A Guide to Textiles Circularity, With H&M, GIZ and Primark

The textile and clothing industry contributes around 10% of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Despite this, only 1pc of textile waste is recycled into new fibre.

There is an urgent need for a reset in the global textile manufacturing industry: a need that has resulted in the publication of Global Fashion Agenda’s Upstream Circularity Playbook.

GFA said: “The playbook is a comprehensive resource designed to help garment manufacturing regions scale circular business models by valorising post-industrial textile waste.”

It was developed by GFA with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and the H&M Foundation.

Drawing on over 20 case studies from regions including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, it showcases collaborative strategies to unlock the potential of textile recycling technologies.

GFA said: “The Playbook provides a clear roadmap for reducing dependency on virgin resources, driving economic impact, and enabling a scalable, circular future in manufacturing regions.”

First, the bad news

The truth is, the textile industry is not in a good place when it comes to sustainability and circularity.

Facts in its debit column include:

• Less than 1% of textile waste is recycled into new fibre, equating to losses exceeding US$100bn per year
• The industry’s circularity rate has fallen from 9.1% in 2018 to 7.2% in 2023, with 90% of materials globally wasted or unused
• According to GFA, a recent study shows stark variations in accessibility to recycled materials across key manufacturing regions, with 66% of companies reporting good access and 18% reporting poor access.

GFA said: “With textile consumption and waste set to continue to grow, the need for scalable solutions is more pressing than ever.”

Now, the good news

According to the playbook, scaling post-industrial recycling is potentially lucrative for many nations.

GFA said: “Capturing and recycling post-industrial textile waste presents significant opportunities on multiple fronts, among them economic development, job creation and the environment.

“From an economic perspective, it is estimated that scaling post-industrial recycling in key manufacturing countries such as Vietnam, Turkey, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh holds a market opportunity to the tune of US$4.5bn.”

Transitioning to a circular economy could also create up to nine million new jobs globally by 2030 in sorting, recycling, upcycling and repair.

Studies show that existing recycling technologies could achieve 80% circularity in fashion if fully scaled, delivering better economics than virgin materials.

At the same time, the report says the industry is seeing “growing momentum towards adopting circular practices in a bid to start eliminating virgin resource use, waste and greenhouse gas emissions, while ensuring fairer value distribution”.

It adds: “Leading brands and manufacturers have outlined ambitious goals, with 80% of brands and 86% of producers setting targets on textile-to-textile recycling of post-industrial and post use waste by 2030.”

All of which feeds into the motivation to produce the playbook – and the guidance it contains.

Five steps to circular collaborations

The playbook suggests five steps to help textile producers to build collaboration in their regions:

1 – Segregating textile waste in factories

Implement textile waste management systems to manage, segregate and trace post-industrial textile waste within apparel factories, separating waste streams at source.

2 – Digital traceability of textile waste

Optimise shared digital platforms for consistent data sharing and traceability of waste, registering quantities and characteristics to align separated materials with recycler requirements.

3 – Collecting, aggregating and sorting

Define roles and streamline operations among intermediaries, such as collectors and sorters, ensuring that textile waste is properly prepared and delivered to recyclers while maintaining compliance throughout the process.

4 – Matching textile waste to best use case

Match textile waste types to the best use case and select the most suitable recycling technologies to ensure the highest quality of recycled material output.

5 – Design and recycled materials

Reintroduce recycled material outputs into the value chain with consideration of material properties in design and product and testing.

Four ways to prepare the perfect environment for circularity

The report also advises businesses on how to lay the groundworks to ensure a circular economy can thrive. Its four steps are:

1 – Supportive policy, taxation and tariffs: to create a favourable environment for investment in textile recycling and compliance of circular value chains, such as tariff policies on imported recycled materials or incentives to formalise textile waste handling.

2 – Technologies: optimising textile-to-textile recycling requires appropriate identification and traceability of feedstocks and matching to the best possible recycling technology.

3 – Access to finance: enables critical investments to be made in advanced recycling technologies and the necessary infrastructure.

4 – Capacity: building across the supply chain, conducted in a deliberate and coordinated manner, is essential in multiple domains.

Primark’s Circular Product Standard

The report draws on more than 20 case studies from across the globe, including one from Primark, which has more than 450 stores worldwide.

In 2023, Primark launched its Circular Product Standard, a framework outlining what constitutes a circular product.

It aimed to guide design towards prioritising durability, recyclability and the use of recycled or more sustainably sourced fibres.

Primark partnered with Recover, a company specialising in recycled cotton fibres, to integrate its mechanically recycled cotton into its circular design guidelines.

Since the launch of its first circular product collection, which sold over three million items, Primark has collaborated closely with Recover to include its recycled cotton in the circular lines for denim and jersey products.

Primark intends to expand the use of Recover recycled cotton into its circular collections and scale its circular design principles, including by upskilling its product teams and key suppliers through a training programme.

Lynne Walker, Director, Primark Care, said: ”Our collaboration is a key part of embedding circularity into our product design and we’re proud to be driving positive change that enhances product durability and reduces textile waste.”

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