Textiles
Circle Economy’s Textile Programme empowers brands and organisations globally, providing research, data, and training to scale circular practices and drive continuous improvement in the textile and apparel sector.
Our vision
The current linear model, characterised by high resource extraction and rapid disposal, exhausts both natural and human capital. We envision and build a circular textiles industry where products are consistently designed, produced, used, collected, and reintroduced into the supply chain as valuable raw materials.
We cultivate a fair and regenerative textile industry by tackling the immense challenge of textile waste and enabling the crucial data, technology, and infrastructure required to valorise textile waste at scale.
What we do
We drive the shift from today’s linear, wasteful textile system to a circular textiles industry. Through research, data, and capacity building, we help the industry reduce textile waste, recycle materials, and build a fair, regenerative, and sustainable future for fashion, footwear, and textiles
Evidence for circularity
We research textile waste volumes and recycling potential, analyse value chain solutions, and assess socioeconomic impacts to drive circularity in global value chains.
Leadership and project support
We design pre-competitive initiatives and provide tailored support to organisations, businesses, and multilaterals such as the EU, UNIDO, Laudes Foundation, and H&M Foundation, helping them accelerate circularity, launch measurable solutions, and shape policies for a thriving global economy.
Training and capacity building
We empower brands and manufacturers through workshops to design out waste, enhance durability, and collaborate to create more circular and sustainable products.
Our highlights
The Circularity Gap Report (CGR®) Textiles
The CGR Textiles reveals how circular strategies can transform the industry, making it three times more circular, halving its environmental footprint and reducing textile waste.
Solutions for Textile Integrated Circular Economy (SOLSTICE)
SOLSTICE, a Horizon Europe project, develops scalable solutions to advance climate-neutral, circular textile practices. As a partner, Circle Economy supported focus groups exploring consumer attitudes across four focus territories.
Sorting for Circularity Europe
Launched in 2021 as Sorting for Circularity Europe by Fashion for Good and Circle Economy, the project mapped textile waste with support from Laudes Foundation, adidas, BESTSELLER, Inditex, Zalando, and H&M Group. The methodology later expanded to deliver initiatives in India and the US, as well as Rewear and Closing the Footwear Loop.
