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Clothing and Fashion industry
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.
Policy Hub - Circularity for Apparel and Footwear
The Policy Hub (founded in 2019) unites the apparel and footwear industry to speak in one voice and propose policies that accelerate circular practices. It consists of five partner organisations representing more than 500 stakeholders:
- Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC)
- Global Fashion Agenda (GFA)
- Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI)
- Textiles Exchange (TE)
- Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC)
The Policy Hub’s vision is to encourage an ambitious policy framework to accelerate the transformation of the apparel and footwear industry towards circularity. It focuses on:
- guiding the industry towards circularity
- educating the industry and the policy makers
- cooperating and facilitating policy discussions.
04 Oct 2019
Join Kyiv's European Circular Economy Forum on 4 October 2019, organised with support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
20 Sep 2019 to 22 Sep 2019
In 2017, Fixfest brought together over 200 volunteer repairers and tinkerers, activists, policy-makers, thinkers, and companies from all over the world in the name of taking greater care of the things we own – and better products.
Creating a Digital Roadmap for a Circular Economy
Creating a Digital Roadmap for a Circular Economy
The EU faces multiple challenges (climate crisis, environmental disasters, a lack of competitiveness, falling behind in the digital race, etc.) that it will need to address if it is to ensure long-term sustainable prosperity for European citizens. At the same time, there are two ongoing transitions – the creation of a circular economy and the digital transformation – that could provide the means to address these challenges, if they are managed well.
As the EU and national policymakers are making significant efforts to promote a circular economy on the one hand and a digital economy on the other, Annika Hedberg and Stefan Šipka, together with Johan Bjerkem, argue that it is time to align the agendas as a means to achieve greater sustainability and competitiveness.
This publication:
- demonstrates what digitalisation means in the context of a circular economy;
- considers what a greater focus on sustainability would mean for the digital transition;
- examines the role of the EU policy framework, tools and initiatives in steering a (digital) transition towards a (digital) circular economy and makes recommendations for EU institutions for the next five year.
It suggests that the EU must:
- think systemically, define a vision and act;
- provide an adequate governance framework and economic incentives for a (digital) transition to a (digital) circular economy;
- encourage collaboration across European society and economy as well as globally, and empower its citizens to contribute to the transition.
This Discussion Paper builds on the findings of the EPC’s "Digital Roadmap for a Circular Economy" project of 2017-19 and paves the way for a more extensive final study, scheduled to be published in the late autumn of 2019.
The project has been supported by Aalto University and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) (members of Helsinki EU Office), Central Denmark region, Climate-KIC, the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, Estonian Environment Investment Centre, HP, Orgalim, the province of Limburg, UL, Fondazione Cariplo and Cariplo Factory.
Field trip for policy makers: circular economy & social inclusion in practice
Abstract:
To help inspire conversation and policy action concerning inclusive circular business models during the next EU Commission mandate, RREUSE invited EU decision makers to a closed site visit to Les Petits Riens, a Brussels-based social enterprise with activities dating back to 1937.
06 Nov 2019 to 08 Nov 2019
RREUSE, the European network of social enterprises active in re-use, repair and recycling, is organising its third annual conference, in collaboration with the Spanish social enterprise network AERESS and Traperos de Emaús Navarra. This unique event will focus on strategies supporting longer-lasting products through re-use and repair that create local inclusive jobs, provide green products and services and contribute positively to well-being in our society.
02 Jul 2019 to 03 Jul 2019
The 2019 edition of the International Stewardship forum is co-organized in Paris by DASTRI and the GlobalPSC with the following objectives:
- sharing the experience of different countries regarding the implementation and development of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Product Stewardship (PS) schemes
- thinking about how to create value beyond the end-of-life management of products
- initiating a prospective reflection on the future of these EPR schemes.
Circular Economy in Cities - Factsheets - Urban Products System Summary
Circular economy in cities - Products factsheets
These factsheets outline circular economy opportunities to design out urban waste and pollution, ensure products and materials maintain their value, and regenerate the natural systems in our cities.
Easy-to-reference, the factsheets are a collation of research and case examples that answer some of the most prevalent questions around what circular economy can bring to cities:
- Why is change in cities needed?
- What circular economy opportunities address key urban system issues?
- What can urban policymakers do to harness circular economy opportunities?
- What are the potential economic, social, and environmental benefits of these opportunities?
