Impact Labs

Category: Pollution, Waste & Circularity

  • Leveraging AI for Circularity Reporting: A Global FMCG Player’s Client Case

    Leveraging AI for Circularity Reporting: A Global FMCG Player’s Client Case

    Starting a Virtuous Circle: Leveraging AI to Report On Your State of Circularity

    Every year, major consumer goods companies face the same question: how can they reduce their impact on the planet with their high volume of product sold? A part of the answer, especially for packaging, resides in recycleness, recyclability or refillability. For one of the world’s leading FMCG players, answering that question at a global scale meant confronting a data problem as much as a sustainability one.

    This company reports its circularity performance annually, tracking the recyclability potential of its packaging and the share of recycled materials it puts back into circulation. The ambition is clear. The execution, until recently, was not. The data underpinning these numbers had to be pieced together manually, country by country, material by material.

    Companies reporting on circularity generally have two paths: track proprietary data across their own operations, or draw on public recycling and recovery statistics where their own data isn’t available. A good way to get started is to use public data, which our client relies heavily on. Think of it as using monetary emission factor for calculating your Scope 3: it is a great way to get started in understanding your impact and identifying priorities.

    The problem is that public data is scattered, inconsistent, and constantly shifting. Recycling rates for the same material can range wildly from one country to the next. Sourcing, verifying, and updating this information year after year, market after market, was consuming enormous manual effort for a task that should, in principle, be systematic.

    The challenge was clear: automate the retrieval of this public data, without sacrificing the rigor their reporting demands.

    Enter AI: From Manual Research to Intelligent Automation

    We partnered with the client to build an AI-powered system that could do what a research team previously did by hand – only faster, more consistently, and with a built-in trail of evidence behind every number.

    Rather than letting AI loose to search freely (and risk the kind of confident-but-wrong answers language models are known for), the system was engineered with strict guardrails: clear hierarchies for which sources to trust first, fallback logic for filling gaps without guessing, and a scoring mechanism that flags exactly how reliable each data point is, based on how local and how recent it is.

    The result is a pipeline that mirrors how a rigorous analyst would work, at a speed and scale no analyst could match alone.

    Why This Matters Beyond One Company

    Operationally, applying CTI follows a seven-step cycle:

    • Scope – define the boundaries of the assessment (whole company, business unit, product line, timeframe)
    • Select – choose which indicators from the menu are relevant to the objectives
    • Collect – gather the underlying data, often the most labor-intensive step, sometimes requiring value-chain partner cooperation
    • Calculate – run the formulas for each selected indicator
    • Analyze – interpret results against context (mass of flows, industry benchmarks, performance over time)
    • Prioritize – rank identified linear risks and circular opportunities using threat/vulnerability scenario analysis
    • Apply – set SMART targets and roll out actions, feeding back into the next assessment cycle

    It’s increasingly used alongside broader sustainability reporting and helps organizations track progress over time.

    And these frameworks are truly essential, but they’re only as good as the data feeding them. And for global companies operating across dozens of markets, that data has always been the hard part. What this project shows is that AI, applied with the right discipline and constraints, can finally close that gap.

    We know that pollution isnt exclusively what leaks into rivers or piles up in landfills, it’s what happens when materials never make it back into the system at all, and virgin resources get extracted to replace them. Every gap in circularity data is, in effect, a blind spot in the efforts against waste and pollution: companies can’t close the loop on materials they can’t see or measure.

    That’s what makes this project bigger than an efficiency story. By making circularity reporting scalable, defensible, and repeatable, AI turns what was once a research bottleneck into infrastructure that lets a global business actually track (and act on) where materials leak out of the system.

    As more FMCG players face mounting pressure to report on packaging circularity and material recovery, this project is a preview of where the industry is headed: AI making rigor achievable at global scale, so that tackling pollution starts with knowing precisely where the material is going.

    World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Circular Transition Indicators (CTI).

  • From Waste Problem to Design Problem: The Case for System Redesign

    From Waste Problem to Design Problem: The Case for System Redesign

    Waste is accelerating at a pace the planet can no longer absorb.

    Global waste generation continues to rise sharply, driven by production and consumption systems that remain overwhelmingly linear. Plastic waste alone now exceeds 400 million tonnes per year, and projections suggest this could nearly triple by 2060 if current trends continue. At the same time, less than 10% of plastic is effectively recycled globally, the rest is landfilled, incinerated or leaked to the environment.

