28 Sep 2020 to 04 Oct 2020
The EU Ecolabel "pop-up shop": the Showroom will take place in Berlin from 28 September to 4 October, and and will showcase a selection of the best EU Ecolabel products and services.
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Clothing and Fashion industry
The circular economy: Going digital
The circular economy: Going digital
The European Policy Centre’s (EPC) Task Force called Digital Roadmap to Circular Economy has explored the linkages between digitalisation and circular economy, the opportunities created by data and digitally-enabled solutions, and the challenges associated with harnessing their full potential for the transition to a circular economy.
The project represents a pioneering endeavour in exploring the interconnections between the digital and green transformations and considers the implications for EU policymaking.
The final publication The circular economy: Going digital and its executive summary show that digitalisation can offer enormous possibilities for the transition to a more sustainable, circular economy but it is essential to steer it in the right direction.
Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy
Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy: how to strengthen Sweden's competitiveness in a future with finite resources
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) has always been a meeting place for Sweden’s future. It builds bridges between the business community, the public sector, academia and the political sphere.
Its two-year project "Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy" was aimed at making Sweden more competitive in a future with finite resources, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, by economising on resources and developing new technologies, services and business models in five areas:
Read the synthesis report, marking the completion of the project, which presents the most important conclusions, recommendations and action plans from the five subprojects.
9 Jun 2020
AIMPLAS - a consortium member of the OCEANETS project - has developed a material that ensures the traceability of fabric made from end-of-life fishing nets. When exposed to infrared radiation, the material changes colour and so helps identify where it came from.
Ecopreneur.eu: Circular fashion and textile producing countries
Abstract:
This research note produced by Ecopreneur.eu is a 1st inventory of the potential impacts of future EU circular fashion on non-European textile producing countries. It uses existing literature and input from four circular economy experts to analyse the economic, social and environmental impacts.
Circular fashion and textile producing countries
Ecopreneur.eu: Circular fashion and textile producing countries
Textiles and clothing play an important role in our everyday life. But the global fashion industry model is unsustainable. It uses large amounts of resources and has negative impacts on the environment and people. The global fashion industry, therefore, has to make a transition towards a circular model. In a ‘circular’ fashion economy, clothes, textiles, and fibres are kept at their highest value during use and re-enter the economy to avoid becoming waste.
This research note produced by Ecopreneur.eu is a first inventory of the potential impacts of future EU circular fashion on non-European textile producing countries. It uses existing literature and input from four circular economy experts to analyse the economic, social and environmental impacts.
5 May 2020
Launched in memory of social innovation pioneer Diogo Vasconcelos, the European Social Innovation Competition is run by the European Commission across all EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. The theme this year is Reimagine Fashion.
Design Research Tools: How to become a more sustainable and circular designer
Professor Rebecca Earley introduces a series of short films about the design tools produced at the Chelsea College of Arts research centre, and how to use them to become a more sustainable and circular designer. The series aims to help designers access and use the research resources to stay inspired and motivated to design better futures.
Circular Fashion MOOC: Design, Science and Value in a Sustainable Clothing Industry
The fashion industry has a big influence on the global economy and is known for its social and environmental impact. This online course by Wageningen University & Research is an introduction to circular fashion, brought by 30 experts from academia and practice.
After this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the role of sustainability and circularity in fashion
- Understand the importance of design for disassembly and recycling
- Evaluate new biobased materials for textiles and understand the change in production processes
- Disrupt current thinking and mindset in the industry and manage the transition to circular fashion
- Understand economic paradigms and new forms of value creation for circularity in the fashion industry
Read more and enrol.
8 Apr 2020
How can we best equip people to transform the fashion industry from the inside out? (Re)education is one promising avenue – and there is a lot to learn!
One-woman's initiative in Belgium transforms broken umbrellas into raincapes and bags
Our industries and our current way of life make us produce more and more in an "ephemeral" way. We throw away big amounts of raw materials that we could easily reuse and launch back in the circular economy.
Parapluiestandupcycling decided to retrieve the fabric of broken umbrellas and to create a utility garment out of it.
