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LIFESTYLE | 11 www.italchamind.eu Circular Economy The fashion industry, a model of the future A circular economy can be described as “use - recycle – transform - reuse”. Aiming at keeping the resources for as long as possible, transforming and re-using them to generate new products, avoiding unnecessary waste of money and energy, a circular economy is an alternative to the linear one (buy - use - dispose) that has been predominant in our lives. Circularity can make economies more competitive and be a key player in the reduction of environmental impacts of production and consumption. Raw materials, indeed, are meant to never become waste or pollution, being re-used by the producers – in an optimum way, using renewable energy. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a British charity that opened in 2010 to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Working together with several partners, the Foundation is now a leader in the sector, having led numerous research works. One of their most popular projects is “Make Fashion Circular”, an invitation to innovate the textile economy. CIRCULAR FASHION A circular economy can be applied to fashion to make the sector efficient, applicating creativity to work on the resources. How often do consumers purchase new clothing items and wear them only a couple of times before throwing them away? According to the Foundation, the number of times that a piece of clothing is worn decreased by 36% in the past 15 years. Every year, out of the 100 billion garments produced in the world, 87% of them end up destroyed while less than 1% is recycled. Fashion designers play a key role in this, as they should think of how to dismantle their products so to recycle each part of it. What becomes important is the ability to recognise the different components of the materials. The solution might be in a small “passport label” placed inside the garment, indicating what was used to assemble the product thus making it easy to recycle each part. Many brands already provide customers with collection points inside their stores, inviting them to leave what they do not wear anymore. In this case, brands work together with third-party companies to save the fabrics and re-use them in other ways. On the environment point of view, the textile industry is one of the major contributors for plastic entering the ocean. If industries invested in the recycling of clothing items, using only safe and healthy materials and reducing the plastic microfibre release, they could re-think the way they design clothes to promote recycling and second life of their products, making it a normal process for customers. The same concept can be applied to the technology, construction, plastic, food sectors and many others. A circular economy can create favourable conditions for new start-ups, managing to attract new investments to save our planet and make our lives healthier, easier and better. ·