#Wearnext and New York City Take Circularity by Storm
The apparel industry is uniting around circularity.
To keep more clothing from ending up in landfills, leading players in fashion are joining forces for the Make Fashion Circular #wearnext campaign, an effort to take waste and pollution starting in New York City.
Brands like ASOS, Athleta, Banana Republic, Gap, H&M, &Other Stories, Reformation, Zara and partners like Hallotex, Lenzing, I:CO and ThredUP will work with the City of New York, collectors, recyclers, resale companies and Make Fashion Circular to stop used clothing from being thrown away. The New York Department of Sanitation and the New York Economic Development Corporation are also supporting the campaign.
“As customers, we know where we buy our clothes and we know where we have worn them, but #wearnext is about the stage of that journey—‘where do our clothes go when we have finished with them?’ We believe that clothes should never be trash,” said François Souchet, lead of Make Fashion Circular, an initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which is leading efforts to advance a more circular economy. “By bringing together these brands, along with the City of New York and recyclers, we have an opportunity to ensure New Yorkers can find a new life for their clothing.”
Photo by Anthony Cotsifas. @anthonycotsifas
Starting on March 4 and running through June 12, the Make Fashion Circular #wearnext campaign will collect worn clothing from New Yorkers, making more than 1,000 drop off points—in stores, thrift shops, at charities—available for convenience. And for added ease, the New York Department of Sanitation has marked all of these points in a new online map.
“This is an important step, but we also need to recognize that customers alone cannot fix the fashion industry’s waste and pollution problems,” Souchet said. “We need the industry to work together to create a system where clothes are made from safe and renewable materials, new business models increase their use, and used clothes are turned into new ones.”
For Lenzing’s part, driving circularity forward has been a key mission the company has supported, and its TENCEL™ Lyocell with REFIBRA™ technology is one way the company has made use of textile recycling. The #wearnext campaign was a natural fit for Lenzing’s participation.
“The apparel industry is transforming as we look at ways to address the environmental impact of garments,” says Tricia Carey, Lenzing’s global director of business development for denim. “The linear model of make, take, waste is changing to one of reduce, reuse, recycle. Consumer awareness campaigns like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘Make Fashion Circular’ brings these options to the forefront in this transformation. “
Photos by Anthony Cotsifas @anthonycotsifas