Recycled post-consumer textiles - an industry perspective
Recycled post-consumer textiles - an industry perspective
Europe is facing a growing mountain of used textiles. In North-West Europe 4700 kilotonnes of post-consumer textile waste are generated annually. Still, less than 1% of textiles produced are currently recycled into new ones, and around 50% are downcycled, incinerated or landfilled.
Automated sorting technologies could enable the industry to turn non-rewearable textiles into valuable feedstock for high-value recycling. Fibersort, a Near Infrared based technology, is able to categorise textiles according to their fibre composition, structure and colour.
At the end of each chapter of the report, recommendations are formulated for recyclers, manufacturers and brands to address the socio-cultural, physical and economic barriers for uptake of sorted textiles.
Circular City Governance in Prato
Thanks to its textile recycling techniques, Prato is considered one of the most advanced and innovative industrial cities in Italy.
20 Jan 2020
Applications to the European Social Innovation Competition 2020 are now open! Under the theme Reimagine Fashion: Changing behaviours for sustainable fashion, the 2020 competition is looking for projects and ideas that will change the ways we produce, buy, use and recycle fashion, moving towards increased global sustainability and changing consumer behaviour at local, national and European levels.
Circular economy in Berlin
Circular Berlin: how to develop circular economy in the city
Berlin has the potential to become the first Circular City in Germany, due to its growing variety of initiatives, grass-roots and research work in the area of circular economy (CE).
This report provides information on the development of the project Circular Berlin, which started in 2018 and is financed by the EIT, under Horizon 2020.
The project consists of 4 phases:
- Pre-assessment (conducting awareness meeting with CE professionals, identifying CE initiatives, finding partners etc.) - already completed
- Feasibility Check
- Vision Development
- Implementation
Croatian cooperative Humana Nova gives used clothing a new life, and its members a new dream to fulfill
Social Cooperative Humana Nova Čakovec encourages the employment of disabled and other socially excluded persons for the production and sale of quality and innovative textile products made from ecological and recycled fabrics for the local and regional markets.
MUD jeans: circular denims (almost) never die
Customers from the MUD brand can lease or buy their jeans, benefit from a free repair service, and return the worn out items to have them recycled into new denim products - so that the iconic piece of clothing remains in use for the longuest time. This brand philosophy saves 78% water and 61% CO2-eq per jeans compared to industry standards.
31 Jan 2020 to 01 Feb 2020
The International Cradle to Cradle Congress - the world's largest platform for C2C - will take place in Berlin from 31 January to 1 February 2020.
La Tête dans les Nuages creates multicoloured bean bags out of exhausted hot air balloons
La Tête dans les Nuages gives a second chance to hot air balloons, advertising posters and polystyrene packaging, which would otherwise go to waste, by upcycling them into bean bags.
adidas and Stella McCartney present prototypes of sustainable and recyclable sportswear
adidas, one of Europe's premier sportswear manufacturers, is increasing the use of sustainable materials in its product range. From 2024 onwards, only recycled polyester will be used in every product and on every application where a solution exists.
In 2019, Stella McCartney partnered up with adidas to solve the problem of product waste with the introduction of two new apparel innovations.
Sneakers made by nature
Wao shoes are fully ecological shoes made entriely from natural, innovative and sustainable materials.
Globe Hope: a pioneer in upcycled textiles since 2003
Globe Hope, a Finnish textiles and cosmetics SME, has been creating bags and accessories from recycled and leftover materials since 2003.
30 Jan 2020 to 01 Feb 2020
ChangeNOW - the world's largest gathering of solutions for the planet - returns to Paris for its 3rd edition from 30 January to 1 February 2020, with more than 1,000 solutions and several inspiring circular economy keynotes.
ISATIÓ crafts into beauty what would otherwise go to waste
ISATIÓ is a Brussels SME that recovers samples from the textiles industry to create unique designer clothing, with manufacturing all done locally and the supply chain covered entirely by bicycle couriers.
The Next Closet sells second hand designer fashion online
The textile industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. The Next Closet’s mission is change this and inspire people to invest in quality and reuse what they already have, so second hand can become the number one choice.
04 Oct 2019 to 25 Oct 2019
Join a team of students and young professionals for a six-day bootcamp tackling sustainability challenges in textiles and fashion, presented by Dutch companies.