New circular economy opportunities for fashion and textile companies

Copenhagen, June 28: Today, at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, the CTI Fashion Initiative was launched as a new collaboration to promote circularity in the fashion industry. Led by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), VF Corporation and Deloitte Switzerland, this collaboration brings industry players together to define aligned standards, metrics, data and best practices to promote a circular economy across the fashion and textiles value chain.

The heart of the CTI Fashion Initiative lies in the globally recognized metric system, Circular Transition Indicators (CTI), developed by the WBCSD. CTI is a quantitative, data-driven and flexible framework that offers an ideal set of metrics for setting standards for the fashion industry sector that will support enterprise decision-making processes to implement circularity at scale.

The fashion industry plays an important role in shaping a net-zero, nature-positive, and just world. Widespread adoption of a circular strategy across the value chain has the potential to reduce industry pressure on people and the planet while opening up opportunities for value creation. Research shows that the use and recycling of textiles is circular can reduce global land use by 40% and substantially reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. This transformative practice can present a USD $560 billion economic opportunity.

“As a beacon of creativity and innovation, the fashion industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead the transition to a circular economy. However, adoption of circular solutions at scale is still lagging behind, and circular fashion must prove itself beyond its promise and make a real impact. That’s where its true value lies. of CTI play a role. CTI provides consistent metrics for measuring circularity in the industry and creates a foundation for driving accountability, sustainable value creation, and operationalizing circularity at scale,” said Jeff Turner, Senior Advisor at WBCSD.

Jeannie Renn-Malone, Leed Ap Bd+C, Vice President, Global Sustainability at VF Corporationsaid, “The next chapter of the circularity journey needs to be titled ‘collaboration’. This is key for the circular economy to make progress and ensure sustainable practices are a mainstay of our industry. However, to drive circularity, we also need industries that have common ways to assess and measure progress, and integrate it into our everyday decision-making.CTI offers this aligned set of metrics for the fashion sector and beyond.In a scalable way, CTI enables linking circularity decisions such as product design for a specific purpose, increased use of materials , or the introduction of a new product business model – all of which are critical to advancing our collective circular ambitions. We are excited to be collaborating with WBCSD in setting CTI sector guidance for the fashion industry over the coming months and encourage others to join us on this journey.”

Carlo Giardinetti, Lead Sustainability Consultant at Deloitte Switzerland, said, “Deloit Switzerland’s collaborative movement is at the heart of industry transformation. The CTI Fashion Initiative is all about aligning incentives, standardizing circularity measures, and unlocking innovative business models for industry players and consumers. We invite companies to join us as we transition from ambitious to act. Together, let’s turn the circular economy into a reality and unlock the true potential of collaboration.”

Debbie Shakespeare, Senior Director, Sustainability and Compliance at Avery Dennisonsaid, “Data is fashion’s best friend. Consumer cynicism will finally be lifted if the industry commits to transparency and accountability, which is what the CTI Fashion Initiative aspires to. The Circular Transition Indicator (CTI) is a step towards verified data and agreed industry benchmarks that much needed by the industry on its journey to a circular model of textile resale, repair and recycling. With sector-wide standards in place, we are ready for incoming product transparency laws. Carbon reduction targets can be tracked and reported. Greenwashing can be rinsed. And we can provide the important product data needed for textile sorters and recyclers to make the graft in bringing the circular economy to life.”

It’s time to get started at high speed and make circular fashion a reality. We invite fashion companies and industry stakeholders to join the CTI Fashion Initiative and be part of this transformative journey!

Register here for more information on the CTI Fashion Initiative and how to get involved.