    Meanwhile, the global circularity rate has declined from 8.6% in 2022 to 6.9% in 2025, signaling that material use is becoming more linear, not less — despite growing technological and policy attention.

    This trajectory is increasingly incompatible with Earth system stability. According to the updated Planetary Boundaries framework (2023), 7 out of 9 boundaries are now transgressed. Among them, pollution-related pressures are particularly visible in three critical domains:

    First, novel entities (chemical and plastic pollution): the most clearly exceeded boundary. Synthetic chemical production now exceeds the planet’s capacity to safely absorb and process these substances. Microplastics are no longer confined to oceans: they are present in soils, freshwater systems, air, and even human blood. This represents a persistent, accumulating disruption to Earth system functioning, where materials do not degrade but instead accumulate across food chains and ecosystems.

    Second, biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus cycles): heavily driven by industrial agriculture. Human activity has more than doubled the natural nitrogen cycle, with around 120 million tonnes of nitrogen applied annually through fertilizers. A large share is lost to waterways and the atmosphere, causing eutrophication, oxygen-depleted “dead zones” in oceans, and large-scale freshwater ecosystem collapse.

    Third, biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss):  strongly amplified by land use change, pollution, and ecosystem degradation. Monitoring data indicates an average ~69% decline in vertebrate populations since 1970, reflecting systemic ecological breakdown rather than isolated species loss.

    These pressures are interconnected. Pollution is not only an output of the system — it is actively destabilizing the biophysical conditions that allow ecosystems to regenerate. The consequence is not linear degradation, but increased risk of tipping points, where ecosystems shift abruptly and irreversibly.

    At the core of this issue lies a structural problem: the linear economic model. The dominant take–make–dispose logic was built for a world without planetary constraints. Today, it is fundamentally misaligned with the finite nature of Earth’s systems.

    This is why incremental improvements are no longer sufficient. The system itself must be redesigned.

    The framework developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation provides a clearer alternative through its “butterfly diagram.” It proposes a clear frame for a circular economy, integratingtwo regenerative cycles:

    • A biological cycle, where materials are designed to safely return to nature without toxicity or accumulation
    • A technical cycle, where materials are kept in continuous use through reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling at highest possible value

    This is not an efficiency upgrade. It is a fundamental redesign of material flow architecture — from linear extraction and disposal to circular regeneration. In this model, waste is not better managed; it is eliminated at the design stage.

    In this series, we’ll explore how pollution, waste, and circularity intersect with business transformation. Today’s post sets the stage for understanding why this boundary is so central to a nature positive future.

  • Go Circular or Go Home: The Road to Nature Positive Business

    Go Circular or Go Home: The Road to Nature Positive Business

    At Impact Labs, we engineer business to scale nature positive impact.

    To reach nature positivity, businesses need to reduce their environmental impact and increase their impact investing. This journey has to consider and embrace the principles of circularity whenever it is possible. Business models can be re-engineered to embed circularity in all business operations, allowing for a more comprehensive view rather than solely sustainability.

    Our vision for circularity involves integrating social and environmental considerations into every aspect of the supply chain. By reshaping traditional practices, we aim to minimize waste, maximize resource efficiency, and create regenerative systems that benefit both people and the planet.

    Circularity is also one of the multiple ways to explore post-growth models for the companies and to reduce over-production and over-consumption.

    According to the Ellen MacArthur foundation, adopting circular economy principles could, by 2030, 

    • generate up to $4.5 trillion in economic benefits
    • save up to $600 billion in material costs
    • reduce material consumption by 35% compared to the linear model
    • help reduce waste by 50%
    • reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45%
    Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

    However, on the road to circularity, we are not headed in the right direction. The circularity gap reports released by the Circle Economy Foundation yearly since 2018, show that our world is suffering a circularity gap. 

    The world was 9.1% circular in 2018, and fell to 7.1% in 2023. While discussions and debates around circularity have significantly developed to guide citizens, states, and businesses, global circularity is still in decline and consumption continues to accelerate.

    ⦿  Between 2018 and 2023, circularity has dropped by 21%.

    ⦿ Between 2018 and 2023, we have consumed 28% of all the materials humanity has consumed since 1900.

    ⦿  As HDI rises, so does material consumption, and consequently pressure on the environment.

    ⦿   6/9 planetary boundaries have been broken largely due to the impacts of the linear economy.

