Clothing circularity encourages clothing to have a longer life, reduces waste through recycling, and embraces renewable energy sources in production. Throughout our industry, there’s a great spirit of innovation and disruption when it comes to clothing circularity, with many inspiring examples for us to learn from.
For example, Seamless member, Madre Natura showcased at Australian Fashion Week 2024 with a runway entirely made up of unsold product, restyled. Another Seamless member, Oroton, has successfully been delivering rental services to its customers, in partnershipwith RNTR. And Seamless member Citizen Wolf has a made to order business model, where they only make what they sell.
Here are some other exciting examples from Seamless members and supporters.
RMIT, accelerating circular product design at scale
The Refashioning: Accelerating Circular Product Design at Scale project, funded by Sustainability Victoria, is underway with a team from RMIT’s School of Fashion and Textiles in partnership with Julie Boulton and Courtney Holm. They are developing, piloting and evaluating a series of open-source guides to help product design and development teams implement circular design. The guides will provide actionable and measurable criteria for implementing circular design and assessing its long-term impact.
ELK's (RE)NEW program extends product life
Seamless member ELK has been a responsible leader in the Australian clothing industry since its establishment in 2004 and is internationally recognised for its ethical production and product responsibility. ELK’s (RE)NEW program focuses on the repair, resale and repurposing of pre-loved ELK garments.
ReBale from M.J. Bale rewards customers for recycling
Seamless member M.J. Bale is Climate Active-certified as Australia’s first carbon neutral fashion brand, covering both products and organisation. Their ‘ReBale’ initiative rewards customers for recycling their pre-owned M.J. Bale branded garments.
Thread Together redistributes new clothing to people in need
Seamless supporter, Thread Together, now in its tenth year of operation, collects end-of-line brand new stock from fashion retailers around Australia. With the support of volunteers, the clothes are sorted in readiness to be distributed to people in need through their national network of charities and social service agencies.
Join us! How your organisation can get involved
If you’re a clothing brand or retailer, register your interest to become a Seamless member here.
If you’re an industry stakeholder, including a recycler, reuse operator, technology supplier, government agency, professional services organisation or academic institution, register to become a Seamless supporter here.
