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This collection has been built by a community of passionate researchers, students, and industry professionals as part of <a href="https://worldcirculartextilesday.com/" target="_blank">World Circular Textiles Day</a> (WCTD). 


World Circular Textiles Day takes place every year on 8th October.  Our vision is to galvanise the collective ambitions and goals of people, organisations and businesses to reach a fully circular textiles world by 2050. Our mission is to provide a framework for circularity stakeholders to develop and deliver a collaborative, evolving roadmap and to chart circularity’s momentum annually from the 8th of October until 2050.

What does fully circular by 2050 mean?
- Shared textile resources, in the form of products and raw materials, are kept in **continual circulation**.
- Virgin resources are **replaced with circular materials**.
- Dignity, equity, and equality for the **people** involved in all parts of the circular value chain.

We need to know where we stand today to chart how to get to 100% Circularity by 2050. What circular activity is currently happening in the textiles and apparel industry, and where in the world is it happening? The WCTD Collection aims to answer this question by building the world’s largest digital library of circular textiles case studies. 

World Circular Textiles Day is proud to be supported by our 2022-23 Circular Hero Partners:
[Lenzing](https://www.lenzing.com/), [Texaid](https://retailsolutions.texaid.com/), [Bank & Vogue](https://www.bankvogue.com/), [Usha yarns limited](https://ushayarns.com/), [The Conduit](https://www.theconduit.com/), and [Asia Pacific Rayon](https://www.aprayon.com/en/)

## Want to contribute to the WCTD Collection? Sign up and add your circular textiles activities.





World Circular Textiles Day

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Business case

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Reduced use and withdrawal of water and rate of recycling and reuse of water

Save Water (SDG6)

Producing textile and leather products and processing them into apparel and accessories

Fashion and Textiles

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of own-brand products

Own brand second-hand sale

VISION:
Products and services are designed for multiple use and material value retention, with maximum positive impact.

DETAIL: 
Imagine a time when…products flow via optimal collection and distribution streams into reusable and repairable product platforms. Reuse and access models are dominant, and products are designed for multiple recirculation before biodegrading (if designed to do so), or being broken down into reusable raw materials for production. People only consume what they need. Production and consumption wastes have been fully eliminated and multifunctional, season-less and timeless fashions are the norm, yet still fulfil our human need for expression and creativity without constraint. All business models, organisations, governments and citizens play a role in maintaining a healthy, functioning circular ecosystem.

Products and Services

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

It is 2050.  Full systems change has taken place. This wouldn’t have been possible without the immediate action and radical steps taken from 2020 onwards. Many targets had to be identified in the early 2020s and achieved by 2030 to ensure that the 2050 goal happened in full. A sense of urgency, turbo stakeholder collaboration, supportive government regulation and clear, data driven targets enabled the mindsets and systems change needed to transform to a fully circular textiles ecosystem.

A circular economics model underpins what we have created. It reflects and supports a living organism made up of makers, users and restorers, interacting across vibrant and interconnected networks. Checks and balances, alongside transparency and accountability, ensure a healthy system. Financial, environmental, and social metrics have the purpose of serving communities and the planet. There is shared ownership of profit and loss – across all three metrics – throughout the value chain.

This is what we’ve achieved over the last 30 years:

WCTD Themes

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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This statistic may not have the shock value it did prior to Marie Kondo mania, but on average, Americans throw away 80 pounds of clothes each year. Rather than tossing garments–especially those that can still be worn–in the trash, people often bring them to donation sites like Goodwill. But even accounting for donated clothes, 85% of all garments still end up in landfills.The men’s clothing company Taylor Stitch, which launched in San Francisco in 2008, now offers its customers another option. Any worn-out or gently used Taylor Stitch clothes can now get a second life as a retail product through the brand’s new platform, Restitch, which sells repaired garments at a fairly steep discount from their original, premium prices.[Photo: Taylor Stitch]Restitch, says Taylor Stitch founder and CEO Michael Maher, sets up an example of how brands can start to mitigate the enormous amount of waste generated by the fashion industry. Less than 1% of materials generated for use in garments are reused. Making those garments in the first place accounts for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Because producing fabric requires significant amounts of energy and water, sourcing already-existing materials from recycled clothes has the potential to dramatically reduce those footprints.[Photo: Taylor Stitch]To launch its clothing recycling effort, Taylor Stitch partnered with the San Francisco-based company Yerdle, which builds clothing resale programs for brands. Yerdle’s system underlies well-known refurbishment and resale programs like those run by Patagonia and REI (The North Face runs a similar program through the Renewal Workshop). Taylor Stitch’s relatively small size compared to those companies posed a hurdle. “These platforms make more business sense for larger companies,” Maher says. “We’ve basically been begging Yerdle to work with us for the past two years.” But a few months ago, Yerdle agreed to support Taylor Stitch’s program, recognizing the value of expanding its platform both to smaller businesses and those with a less overt sustainability focus. “You talk to REI and this type of platform is such a natural fit for its consumer–it’s like it’s helping protect their playground,” Maher says. “We’re trying to shift that into the fashion space for the more everyday person, because we have a strong belief that this is something that needs to happen.”[Photo: Taylor Stitch]For now, only Taylor Stitch clothes can be sent in to be refurbished and resold through Restitch. Customers get a credit of up to $25 for every used garment sent in. Yerdle manages the repairs, and then the garments are resold on the Restitch site. Before the formal launch, Taylor Stitch did something of a pilot run of the concept, in which it collected over 600 pairs of pants and 600 button-down shirts to be resold, with a collective savings of more 1.5 million gallons of water. The plan, Maher says, is to launch new capsule collections of refurbished clothes on Restitch every two months, which will give Taylor Stitch enough time to source clothes to be refurbished. Eventually, the brand may consider collecting and reselling non-Taylor Stitch clothes, and may also explore a program, like The North Face’s, to allow customers to use Restitch for repairs to their clothes that they want to keep. Right now, Taylor Stitch recommends partner repair businesses to customers looking to do so.[Photo: Taylor Stitch]Even as Taylor Stitch launches this resale platform, Maher emphasizes that the mission of the brand is to make clothes from sustainable materials that last as long as possible even without repairs. Durability, combined with the ability to repair and resell used clothes, should be the direction the fashion industry moves in, Maher says. “We have a running joke around the office that if we do our job well enough, we’ll put ourselves out of business.”

Taylor Stitch products are built for the long haul; Restitch makes sure they get there. We’re giving our wares a second life and keeping them out of our landfills. Buy, sell, repair, renew—welcome to a better way to shop Taylor Stitch.We’ve gathered and restored classic Taylor Stitch garments and are now offering them up for sale from our private collection. You won’t find these one-of-a-kind heirlooms in any ‘vintage’ shop near you. The battle scars, patina, and age tell a story all their own. Go help write the next chapter.Shop VintageFrom slightly used to never worn, find Taylor Stitch products that have been cleaned and repaired and are now good as new. Scratch that—we consider them better than new.Shop Restitch85% of all clothing ends up in our landfills every year, and frankly, that is just not okay. We can do better. We need to be better.