    Achieving circularity is thus crucial for our planet, and it is the responsibility of all stakeholders: states, citizens, and businesses. Our position at Impact Labs is to guide businesses to find their way towards circularity.

    Let’s first look at the key principles of this concept before diving into the main frameworks that businesses can follow to reach circularity.

    What is circularity?

    Our current economic system is linear: we take materials from the earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them as waste. Circularity is a shift from this traditional linear economy to a regenerative model where materials are either safely returned to the earth, or shared, maintained, reused, redistributed, refurbished, remanufactured, and recycled.

    The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a pioneer in circularity. Its butterfly diagram shows two main cycles in a circular economy system: technical and biological.

    Biological Cycle

    It returns biodegradable materials to the earth to regenerate nature.

    Example

    Patagonia’s Regenerative Organic Certification promotes and supports farming practices that enhance soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience.

    Their ROC aims to go beyond sustainable farming by focusing on soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness. Patagonia also uses organic cotton and recycled wool in their products, ensuring these materials can be safely returned to the earth at the end of their lifecycle.

    Technical Cycle

    It relates to products that are used rather than consumed. This cycle keeps products and materials in circulation through loops, emphasising that inner loops are where the most value can be captured by keeping the product as a whole.

    Before they reach the stage of recycling, products should be designed to be remanufactured, reused, shared, or maintained.

    Example

    Fairphone designs smartphones with a modular architecture, allowing users to easily replace or upgrade individual components like the battery, camera, and screen. This extends the lifespan of the products and reduces waste.

    Principles of Circularity

    There are three key principles around circularity, which can be classified at the design level, use level, and system level.

    1

    Eliminate waste and pollution: involves designing products for reuse, repurpose, and remanufacture. This is where the power of regulation comes into play to push companies to eco-design products. However, eco-design is not enough; products should be designed with durability at their core.

    2

    Circulate products and materials at their highest value: focus on increasing the durability and lifespan of products and materials, ensuring they remain in use for as long as possible and retain their value throughout their lifecycle.

    3

    Regenerate nature: emphasises the shift from extraction to regeneration, supporting natural processes, and allowing ecosystems to thrive. This system-level approach involves practices that enhance biodiversity and restore ecological health.

    Now that we have seen the main concepts behind circularity, let’s dive into two existing frameworks.

    ReSOLVE Framework (2015)

    At the business level, Airup and the Ellen MacArthur foundation identified six actions that businesses can put in place towards achieving circular business models.

    Impact Labs uses this tool as a basis to guide clients towards circularity. ReSOLVE is a tool for businesses to create circular strategies and generate growth. These actions increase the use of physical assets, increase their life, and shift resource use from finit to renewable sources. Each action reinforces the others.

    REGENERATE

    Focusing on restoring and enhancing biodiversity. It involves returning biological resources to the biosphere and aligning consumption and production processes with natural systems to support ecological health.

    Companies following such principle include Nespresso with its AAA Program that promotes practices to protect and restore ecosystems on coffee farms.

    SHARE

    Focusing on restoring and enhancing biodiversity. It involves returning biological resources to the biosphere and aligning consumption and production processes with natural systems to support ecological health.

    Companies following such principle include Nespresso with its AAA Program that promotes practices to protect and restore ecosystems on coffee farms.

    OPTIMIZE

    Aiming to increase performance, improve efficiency, and reduce costs through the use of data and digitization. It also seeks to lower carbon footprints, reduce commute times, and enable business activities to be conducted from desired locations, all contributing to circularity. This is the case of companies like Cisco which uses high-tech to increase efficiency.

    LOOP

    Creating closed-loop systems where materials and products are reused, repurposed, and recycled. This approach ensures that resources are continually cycled back into use, minimizing waste. For instance, Patagonia remanufactures damaged products and recycle them.

    VIRTUALIZE

    Transitioning physical activities to virtual formats. For instance, delivering online lectures, conducting meetings via apps such as Skype, and replacing traditional video stores with over-the-top platforms (OTT) such as Netflix. This shift reduces the need for physical resources and lowers environmental impacts.

    EXCHANGE

    Promoting the adoption of new technologies such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), to create innovative products and solutions. By embracing advanced technologies, businesses can reduce material usage and waste while increasing customization and efficiency. This is the case of Tesla which is promoting the use of a new technology on the market.

