Editorial: Apparel brands intensify collaboration with supply chains, prompted by the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles

Editorial: Apparel brands intensify collaboration with supply chains, prompted by the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles

Major apparel brands are intensifying collaborations with their supply chains in response to the ambitious EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which was published by the European Commission in March 2022. Furthermore, the strategy has prompted several organisations to launch new initiatives which are aimed at promoting recycling and circularity. For example, Euratex (the European Apparel and Textile Confederation) has launched an initiative called ReHubs which calls for the establishment of 150-250 dedicated new recycling centres in Europe in the next few years. The aim of the initiative is to achieve the fibre-to-fibre recycling of 2.5 mn tons a year of Europe's textile waste by 2030. Elsewhere, the CISUTAC (Circular and Sustainable Textiles and Clothing) project aims to remove bottlenecks in the supply chain where they pose a barrier to achieving circularity. The project will develop new, sustainable and integrated large-scale European value chains in order to minimise the total impact of the textile and clothing industry on the environment. A number of apparel brands are backing work in Scandinavia on the development of new cellulosic fibres made from textile waste. Elsewhere, the brand Napapijri, which is owned by VF Corporation, is employing mono-materials in the manufacture of its Circular range of outdoor jackets while C&A and Primark have entered into new agreements with Recover—a producer of high quality recycled fibres which have a low impact on the environment—to employ recycled cotton fibres and cotton fibre blends in the manufacture of their products. Hugo Boss, meanwhile, has entered into a partnership agreement with the textile chemicals company HeiQ for the supply of AeoniQ yarn, which is recyclable and made using a closed-loop process.