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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

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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)

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

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

Fashion and Textiles

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Upgrade, repair, and maintenance while in-use

Maximise lifetime of products in-use

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Designing products that are made to last and to ensure longer use

Design for durability

VISION:
Raw materials are renewable, recyclable and safe, kept in continual circulation.

DETAIL:
Imagine a time when…the raw materials that are used to make things are sourced from existing products and regenerative agriculture, via carbon negative and climate neutral processes. Biodegradable raw materials are used for products with biodegradable end routes. Toxic chemicals have been washed out of the global materials pool, disposed of safely and replaced with beneficial alternatives. Virgin fibres made from fossil fuels have been banned, while secondary synthetic fibres, derived from what was already in the system, are kept in constant circulation as a resource. Circularity accounting methods, built on science-based metrics, help to manage a balanced system of resources, across all industries, and in line with the planet’s environmental limits.

Raw Materials and Planetary Boundaries

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

VISION:
People are valued and supported in an equitable, socially just and resilient society.

DETAIL:
Imagine a time when…people and communities are at the heart of any sustainable and circular system. The planet thrives, enabling us to survive with balance and abundance. People are no longer passive consumers, but proactive participants. The ‘makers’ who design, build, reprocess and recirculate products throughout the value chain are treated equally and are equitable partners in shaping and benefitting from the system. Textiles/garments can be produced and repurposed locally as well as centrally. A blend of craft methods alongside more automated production provides regionalised, multi-faceted perspectives and fulfilling livelihoods, be they high- or low-tech. Wealth gaps are minimised and dignity, equity, equality is a reality for all.

People and Society

Slow strategies aim to keep materials in use for as long as possible, for example through design for durability and repairability. A more circular economy is also a slower one: materials, components, and products—and even buildings and infrastructure—that we lock in stocks are made to last. This will lower material demand in the long run, in essence also serving to narrow resource flows.

Slow

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

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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                 RENS IS A TRUE EVERYDAY SNEAKER. HERE'S WHY:                  

   An ultralight, sustainable sneaker with a feature-set to replace your whole shoe collection.                                   “So comfortable and breathable. It doesn't feel like there’s waterproof lining, but even when under water, my feet remain dry. Buying again!" Bridget              "Comfortable shoes that are waterproof and have a great idea behind them" Greg              "Beautiful, comfortable, sustainable. What more can you ask for? Couldn’t be better!" Christoph              “Nice style, very light and comfortable. I love them!" Roya              “My second pair of RENS! Looking good and more than comfortable. Just love them!” Gabriele           Cups worth of coffee recycled              FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS       FREE RETURNS AND EXCHANGES       1-YEAR DRY SOCKS GUARANTEE                              MADE FOR YOU & OUR PLANET. Built for effortless style, with earth-friendly materials. Each pair of Rens fuses together used coffee grounds and recycled plastic bottles to create a durable, long-lasting sneaker while reducing waste.                                                     

   

      


Fashion is the second-most polluting industry in the world. Until the day that we can break the laws of physics and make something from nothing, we must choose progress.
Rens is committed to this journey.
Read on to see how.   


100% recycled upper made from coffee & recycled plastic



Completely recycled waterproof membrane



Fully recycled polyester sock liner on removable insole



BPA-free high-performance midsole



All-natural rubber outsole


  
 Using recycled materials makes better shoes. Period.
That being said, plastic pollution and food waste present real problems that we can help combat.

 1,000,000 plastic bottles are purchased every minute.

 1,000,000 plastic bottles are purchased every minute.

 6,000,000 tons of coffee waste go into landfills every year.

 6,000,000 tons of coffee waste go into landfills every year.

 The methane emitted from coffee waste alone adds up to the equivalent emissions of 10 million cars.

 The methane emitted from coffee waste alone adds up to the equivalent emissions of 10 million cars.


We are committed to doing something about that.
Every pair of Rens is made from 6 recycled plastic bottles and 150 grams of coffee waste. 
  

