Textile Insight

Do People Have the Wrong Spin on the Circular Economy? h e m o s t ( o v e r ) u s e d expression in the fashion industry currently is abbreviated to the CE. However, those responsible for originating the concept of creating a closed loop, circular value chain consider today's popular interpreta- tion of "CE" as wrong. So says Charles Ross, lecturer of sustainable textiles at the Royal College of Arts and spe- cialist in performance sportswear design. Here, Ross, who always seems to be where the action is on the sustain- ability circuit, from trade events to online webinars to behind the scenes in product development, pulls no punches providing his perspective on what circularity is really all about. He states, "The Circular Economy is in fact a practice that has been used for centuries; it is only within the last decade that it has come to promi- nence as an expression. Within the UK it is acknowledged that the Royal Society of Arts advanced the notion of circularity as a model economy that has in recent years been adopted and popularized by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The founding principle of circular- ity is about keeping a product useful for as long as possible. Patagonia, an early advocate of this line of thinking, and made a concentrated effort to develop this theme within the Outdoor & Sports Industry, has now evolved beyond this focused approach. In recent years the Fashion Industry, particularly the "Fast Fashion" sector, has pushed the idea of circular to first and foremost mean recycling of garments. So much so that regard for other options of providing product longev- ity are no longer featured. However, as Life Cycle Assessments of products have become more com- monplace it is increasingly clear that the impact of carbon footprints involved in recycling a garment are considerable. Biodegradability seems to be the latest popular addition to yarn engineer- ing — there are even accusations that it is the new form of greenwashing. The other thing about biodegradation is that one of the side effects is the off- gas being emitted; normally these are CO 2 & methane, which are both greenhouse gases. The third consideration is the amount of resources needed to rec- reate the fabric, especially when compared to a garment from recycled sources. The fabric will need to be grown again (so water and chemical pesticides/ herbicides are involved), while a recycled fabric is already in existence. Biodegradability does have a role in textiles; the best I can see is that it is just the stage before landfill, but could play a more important role in ocean association. Compostability is a separate con- sideration as to meet ASTMs 6691 & 5511 the decomposition needs to happen in months — PrimaLoft BIO is all done within 24 months — plus the biomass remains need to be non-toxic. But still the overall footprint of regrowing the textiles is a bigger LCA than just recycling the original fabric. In terms of the Outdoor Apparel market, the core of the Circular Economy fundamentally revolves around these eight stages: 1. Revitalise: to refresh the garment (normally just a wash). 2. Recondition: restore the garment qualities like the DWR. 3. Repair: the wear & tear damage. 4. Resize: for when the wearer has features that go south. 5. Reduce: do you need to buy that Down jacket that is suitable for Everest when the worst conditions you go out in are still flip-flop friendly? 6. Resell: on those garments that no longer get used. 7. Reappropriate: garments that still have performance qualities, but they are no longer an option of choice. The simplest donation to organizations like Horse Riding for the Disabled type charities will allow others to be protected better when they venture into the Outdoors. 8. Relegate: when garments are beyond repair, they make suitable wear for those cleaning out the yard or the redecorating tasks that need to be undertaken. Only then should recycling be considered. And if so, then buying a mono-material item in the first place is best suited for recycling streams. In Europe the strategy to stop piling textiles onto the landfill is to tax the product that has been discarded, which in the UK works out to be around $150 a tonne. If you want to embrace the prin- ciples of the Circular Economy, then revisiting how garments used to be treated, the traditional "Make Do & Mend" philosophy, is a good start. l T IN THE MARKET | VOICES Charles Ross Gets to the Core of "CE" textileinsight.com September/October 2021 ~ Textile Insight • 14 In recent years the Fashion Industry, particularly the "Fast Fashion" sector, has pushed the idea of circular to first and foremost mean recycling of garments. So much so that regard for other options of providing product longevity are no longer featured. Charles Ross, lecturer of sustainable textiles at the Royal College of Arts and specialist in performance sportswear design.

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