News article | 18-02-2022 | 11:57
According to the Institute of Positive Fashion, the UK fashion market is one of the largest in the world with revenues of £118 billion in 2019. It also indicates that the annual per capita demand in the UK for new clothes is higher than that of other products in high-income countries, including the Netherlands. The current trend is that more and more organizations are asking for the integration of circular principles in the fashion industry, given the negative environmental and societal impact of the textile supply chain. Lots of clothes still end up being burned or buried in landfills.
The benefits of a circular fashion industry are clear, but the transition challenge is daunting. In collaboration with the Dutch Center in London, the Dutch Embassy in the United Kingdom will organize an evening on sustainable fashion in a circular economy. During this event, we will explore the latest circular fashion developments in the UK and the Netherlands. Where are we now? What can we learn from each other? Experts like Professor José Teunissen (Dean of the School of Design & Technology at the London College of Fashion, and Aniela Fidler Wieruszewska (designer and maker) can tell us more.
Professor José Teunissen – Dean of the School of Design & Technology, London College of Fashion (UK)
What is the biggest challenge in achieving a truly sustainable textile and apparel industry?
“Shifting the focus from trend and ‘newness’ in fashion and instead highlighting the product and different values like ‘how, where and under what circumstances the product is made’. Introducing new values in fashion (ethics, storytelling) is the only way to decrease.”
In your work, what is your approach to resource efficiency?
“As Dean of the London College of Fashion’s leading fashion design school, we are trying to raise awareness and change the design process through four elements:
- keep students informed of the latest advances in sustainability and circular (and climate change);
- explore digital technologies/tools to reduce waste and improve sustainable production;
- do less by introducing a different value system;
- new business/enterprise models.”
What do you suggest governments could do to support the transition from a “take-make-throw” economy to a “close the loop” economy?
“The Dutch are about to introduce ‘statiegeld’ (a deposit) on clothing. This has been very successful in France, where the incoming ‘statiegeld’ has been used to fund innovations aimed at transforming the clothing industry. fashion in a circular pattern.”
What resource efficiency initiatives in the Netherlands and/or the UK do you find inspiring?
“Closing the loop by thinking, trying to collect and scale up textile recycling locally.”
Professor José Teunissen: “Introducing new values in Fashion (ethics, storytelling) is the only means of degrowth.”
Aniela Fidler Wieruszewska – Designer and Maker (UK)
What is the biggest challenge in achieving a truly sustainable textile and apparel industry?
“The fashion industry operates at high speed, benefiting from extremely short production cycles and constantly changing trends in search of the future and newness. It is neither ecologically responsible nor ethical. The biggest challenge is to slow down and move away from a society organized around product-driven growth. . We need to focus on degrowth-type economic models that focus on sharing and solidarity rather than profit and competition.”
In your work, what is your approach to resource efficiency?
“Waste is culturally and socially constructed and does not exist in nature. In my work, I like to subvert the status of waste by using discarded materials in ways that increase their value to our human eyes, for example by processing them through elaborate artisanal techniques.”
What do you suggest governments could do to support the transition from a “take-make-throw” economy to a “close the loop” economy?
“Give more attention to extending the life of a product by subsidizing repair services. We need to change the current destructive life cycle model of short-term garments.”
What resource efficiency initiatives in the Netherlands and/or the UK do you find inspiring?
“When it comes to fashion, I’m a fan of the Dutch company MUD Jeans, which, instead of selling its product, lends it for a fixed period. Then the wearer can either keep it or send it back to be turned into vintage models, leaving no waste and using 92% less water than an average pair.In the UK, I’m excited about government plans to reduce waste systemically by introducing the Accountability Scheme (by the end of 2022). With this regulation, industry will be required to contribute to the cost of recycling. It has great potential to make the reuse and recycling of textiles more efficient, reducing their impact on the environment.
Aniela Fidler Wieruszewska: “We need to focus on degrowth-type economic models that focus on sharing and solidarity rather than profit and competition.”
Join our event on February 23!
The Dutch Embassy in London is organizing a circular fashion event on February 23 which will take place at the Dutch Center in London, starting at 18:00 GMT. The roundtable will also be streamed live via the Dutch Centre’s YouTube channel. Register via the link below.
