Fashion for Good today launches the Full Circle Textiles Project on Polyester, with the ambition to validate and scale promising technologies in polyester chemical recycling and encourage financing and offtake commitments in the fashion industry. The Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester brings together a consortium of stakeholders, including brands, innovators, supply chain partners, and catalytic funders, a structure that has proven successful in driving and scaling disruptive innovation in the industry.
Initiated and managed by Fashion for Good, the project is made possible by a large group of Fashion for Good partners, contributing their expertise, financial support, and services. These include catalytic funder Laude’s Foundation, brand partners Adidas, BESTSELLER, C&A, PVH Corp., Target, Zalando, and affiliate partners Arvind Limited, Fabrics Division of W. L. Gore & Associates and Teijin Frontier have recently joined Fashion for Good.
Laura Coppen, Head of Circularity at Zalando, said, “At Zalando, we aim to drive customer behavior change towards circular products and experiences. Currently, only 1% of clothing material is looped back into clothing production. By learning the challenges with textile-to-textile polyester recycling and supporting the most promising solutions, we can help to close the loop by designing out waste and pollution.”
Polyester claims 52% of the global fiber market. As the most common fiber globally, it also represents a significant portion of the 73% of textiles landfilled or incinerated annually. A synthetic fiber derived from petroleum, polyester does not naturally break down in the environment, and the production of virgin fibers also perpetuates our reliance on fossil fuels. Chemical recycling is a key solution that promises to address the polyester textile waste challenge. Therefore, the Full Circle Textiles Project on polyester can close the loop on fashion.
