thumbnail_WCTD2022_campaignlogo.jpg

WCTD2022_campaignlogo.jpg

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

large_WCTD background.png

medium_WCTD background.png

small_WCTD background.png

thumbnail_WCTD background.png

WCTD background.png

Business case

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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

Designing to enable multiple uses and lifecycles of a product and its materials

Design for cyclability

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

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

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

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

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

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

thumbnail_wctd.jpg

wctd.jpg

![Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png](https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2024_10_21_at_16_53_12_12858da6aa.png)

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

medium_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

small_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

thumbnail_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

The future of fashion is powered by Algae.Algaeing is a verb. It’s about being proactive against climate change. 
We formulate eco-positive, scalable solutions for manufacturing fibers and dyeing fabrics. ​ Join us in being a part of the transformation.  ​Our patented algae-powered technology is a triple good solution with real, planet-positive impact.FOR OUR PLANET   Prevents global water pollution   Carbon negative and 100% zero waste    Free of harmful chemicals and fertilizers 
 ​ FOR OUR INDUSTRY   Ready to use with all factory systems   Energy and water efficient   Creates a work environment free of hazardous toxins 
 ​ FOR OUR SKIN   Leverages the botanical power of algae   Free of allergens and pesticides   Cruelty-Free & Vegan 
WIN - WIN - WINING SOLUTION ​We’re constantly developing new sustainable solutions from algae, a healthy and renewable microorganism. We’re redesigning the fashion industry for future generations. What does being eco-positive mean‭?‬ It means we’re constantly in R&D, exploring new ways to manufacture, leading to a healthier future. We must be a force for good. PRIZES & AWARDS: ​​   First Place VWS Pathfinder Plant-Based Pitch Competition | Dec 2020   German Federal Ecodesign Award Nominee | Nov 2020   Fashion Innovation Award Finalist | Oct 2020   Fashion for Good | Jun 2018    H&M Global Change Award Winner | Mar 2018   Vision Award | Jun 2018    Creative Business Cup Copenhagen | Nov 2017    Act Shenkar |  Mar 2016  
 ​Subscribe to our newsletter To stay up to date Our team of multidisciplinary scientists, innovators, fashion designers, and creatives are constantly developing, creating, and problem-solving for a better future.

Renana Krebs spent years working in some of the most well known fashion houses. She saw first hand how detrimental the industry could be and vowed not to be an accomplice in such destruction. She knew “there had to be a better, more sustainable way to make fashion.” After researching sustainability in adjacent industries, she noticed algae had a number of uses in cosmetics and food and wondered if it could also be used to create fibers and dyes. This is how Algaeing entered their fashion future. First, by combining the properties of algae with cellulose, Algaeing spins 100% biodegradable hued fibers. These fibers can then be knitted or woven into already-coloured textiles. Alternatively, textiles can be coloured with Algaeing’s algae-based dye which uses 80% less water than traditional dyeing processes. According to Algaeing, using biodesign in the fashion industry will not only help curb pollution, it will stimulate and invigorate the industry and offer safer working conditions. They say customers will benefit from wearing nutrient-rich algae. Algae-based biofibers naturally release antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals which your skin absorbs, which could make the practice of garment wearing a holistic experience.  Renana is now challenging the barriers that prevent big fashion houses from reaching their sustainability goals. She notes a “disconnect between big brands and corporations that want to reach sustainability goals, and the innovative startups that offer the solutions to do so.” After years in the fashion industry, she knows it is hard for large scale companies to shift business models. Her products are “ready to use so that big brands can manufacture easily.” Making green products easy for companies to use is an often overlooked part of the battle of sustainability.Renana is inspired by the amount of people asking questions about where their food comes from: What am I eating? Is it healthy? She hopes the conversations around biodesign cause people to start asking the same questions about their clothes. Who made my clothes? What material is it made of? Is it good for me? Is it being made in an honorable way? These types of questions are “the only way to create a holistic shift within an entire industry”,  she tells us. And she’s not stopping there. Algaeing will soon be releasing The Good Mask, a three-layered face mask powered by algae with 98.2% filtration. Soon, you can experience the holistic benefits of algae on your face and your body.AtlasAction: Discover here the unlimited potential of algae.► Algaeing was mapped in Katrina Orsini’s AtlasChart: 4 companies cleaning up colourTags: Biodegradable, Bioprinting, Design, Fabric waste, Fashion, FashionFutures, Garment workers, Materials, Organics, Plant-based, Pollution, Sustainability, Technology, Waste, Water, Zero waste.This project has been selected as part of FashionFutures, a new  content channel that maps the work of people transforming the fashion sector: the designers, craftspeople, social innovators, educators, community leaders and communicators. Atlas of the Future is excited to partner with Makerversity, with the support of The J J Charitable Trust and their network of fashion friends.We want the Atlas of the Future media platform and our event to be available to everybody, everywhere for free – always. Fancy helping us spread stories of hope and optimism to create a better tomorrow? For those able, we'd be grateful for any donation.Please support the Atlas hereThank you!

ECO Solidarity is an initiative and a movement which addresses the urgency for a more human-centered design in response to humanitarian and public health crises, focusing on ecology, climate change, the public health and well-being in public spaces, and the role of the economy, the key objectives of Green New Deal, through interior and product design, and spatial planning.ECO Solidarity was initiated by the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Studio Rygalik, in collaboration with WantedDesign Manhattan, and in partnership with the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) organizations: Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA, Wallonie-Bruxelles International New York, The Czech Center, Goethe-Institut New York, Arts Council Malta in New York, and Romanian Cultural Institute New York.

Germany

Israel

Alga-Life manufacture fibres and dyes from seaweed.

Alga-Life

<p>Alga-life has patented a technology to produce fibres and dyes from algae which is environmentally positive, being waste free, energy efficient and biodegradables.</p>