Why Circles are ‘In' this Season

The fashion industry has been head over heels for lines in the past 20 years – production lines to be exact. As of 2020, the fashion industry is valued at over $1.5 trillion (Statista, 2020), and employs approximately 300 million globally (Fibre2Fashion, 2018) – that’s 1 in 6 of all workers. This runaway success began in the mid-2000s, when businesses switched from the traditional low sales volume, high cost system with 4 fashions seasons per year, to high sales volume at low costs. High street retailers, e.g. H&M, Zara, and Topshop led the charge.

Suddenly, 4 seasons a year became 52 ‘micro-seasons’, as trends changed weekly and both consumers and producers were pressured to keep up.

Fig. 1: H&M, one of the most well-known high street retailers.

Nowadays, the average person buys 60% more clothes than 20 years ago, whilst the average lifespan of a garment has dropped by 36% (McKinsey, 2016). A new culture began, one of advertising and consumption. Consumers got prestige and a deluge of clothes whilst producers got profits – a win-win on first appearance. This encapsulates the fast fashion business model, which had linear production at its core, as the fashion industry’s darling.

Linear production has another name: the ‘take-make-waste’ system, and it is every bit as callous as the title suggests. Every stage of the production line is rife with exploitation and ensuing negative externalities. Polyester is found in 60% of all clothing, which releases 2 to 3 times as much CO2 as cotton (Greenpeace, 2016).

Cotton production itself is responsible for the emission of 220 million tons of CO2 annually (The World Counts, 2020). In addition, 35% of all microfibres polluting the oceans come from synthetic textiles like polyester (IUCN, 2017), which does not break down in landfill. Its alternative, cotton, is so water-intensive that it has led the fashion industry to be the 2nd largest consumer of water worldwide (UNECE, 2018).

In efforts to keep prices at rock-bottom, huge fashion brands have turned to offshore manufacturing, where they are often the sole buyers of labour. Garment workers in developing countries endure gruelling hours and life-threatening conditions for sub-poverty pay, without power or protection. These examples are merely a few of an overwhelming number of environmental and social issues present in production. The biggest impact is yet to come, however.

Fig. 2: A visual representation of the linear production method.

Meanwhile, consumers face pressurising directives from advertising. Young people are told to ‘see it and buy it’ before the best outfits are gone, and are then told to ‘never wear an outfit more than once’ for fear of seeming unfashionable. So, naturally, the turnover speed for clothing is astronomical. It has led to greater pressures than ever for more intensive production, all for a one end-product: mountains of waste.

Every second, approximately 1 dump truck full of clothing is burned or landfilled (UNEP, 2018). Overall, the industry’s annual emissions of 1.2 billion tonnes of GHGs (Motif, 2020) per year is 10% of total emissions globally (UNEP, 2018). Opaque supply chains and built-in obsolescence blinds billions to the fact that there is a false economy - where one is deluded that value is being created. It is not a good look.

Though fashion tastes are still ever-changing and many are disillusioned with lines, circles are now all the rage. A circle self-replenishes, its end becoming its beginning. Circular fashion, a microcosm of the circular economy, aims to mimic this in a circular, self-replenishing production cycle. This way, the true value of all clothing is fully captured, at every stage of production. In fact, the Ellen McArthur Foundation (2017) estimates that if circular fashion is implemented, the fashion industry could regain $192 billion in value.

Fig. 4: The principles of circular production.

In this new production system, ‘waste’ is phased out completely. Every part of the product becomes new raw material in its afterlife, either through direct recycling or biodegradation to feed nature.

The circle is more than merely recycling, however. A notable fact is that all inputs are from renewable sources without toxic by-products. Extraction must be sustainable and regenerative, whilst production must be entirely non-polluting and socially just. This focus on achieving the social optimum is particularly revolutionary in terms of use. The goal is to make garments as durable as possible, to be worn again and again. Clothes should be repaired or remade in order to extend their lifespan. Once an individual has finished their personal usage, the item should be resold to other buyers, swapping hands should occur until its final days.

Then, when it can be used no more it is recycled back into raw materials and the circle begins yet again. In a world where currently only 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothes (Common Objective, 2019), this is a radical change. It requires a complete restructuring of the fashion industry, keeping growing recycling and repair markets central to it.

Fig. 5: A comparison of different production methods.

Luckily, both new and old players are trailblazing in this area. Companies such as the RealReal and Patagonia are revolutionizing the resale and repair markets for consumers. The Ellen McArthur Foundation has launched the ‘Make Fashion Circular Initiative’ to foster collaboration towards circular fashion between industry leaders. Numerous top brands have joined the initiative, such as Stella McCartney, Burberry and Adidas, signalling the beginning of a major shift in the industry. Younger players are driving change as well. New brands such as Rapanui and Thousand Fell have achieved the Cradle2Cradle certification, which credits firms using circular design (Vogue, 2019). However, for creative destruction to truly defeat linear production, indubitably, there must be demand-side change. It’s visibly up to consumers to ‘slow fashion down’ and change their relationship with clothing – so make sure to shop circular.

By Dominique Gomez

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