered an issue that continues to beset recycling efforts across the industry, supply. On average, in the U.S., only 15% of all clothing is recycled or donated at the end of life.[xiii] Without an ample supply of used articles, industrial-scale apparel recycling (without even considering technological barriers) is not economically feasible.

That hasn’t prevented Patagonia from mechanically recycling a smaller range of products made from synthetic materials. The quality of wool and cotton fiber degrades notably after mechanical recycling. This past year, 87% of their raw materials were made from recycled inputs. According to Patagonia, their aim is to use “100% renewable and recycled raw materials.”[xiv] They want to reduce the dependence on raw materials by using “both synthetic and natural fibers made from pre-consumer and postconsumer waste.”[xv] The company also views reselling as an integral part of its sustainability efforts and operates an in-house repair and resale online marketplace, WornWear. There are enormous challenges in addressing sustainability, but it will require commitments such as Patagonia’s and new ideas from other producers to face the enormity of the task at hand.

The success of takeback and resale businesses like Rent the Runway and thredUP are strong indicators that consumers have an appetite for reusing and re-wearing materials. Rent the Runway, The RealReal, and Vestiaire Collective bring luxury and designer apparel to everyday consumers at significantly cheaper prices. Global consulting firm Boston Consulting Group expects this retail market to grow 15-20% over the next 5 years as demand for resale options increase and more consumers purchase secondhand clothing.[xvi] Reuse and re-wear are crucial components of the circular design model, but these efforts are meaningless if brands don’t commit to producing less and reducing apparel waste.[xvii]

As much as companies have a responsibility to clean up their products’ supply chains, consumers also have a role to play. Vintage and thrift stores have been around for decades, but today there are more options than ever to responsibly discard apparel and footwear. Adidas, Nike, and Patagonia among others are creating a circular product life cycle by providing consumers takeback and resale options. People can take advantage of a growing set of fashion resale platforms and social media to sell their firsthand clothing. Circular design in fashion is an increasingly popular and comprehensive solution as more companies begin to re-examine their products’ life cycles through environmental lens.

[i] https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/06/10/why-fashion-needs-to-be-more-sustainable/

[ii]https://www.Nikecirculardesign.com/

[iii] https://www.adidas.com/us/sustainability

[iv] https://www.adidas.com/us/blog/795018

[v] https://www.adidas.com/us/blog/795018

[vi] https://www.adidas.com/us/blog/795018

[vii] https://www.Nike.com/sustainability/materials

[viii] https://purpose-cms-preprod01.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/26225049/FY20_NIKE_Inc_Impact_Report2.pdf

[ix] https://purpose-cms-preprod01.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/26225049/FY20_NIKE_Inc_Impact_Report2.pdf

[x] https://purpose-cms-preprod01.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/26225049/FY20_NIKE_Inc_Impact_Report2.pdf

[xi] https://www.nikegrind.com/made-with-nike-grind/

[xii] https://mcdonough.com/writings/cradle-cradle-remaking-way-make-things/