     Constructed to perfection and responsibly built for the long haul. We’ve taken 10 years of feedback and are doubling down on our commitment to building the best possible clothing while pledging to limit our environmental impact. From fiber to fabric to factory to end functionality, Taylor Stitch has grown from a need for products without limitations that could handle chopping wood, surf sessions, snagging trout, or simply heading to the office. On top of making the world’s best apparel, we’re asking questions about how we can protect wild, forever.       We’ve always considered ourselves a shirting company at our very core. Always have. Always will. In fact, when we were just getting our vision for Taylor Stitch off the ground ten years ago, we turned to the country’s oldest family of shirtmakers to learn from the very best. And we were spared no lesson of construction—from fit and balance to the importance of French seams to why 22 stitches-per-inch matters on a shirt. You can bet this technical DNA is central to every single product we make. Build for the long haul, design products that wear in not out, and use the best most sustainable fabrics available—even if that means making them yourself.   Shop Our Signature Shirting       It’s about protecting our places. No matter where you live, we only have one world to care for. We’re committed to using recycled and regenerative fibers wherever possible. This will help lower water usage, get rid of chemicals and pesticides which harm workers and leach into the rivers and help close the loop to create a cradle to cradle supply chain. It’s going to take some time but we hope everyone joins us.   Explore Our Fabrics       Responsibly built for the long haul—we can’t do it alone. Our construction partners are joining us in our commitment to challenge the way the clothing industry operates. From sourcing to sewing, they’re the best in the business.   Our Factory Partners       A happy blend of education, volunteering, building community and having some fun together. We’ll be partnering with other companies who share our values, awesome customers, and local organizations to have no bad days. We’ll do things like blaze trails, clean up trash, help out on a farm and whatever else our community wants to learn about and participate in.   Read Our Mission    
     Taylor Stitch launches repair-and-resell platform Restitch May 21, 2019         Taylor Stitch Launches 100% Organic Denim With ISKO Mills As Denim Market Reaches 5 Billion Dollars May 10, 2019         Menswear Brand Adopts A Repair Program To Make Fashion More Eco-Friendly May 29, 2019         Taylor Stitch Launches Bold, Innovative Clothing Recycling Program May 22, 2019         Taylor Stitch to Launch Recycling Program 2019         Taylor Stitch Organic ’68 Denim review: high-quality selvedge jeans May 24, 2019         The best men’s linen shirts you can buy September 12, 2018         These New Work Pants Are Made From a Uniquely Durable Fabric February 10, 2019         Taylor Stitch’s New Line of Boots Combine Eco-Friendliness with High-End Style and Durability April 16, 2019         Taylor Stitch Makes Us Rethink Our Wardrobe July, 2019         We’ll be damned if we don’t want to wear it every single day. March, 2021     We’d love to meet you in person the next time you’re in town. Stop by and say hello.      383 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103       2030 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA 94115   
    Get There Quicker  General  Keyboard Help Shift+? Search S Go to Account/Login ME Go to Help HELP  Main Navigation  Go to Home GH Go to Workshop GS Go to Men's Home GM Go to The Dispatch GD MAG Go to Cart GC  Categories  Go to Shirts GCS Go to Outerwear GCO Go to Bottoms GCB Go to Denim GCD Go to Footwear GCF Go to Accessories GCA Go to Essentials GCE  


     We don’t need to tell you just how wasteful the clothing industry is. Traditional methods of agriculture and manufacturing require stunning amounts of water and energy, and that’s to say nothing of the culture of disposability that permeates the world of so-called “fast fashion.” Taylor Stitch was built upon a belief that this industry can—and should—be different, and we’ve organized our efforts around Five Pillars of Responsibility to help us stay the course.    Sourcing Responsibly   You can’t build great clothing without great materials, so we source organic, recycled, or otherwise sustainable components for all of our gear.  Learn More    Building Responsibly   The factories and craftspeople with whom we collaborate share our commitment to building great products without sacrificing the environment.  Learn More    Closing the Loop   We don’t want our gear to end up in a landfill, and programs like Restitch ensure that each piece we build has a long, fruitful life.  Learn More    Creating a Community   We’re incredibly proud to be part of a community that cares about—and works hard to protect—the health of the planet.  Learn More    Giving Back   From collaborations to donations to fundraiser events, it’s an honor and a privilege to use our platform to support causes that make a difference in people’s lives.  Learn More     

