The future of fashion is circular👚👗♻️

With the rise of fast fashion, the rate at which clothes are being produced has skyrocketed and with increased production comes increased waste. As the Ellen MacArthur Foundation calculated, every second the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned. Fortunately things are changing, from a linear economy where garments are wasted at the end of their useful life, we are moving towards a circular economy which reuses and repurposes those clothes instead of wasting them.

 From simple DIY projects, upcycling has become the new cool with some people turning their their upcycled creations into fashion brands. Remaking old clothes into new, unique ones means salvaging items from landfills and allows people to create their own style with one-of-a-kind items, what’s not to love? If sewing is not your strong suit, Reture is platform which does it all for you! It connects customers to fashion designers all over the world who will upcycle you old garments and send them back to you! The result? cool unique items that don’t harm the planet!

Some brands are also stepping forward and taking responsibility for the items they produce, asking customers to return their old garments so they can turn them into something new. To do so clothes have to be made in a certain way that allows them to be recycled, MUD jeans is a great example of this. You can send your MUD jeans back to the company and they’ll recycle them into a new pair creating zero waste!

Of course the circular economy couldn’t exist without the resale market which allows people to give a second life to their clothes, and it’s been growing exponentially! It’s actually grown 21 times faster than the actual retail apparel market, there’s now a platform for anything! You can now declutter your wardrobe and make money from the comfort of your home using apps like Depop, Vinted and Vestiaire Collective.

As these examples show, consumers and brands are realising the impacts of the fashion industry and sustainable fashion is finally becoming more mainstream. 

Gaia Rattazzi