Accelerating Circularity launches textiles trial

Accelerating Circularity announces the launch of a commercial textile-to-textile supply systems in the United States.Built on the models presented in its March 2021 Modeling and Linking Report, the trials will move spent textiles through the entire circular system, from collection, sorting, feedstock pre-processing, fiber production, yarn spinning, and fabric production through product design, manufacture, marketing, and retail. The trials will leverage new systems and technology for digital identification of products and materials – enabling the identification, transparency, and circular product passports in the circular economy.Based on research and intensive consultation with industry stakeholders, the trials will target the following key systems:

  • Spent textile feedstocks: post-industrial, pre-consumer, and post-consumer
  • Feedstock fibers: Cotton, polyester, and cotton-poly blends
  • Recycling technologies: mechanical cotton, chemical cotton, mechanical polyester, chemical polyester
  • Finished goods: t-shirts, denim, towels

Outdoor industry participation

Through its collaborative and consultative approach, the organization has already identified key collection strategies, including brand and retail take-back, plus potential system trial partners. Confirmed partners include members of the organization’s Steering Committee, comprised of leading companies, brands and textile recyclers such as VF Corp. A Collaborating Organizations Group furthermore includes the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), Textile Exchange and The Renewal Workshop.“Connected product” innovator EON is also confirmed to participate in the trials to advise Accelerating Circularity on building robust, scalable traceability and transparency infrastructure for this emerging circular system.“Digital identification of products and materials and systems for data-exchange across the apparel value chain are a mission-critical step for operationalizing the vision of a circular economy,” said EON Founder and CEO Natasha Franck.

“The multi-stakeholder collaboration enabled through the Accelerating Circularity’s textile-to-textile pilots will help support our team and industry to architect the system for end-to-end connectivity essential for circular commerce.”

Starting now, with design, planning, and engagement, the trials will unfold in phases over the course of two years. Companies that wish to be considered for participation in the trials, including logistics providers, collectors, sorters, preprocessors, recyclers, fiber producers, finished goods manufacturers, brands, retailers, traceability and assurance providers, testing labs, standards systems, and support services, can register via www.acceleratingcircularity.org/stakeholder-registry.

 

About Accelerating Circularity 

Accelerating Circularity is a collaborative industry project developed to accelerate the textile industry’s move from linear to circular. It was founded in 2019 with a mission to establish systems that will use the embedded value and resources in existing textiles for new products, reducing the millions of tons of textile waste annually going into landfills and thereby supporting the reduction of the industry’s GHG emissions.

www.acceleratingcircularity.org

SUSTON
jonathan.eidse@norragency.com


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