The whole collection of factsheets, by system and phase, is available on the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation website.
'Own Less Live More' - just borrow from the 'fashion library'
Lena is the first fashion library of the Netherlands, where you can borrow clothing with a subscription, or buy through the try-before-you-buy principle. An endless wardrobe with the benefits of a fast changing wardrobe, placed in a sustainable context.
'Recycle your shoes, repave your way': from worn out sneakers to renewed play and sports areas
Esosport was founded in 2009, by a small group of avid sports people, wanting to find a better use for old sports shoes than simply being thrown away.
Indeed, once they have exhausted their support and performance potential, recycled sport shoes provide a secondary raw material with interesting characteristics for flooring in sports facilities.
29 Mar 2019
Waste and pollution from the production of textiles and clothing have become critical global issues. The current ‘linear’ model is outdated and unsustainable. There is an urgent need for a strategy to transform industry into a circular model. A new report launched by Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, calls for decisive policy measures to create an enabling framework.
Rifò - regenerating noble textile fibers into timeless pieces of clothing
Rifò regenerates noble textile fibers, such as cashmere, using a proven technology developed in the textile district of Prato (Tuscany) over a hundred years ago.
Love them, wear them out, wear them again: full repair service is part of this eco-responsible shoe line
Kavat produces durable and high-quality shoes made of sustainable materials by resorting to eco-friendly manufacturing processes, and also offers a shoe repair service.
gocircularnow - a campaign for consumers
#gocircularnow (GCN) is a consumer-focused campaign to advance the transition to a circular economy. It encourages a more sustainable way of living and consuming that’s realistic, affordable and simple to incorporate.
As part of this movement, GCN provides consumers with the information and means needed to ask their favourite brands to #gocircularnow, while providing clarity on the many different ways in which circularity can be of benefit to their daily lives.
GCN also promotes makers currently operating within the structures of circular production, bringing them to the attention of consumers so they can be seen as viable alternatives to non-circular brands.
Its mix of engaging content and opinion communicates in ways that take the conversation around sustainability out of its current ‘eco-bubble’, connecting with everyday realities to make conscious consumption the new normal.
MaterialDistrict: a unique match-making platform for innovative materials
MaterialDistrict is a unique platform for innovative materials which empowers global innovation by match-making material needs with material solutions in the name of circularity. R&D and design professionals of all industrial sectors use this platform to discover new material solutions daily via MaterialDistrict's independent collection of materials, annually at MaterialDistrict Rotterdam and periodically throughout the year with travelling MaterialDistrict Expo, MaterialDistrict Talks and MaterialDistrict Pop-Up events.
Roubaix's Circular Economy Route Map
After the 2014 elections, the new Roubaix municipality team wanted to change the image of its city and encourage a positive attitude towards both its inhabitants and France as a whole.
The roadmap aims at turning difficulties into advantages, generating a new dynamic. Based on the Sustainable development strategy (since 2003), a zero waste policy is progressively implemented with a focus on cooperation and awareness raising among the stakeholders.
The approach is global, even if some activities are implemented on a micro-scale (budget issue), mostly at the level of a city sub-district (Fresnoy-Mackellerie).
To enable the entire City of Roubaix to experience the transition to a zero waste economy, projects are open and accessible to all categories of population and businesses. This is reflected in the way the projects are designed and co-developed, and how the City communicates about them.
Some concrete solutions are tested on an everyday basis and feedback is already shared with others (zero waste family program, zero waste business label, zero waste festival…).
Generally speaking, the City of Roubaix wants :
- to have the largest possible audience sharing the zero waste concepts, to match activities that could bring new dynamics into this field and make it happen. The more people share the same values the better;
- to multiply the interaction at different levels (inhabitants, institutions, businesses) but also to keep a global coherent approach;
- to minimize the production of waste, by changing consumer’s behaviour, retailer distribution methods and the design and processing used by the companies;
- to make the remaining and really unavoidable waste enter a circular loop.
24 Jan 2019 to 25 Jan 2019
The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo is the largest dedicated showcase of sustainable materials for the fashion and textile industry in Europe.
Verdura Shoes
25 Jan 2019 to 10 Feb 2019
The Circular Fashion Games: one programme, two bootcamps. Team up and join the creative ecosystems in Eindhoven and Amsterdam to reshape the fashion industry and shift it towrards the circular economy.