Circular economy in Africa: Fashion and textiles
Textiles and clothing are a fundamental part of everyday life and an important sector in the global...
The Renewal Workshop takes all of a brand’s unsellable apparel and home goods and gives them a longer life through renewed products, upcycled materials or recycling feedstock. These items could come from customer returns, warranty claims, manufacturing defects, products from trade in programs, products damaged in shipping or at retail stores, amounting from hundreds to thousands to millions of items every year depending on the size of the brand.
The clothes that come into the system are cleaned using advanced waterless cleaning technology. Then, half of the garments are professionally repaired and then certified as new. Data is collected on everything that flows through the system and is given back to brand partners, which helps them improve the production and design of future products.
The Renewal Workshop’s aim is to keep clothes in use, eliminate the concept of waste and recover the full value of what has already been created as a way of serving customers, partners and the planet.
What makes it circular
“Through renewal we can unlock an additional 36% of items that were not deemed sellable before”
– Nicole Bassett
The reasons that clothes cannot be sold are often quite trivial, such as dirt/stains, broken zips or small holes. Even though they seem minor, brands and retailers lack the systems to address these defects, which means the clothes become unsellable inventory or ‘waste’ and end up being dumped or burnt.
For products that have been produced but cannot be sold, the creative, physical, natural and financial resources invested in them are lost. This leads to massive waste problems with negative environmental impacts, significant financial losses for brands and missed opportunities for customers.
Providing a system that collects these clothes and restores them to an as-new condition is one of the most powerful circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. solutions. Particularly if the highest possible amount of resources used to make the clothes has been conserved.
Rethinking waste to capture more value
“Once we shift our mindset from ‘it is waste’ to ‘it has value’ products can be managed in a way that maximises their use and reduces their negative impact on the environment”
– Leading Circular Report 2021
Over four years, the Renewal Workshop conducted more than 50 product assessments for brands across all types of fashion, from high end couture to technical sportswear. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine what different brands perceived as waste with no potential financial value. The results were surprising. Their research showed that 82% of products that brands classified as waste could be renewed and resold. More specifically:
46% could be resold like new with only light or minor repairs
36% could be resold with more substantial repairs
18% garments deemed as waste actually needed to be recycled
Since The Renewal Workshop launched in 2017, its purpose has been to ensure that this 82% is kept in circulation, initially by reselling through its own marketplace. Since then, brands are more and more keen to sell the renewed apparel through their own channels, to respond to the demand for more eco-conscious clothing as well as allowing them to offer different price points.
The Renewal Workshop also partners with non-clothes companies that use textiles, such as bedding and bag companies. In total, the company works with 17 brands, with the goal of diverting over 1 million lb (>450,000 kg) of textile products from the landfill back into the market by 2025.
Benefits
By 2021, the Renewal Workshop has diverted 500,000 lb (>225,000 kg) of apparel and textile waste from landfill, reaching 50% of its 2025 target.
As well as the economic benefits to its partner brands, the Renewal Workshop’s system has led to environmental benefits. It has saved or avoided:
>530,000 kg CO2 greenhouse gas emissions
>366,000,000 litres of water
>240,000 kg DB eq of toxins
>9,000,000 MJ of energy
>500,000 lbs of waste
Further reading
The Renewal Workshop – website
Leading Circular – Pathways for evolving the apparel and textile businesses from linear to circular – 2020 report
The trends and trailblazers creating a circular economy for fashion – article
