48 million tones of clothing are disposed worldwide every year. 73% are incinerated, 12% is reused, 12% is downcycled, and only less then 1% is turned into new clothes.

With the aid of circle economy, asket has introduced a take back program for its own garments. Consumers will earn ASKET credit (up to 25 EUR per garment) for sending back their clothes. Asket will repair, renew and resell what they can and upcycle, downcycle or recycle what they can't within their new take-back model.

The customer need

The Asket circular business model serves two distinct customer needs. Their take-back programme offers loyal Asket customers—who are already conscious of their clothing consumption—a convenient and responsible way to dispose of clothes that they no longer use. At the same time, through their resale model, Asket aims to offer high quality, timeless basics to those for whom high prices constituted a barrier to responsible consumption.

The business case

The resale model will be launched with a geographical focus on Sweden and Germany. In both geographies, Asket will offer free returns for take-back. From a financial perspective, their objective is to make the circular business model at least self-sufficient. As with many circular business models, the business case is sensitive to key metrics like the collected items’ resellable rate, repair rate and resale value. The Asket team hopes to support the collection of high volumes of quality products through a variable reward structure. 

Asket tested three different reward tiers: low and high rewards, which were dependent on the type of garment that was traded in, or a fixed reward, independent of what customers would send in. While the conversion rate was highest for the high reward group, the quality and quantity of clothing was best for the fixed reward group.

The expected positive impact

For Asket, a clear goal is to maximise the use phase of their garments so that they can contribute to decreased levels of production and consumption within the industry. In order to realise this goal, it is crucial for them to safeguard the impact of their new business model as it rolls out. Key considerations in managing the impact of their resale model include 1) ensuring they do not heavily incentivise customers to dispose of their garments before they otherwise would have and 2) not to stimulate further consumption in any way. In addition, they are careful to minimise shipping and other operational impacts throughout the new supply chain.

Having collected a good amount of clothing, Asket is up and running with its Revival Factory on the Swedish west coast. All ‘good condition’ and ‘lightly damaged’ clothing is cleaned and mended for resale in the Revival Factory, whereas ‘major damages’ are set aside for re-make.