    It all starts with fibers and fabrics, so we work hard to source materials that meet our expectations without harming animals or relying on harmful chemicals and cultivation practices. If we can’t find what we’re looking for, we develop it ourselves.   
 We’ve transitioned to 100% organic cotton for more than 99% of our cotton products, including our Essentials collection. Learn more   
 Our beefy Heavy Bag blend is built with up-cycled cotton and recycled polyester, and it requires zero water to manufacture. Learn more   
 Boss Duck is our very own heavy-duty, hemp-based workwear material—easy on the environment, ultra comfortable, and tough as nails. Learn more   
 All of our leather goods are byproduct-sourced, and our partner tanneries have earned Gold certifications from The Leather Working Group. Learn more   
 We’re huge fans of yak wool—it’s virtually indistinguishable from cashmere (some say it’s even softer) but significantly gentler on the planet. Learn more   
 For our collection of temperature-regulating, moisture-wicking merino wool products, we exclusively source non-mulesed wool. Learn more   
 We partner with UK-based weather-proofing specialists Halley Stevensons for our renewable, plant-based waxed organic cotton products. Learn more    We love our animal friends, so we always opt for better ethical practices when developing animal-based products—byproduct-sourced leathers, non-mulesed wools, recycled down insulation, and more.   
   It all starts with fibers and fabrics, so we work hard to source materials that meet our expectations without harming animals or relying on harmful chemicals and cultivation practices. If we can’t find what we’re looking for, we develop it ourselves.    Conventional packaging is absurdly wasteful, so we use 100% post-consumer recycled fibers for our recyclable mailers. By the end of 2021, we’ll have transitioned to more than 80% recycled poly bags, tags, labels, etc.    Many of our products and partners have been recognized and certified by industry leaders like the Leather Working Group, Fair Trade Apparel, Schoeller Textiles AG, and more.    
   It all starts with fibers and fabrics, so we work hard to source materials that meet our expectations without harming animals or relying on harmful chemicals and cultivation practices. If we can’t find what we’re looking for, we develop it ourselves.    We’re committed to building products that outlast the competition (it’s right there in our motto), and that all starts with rugged construction and durable components.    Bumps and bruises are a part of life. Should they befall your TS gear, no worries—we’ll repair or replace damaged/defective pieces for the life of the product. That’s a guarantee.    We pride ourselves on classic, trend-proof designs that’ll look just as great in fifty years as they do today. In other words, TS is timeless.    Fabrics shouldn’t be left to rot in a warehouse, so we work with our factory partners to recover and reuse (or donate) deadstock fabrics. 2.4K products built with recycled deadstock materials.    Our Restitch program lets customers exchange well-loved—or completely thrashed—gear for credit. After repairs, we find these pieces new homes, and the cycle continues. 4.3K products saved from the scrap heap with the Restitch program.    A loose thread or worn-down sole is no reason to give up on your gear; we’re passionate about providing our customers with the tools they need to bring their favorite pieces back to life, including tutorials and free in-store repairs.    
   We couldn’t have gotten to where we are today without the support of our friends, families, and fans. They inspire us, yes, but they also hold us accountable, and we’re incredibly proud to be a part of a community that cares about the health of our planet.    Customer feedback is one of the key ways we reduce supply chain waste, and there are many avenues (including our subreddit, fabric votes, and surveys) for fans to make their voices heard.    If you work hard enough at something, people are bound to take notice. Here’s what the press has to say about Taylor Stitch’s commitment to Responsibility.    “A powerful example of how a brand can embrace sustainability while simultaneously creating unique, coveted items for their customers.”      “Taylor Stitch is leading by example, changing the way the clothing industry operates by re-architecting how to source, sew and sell.”      “Durability, combined with the ability to repair and resell used.”      “The biggest megatrend today is the change in the consumer’s preference for sustainable products. Taylor Stitch is a great example of addressing and leading that movement.”      
   We know how lucky we are to have made it this far, and it’s an honor to lend our support to causes and campaigns that make a difference in people’s lives. Giveaways, partnerships, donations—we’re always on the lookout for opportunities to help, so if there’s a cause we should know about, reach out. Despite our best efforts to completely eliminate waste, we do occasionally end up with excess fabric—we donate our leftovers to educational and community organizations.   We’ve donated to a long list of incredible local and national organizations, including—  

  

San Francisco

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San Fransisco based men's casual clothing company, specialising in apparel and footwear.

Taylor Stitch

<p>Taylor Stitch has combined their in-house repair programme and recycling service to launch Restitch, a resale platform dedicated to used and previously damaged clothing items. Note: platform currently only accepts Taylor Stitch branded clothing.</p>