COFFEE YARN
UPPER CONSTRUCTION





If food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
Like all organic waste, when coffee is disposed of in landfills, it creates a perfect breeding ground for methane, a 28x more potent greenhouse gas than CO2.
For most coffee waste, the landfill is its only destination.
Every pair of Rens diverts 21 cups worth of coffee grounds from those landfills and uses them to make the best damn sneaker material on the planet.
Does utilizing coffee solve all of the problems associated with food waste?
 Of course not, but by looking at the materials we use in a new way, we can not only reduce our impact but also unlock the full potential of these amazing materials beyond their initial purpose.





Recycled plastic
upper | lining | sock liner





Coffee is only part of the equation. The world is drowning in single-use plastic. Finding new ways to recycle it will be key to tackling the problem of plastic.
That’s why materials from over 6 recycled plastic bottles go into making every pair of Rens.
By using recycled plastic (rPET), we lower the CO2 emissions generated by our upper's construction by 79% compared to virgin polymers used in most athletic footwear.



 

Derived from a milky sap-like material collected from the Hevea brasiliensis tree, this entirely natural product has a significantly lower impact on the environment compared to its synthetic, petrochemical counterpart.
Sustainable by nature, this sap is harvested without harming the tree itself. Additionally, natural rubber is only used on the toe, arch, and heel to maximize traction where you need it while minimizing materials where you don't. 

 
HOW DO YOU MAKE A COFFEE SNEAKER?


Using a low-heat, low energy process, that's how.
Used coffee grounds are processed and mixed with recycled plastic pellets to create a polymer thread to create our minimalistic silhouette.
 
  
Utilizing recycled materials is more than just a selling point, it is the source of all of our features.
We are driven to create bold looks that aren't just built for sustainability.
They are built by it.


USED COFFEE GROUNDS
Fights odor | ANTIBACTERIAL | quick-dry





This innovative fiber contains tiny micro-pockets that trap unpleasant odors.
Additionally, this material is naturally antibacterial, creating a hostile environment for the bacteria that creates the odors, to begin with.
On top of smelling fresh, our coffee yarn dries 200% faster than traditional athletic apparel, keeping your shoes dry inside and out.
Go ahead and jump in puddles. That's what waterproof shoes are for, right?


RECYCLED PLASTIC
durability | flex | performance



 Coffee isn't the only recycled material bringing real benefits to the party. Using recycled PET not only drastically extends the life cycle of this typically single use-material but really it just builds a better shoe.
This material is ultra-flexible and super durable to bring you all the benefits of a high-performance, street-ready textile with no virgin materials required.

  
These two materials combine to make all of the textiles in our upper.
Coffee brings the features. Recycled plastic brings the flex and durability.
 Both create a sneaker built for your environment.




 

all-in-one recycled
slimmer | sleeker | more efficient





Every order ships in a 100% recycled cardboard box that pulls double duty as both our shipping container and shoe box for all single orders.
By eliminating the bulky outer shipping container, we cut waste for you at home and lighten our footprint for more efficient shipping.
Who knew cardboard could be so exciting?


local shipping
from a warehouse near you


It's not just the product, the process matters too.
With an ever-expanding network of warehouses in Europe, Asia, North America and beyond, we are shrinking our footprint by finding the most carbon-efficient ways to deliver your sneakers to you.
By utilizing warehouse hubs that are close to customers, we can ship slow and deliver fast. Better for the environment and a better customer experience for you, overall.

 
   

Helsinki

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Rens

<p>1,000,000 plastic bottles are purchased globally every minute, and more than 6,000,000 tons of coffee waste are sent to the landfill annually. Concerned with the environmental impacts of plastic and food waste, including its greenhouse gas emissions, Rens would like to revolutionise the sneaker industry by introducing NOMAD: a sneaker made from post-industrial plastic and used coffee grounds. From there, Rens has recycled more than 250,000 plastic bottles, and more than 750,000 cups worth of coffee. The introduction of Nomad showcases how one can unlock the full potential of materials in ways that go beyond their initial purposes by looking at materials from new angles.</p>