Circular Fashion Partnership

The Circular Fashion Partnership is a cross-sectoral initiative to achieve a long-term, just and scalable transition to a circular fashion system.

What is the Circular Fashion Partnership?

The Circular Fashion Partnership is a cross-sectoral initiative to support the development of effective circular fashion systems in textile, garment and footwear manufacturing regions, by capturing and recycling post-industrial fashion waste. The partnership seeks solutions to maintain the highest possible value output, following a waste hierarchy approach, and ultimately aims to accelerate textile-to-textile recycling to reintroduce ‘waste’ materials back into fashion products.

Currently active in Bangladesh and Cambodia, the partnership demonstrates shared responsibility by facilitating circular commercial collaborations between manufacturers, recyclers and fashion brands. A successful business case will demonstrate a decrease in textile waste and increase of recycled fibres, distributing value throughout the value chain and generating economic benefits in manufacturing regions. Furthermore, the partnership engages enabling actors to identify and address barriers for scale, such as supportive policy and investment.

Our approach

Brands, manufacturers, collectors, sorters and textile recyclers are eligible to participate in the Circular Fashion Partnership when they are committed to demonstrating shared responsibility for the valorisation of post-industrial textile waste.

In circular commercial collaborations, they work to segregate, digitally trace and recycle textile waste into the highest possible value output, ultimately being new fashion products.

Learnings from Circular Fashion Partnerships in different regions are anonymised and aggregated for dissemination with the broader industry and depending on the insights captured, engagement with enabling actors is pursued to establish a conducive environment for scaling of solutions, for instance with government representatives and investors.

Policy Brief | Circular Fashion Partnership

This policy brief is intended as an informative piece, sharing recommendations for policy makers and regulators in Bangladesh and r EU policymakers working on circular textile strategies and policies.

Scaling Circularity Report

Global Fashion Agenda and McKinsey & Company present the scaling circularity report. Lessons learned from the Circular Fashion Partnership for building pre-competitive collaborations to scale upstream circular fashion systems.

Pre-feasibility Report

Analysis of Post Industrial Textile Fiber-2-Fiber Recycling in Bangladesh

Textile Waste Opportunities for Circular Textile, Garments and Footwear in Vietnam

Since June 2022, GFA has partnered closely with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) around the GCFF and the development of new Circular Fashion Partnerships in Cambodia and Vietnam.

SWITCH:COLAB – Consultative forum on circular economy solutions for industries

Come and discover innovative and scalable examples of applied circular economy conversions in industries, implemented in UNIDO-led projects across Africa and Asia.

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Textile Waste Opportunities for Circular Textiles, Garments & Footwear in Cambodia

Global Fashion Agenda and GIZ are organising an event on May 16th in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to explore opportunities of valorising textile waste and creating circular business models in fashion & footwear manufacturing that bring value to the region.

OECD Side Event: The interplay of Due Diligence and Upstream Circular Fashion Systems

GFA is hosting a side session at the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector that will discuss the connection between establishing circular fashion systems and mandatory Human Rights & Environmental Due Diligence.

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GFA at the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector

Global Fashion Agenda participated and closely contributed to the 2023 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector.

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Esteemed experts convene to map out Cambodia’s circular textile future

Over 100 leading experts and stakeholders on 16 May to discuss the current state of textile waste in Cambodia and establish the next steps towards a circular future.