    Deep dive into the Product-as-a-Service model

    Now that we have seen the key principles of circularity and frameworks that can be used to reach it, let’s dive into the Product as a Service (PasS) model that shifts the focus from selling a product to providing a service from a product, emphasising use over ownership. Services can be offered through leasing of subscription models. The PaaS model upholds the principles of circularity by encouraging companies to design durable, maintainable products that can be reused, refurbished, thus minimising waste and maximising resource efficiency.

    Source: Health Food Chain Safety Environment.

    Interface, a best-in-class in circularity, is a flooring company. Instead of selling carpets, Interface leases them to customers in the form of multiple carpet tiles. This ensures that carpets are returned to interface at the end of their lifecucle, allowing for easier remanufacture and recycling, thus closing the loop and reudicng waste. As part of their circular strategy, Interface operates the ReEntry recycling program, a third party certified system that facilitates the collection and recycling of old carpet tiles, converting them into new products. The ReEntry program reduces the need for virgin raw materials, closing the loop on carpet materials.

    Interface’s commitment to circularity is evident in their achievements:

    • Each year, they divert millions of pounds of post-consumer carpet from landfills through their ReEntry program.
    • As of the latest reports, 52% of materials in their flooring products are recycled or biobased.
    • They have achieved a 97% reduction in market-based greenhouse gas emissions at carpet manufacturing sites since 1996 (Interface Investors).

    Interface’s PaaS model guides them to reaching their carbon-negative objective by 2040 through reducing waste and promoting the efficient use of resources. The PaaS model is supported by digital solutions. Data is used to optimize the performance and lifespan of their products, including monitoring usage patterns and maintaining carpets proactively. This ensures they remain in good condition for longer periods. Such digital tools also help with more efficient product management.

    Interface’s PaaS model offers significant economic benefits both for the company and their customers. The latter benefit from lower upfront costs and access to high-quality, well-maintained products without the burden of ownership. Interface benefits from a steady revenue stream and the ability to innovate and improve their products continuously.

    Interface’s benchmark demonstrates that the adoption of the PaaS model can help businesses transform their operations to align with circularity principles.

    Deep dive into the Product as a Service model

    Regulation at the state level is crucial for businesses to engage in circularity. At the European level, the circularity timeline is as follows:

    • 2015: European Commission adopted the first circular economy action plan
    • 2019: European Commission adopted the European Green Deal
    • 2020: European Commission adopted new circular economy action plan
    • 2022: EU Sustainable Products Initiative
    • 2024: Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

    The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation came into effect on July 18th 2024 to replace the 2009 Ecodesign Directive. It aims to significantly improve the circularity of products placed in the EU market by setting ecological standards on a broad range of products. The ESPR is part of the European Green Deal, which is a policy package aimed at making the EU carbon neutral by 2050. The circular economy action plan has different policies, and the ESPD aims to make sustainable products the norm.

    The ESPR wants to cover the broadest possible range of products, aligning with the EU “Right to Repair” (obligation for companies to repair damaged products), and boost circularity, durability, reusability, upgradability, and repairability.

    In addition to the criteria, the ESPR introduces a digital product passport for all regulated products to make sustainability information instantly available to supply chain actors, regulators, and consumers.

    Source: Ecochain

    Conclusion

    The road to circularity is an emergency for businesses seeking to have a nature-positive impact. At Impact Labs, we are committed to guiding enterprises through this transformation by embedding circularity into every aspect of their operations. As highlighted by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the potential economic, environmental, and societal benefits of adopting circular economy principles are substantial, promising reductions in material costs, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions.

    However, the path to circularity is challenging. Despite increased awareness and discussions around circular economy principles, the global circularity rate has been in decline, demonstrating the urgent need for action from all stakeholders, including businesses, governments, and citizens. The statistics are clear: our current trajectory is unsustainable, and immediate efforts are required to reverse the trend.

    Impact Labs’ approach involves leveraging frameworks like the ReSOLVE model and adhering to evolving regulations such as the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. By doing so, we help businesses comply with regulatory standards and thrive in a circular economy. Examples from industry leaders like Patagonia and Interface illustrate the benefits and viability of circular business models, such as the innovative PaaS model.

    At Impact Labs, we are dedicated to engineering solutions that drive this transformation, ensuring that businesses not only contribute to but lead the way in creating a regenerative and resilient economy.

    But what are the steps for businesses to reach circularity? What technological innovations can they use to facilitate this transition? Stay tuned for our next article!

    Belgium Federal Public Service Health. Product & Service (Product-as-a-Service). FPS Health, Belgium.

    Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative. The Circularity Gap Report 2024. Circle Economy.

    Earthbound Report. The ResolVe Framework for a Circular Economy. 12 Sept. 2016.

    EcoChain. ESPR 2024 Overview.

    Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The Butterfly Diagram: Visualising the Circular Economy.

    Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Completing the Picture.

    Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Towards a Circular Economy: Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition. PDF.

    European Commission. Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

    Interface, Inc. Environmental Stewardship — Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).

    Nespresso. Birdsong: The Sound of Sustainability — Regenerative Agriculture.

    First published in July 2024, this article has been added to our Planetary Boundaries: Pollution, Waste & Circularity cycle.

  • Closing the Loop: Innovating for Circularity in Fashion

    Closing the Loop: Innovating for Circularity in Fashion

    The textile and clothing sector is a $2.4 trillion industry that employs 300 million people worldwide. Without change, the fashion industry will account for 26% of the world’s carbon emissions by 2050 (Ellen McArthur Foundation).

    In 2020, textile was among the top sectors with environmental and climate change impacts on a Life Cycle Assessment basis. Some key facts include:

    • Generates GHG emissions of 121 MTCO2eq annually, around 270 kg CO2eq per person.
    • Responsible for 2-8% of the world’s GHG emissions.
    • Responsible for 20% of the world’s wastewater.
    • $100 billion lost due to under-utilization and lack of recycling.
    • 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year, the equivalent of one garbage truck per second.
    • Responsible for 9% of annual microplastic losses to the ocean.
    • About 80% of textiles’ total climate change impact occurs in the production phase.

    On top of the environmental impact, the fashion industry also raises social concerns. On April 24, 2013, a garment factory in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, leading to the death of more than 1,000 workers and injuries of another 2,500. It is sad to say that the complex and fragmented supply chain, which is the norm of the fashion industry, creates unsafe working conditions and fosters abuse.

    Volunteers evacuating injured workers after the collapse. (Photo: AFP/Munir uz Zaman)

    Fast fashion is the first thing to fix

    Fast fashion has captured the attention of consumers globally, a business model characterized by quickly produced, affordable, and on-trend clothing. It offers consumers the ability to keep up with rapidly changing styles at relatively low prices. The rise of disposable fashion has contributed to a culture of overconsumption, where clothing items are treated as short-term, disposable commodities rather than long-lasting investments. Boosted by innovations in supply chain management and the widespread influence of social media, the fast fashion market is projected to reach $197.05 billion by 2028 at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.5% (Fast Fashion Global Market Report 2024). It is important to note that the leading cause of growth in the fast fashion industry is the expansion of the youth population. Data from United Nations projects the global youth population to grow by 7.9%, to 1.3 million by 2030.

    It is also impossible to neglect the recent emergence of what Harvard Business Review calls Instant Fashion. The most well known brand representing this newly developed business model is SHEIN. By incorporating the combination of mobile commerce, artificial intelligence, live shopping, and real-time, real-cheap product creation, the company was able to reach $1.5 billion in sales six years ago, and has since multiplied by more than 20 times, with its revenue target for 2025 exceeding $50 billion. With SHEIN’s unsustainable business model, the manufacturers churn out the same amount of CO2 as approximately 180 coal-fired power plants, emitting about 6.3 million tons of CO2 a year (Synthetics Anonymous 2.0).

    “Lu, the University of Delaware professor, found that in a recent 12-month period, the Gap listed roughly 12,000 different items on its website, H&M had about 25,000, and Zara had some 35,000. SHEIN, in that period, had 1.3 million.”

    Vauhini Vara in Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise

    With the growing awareness of the negative impact the fast and instant fashion industry imposes, the EU has initiated to standardize Supply Chain Law which aims to reduce human rights violations and environmental malpractices in manufacturing locations. Marked by a strong and growing awareness among consumers regarding the environmental and ethical implications of their fashion choices, Europe seems to be swearing off fast fashion. According to Morgan Stanley research, the apparel industry is facing a structural decline as consumers cut back on the quantity purchased even with the drop in prices. More specifically, although the total market is increasing in value, the per capita consumption is plateauing. In fact, the world’s leading listed apparel retailers are experiencing earnings downgrade of, on average, 40% since the beginning of 2016.

    On March 14th 2024, the French National Assembly adopted a legislation proposal aimed at reducing the negative impact of the fast fashion industry. The legislation aims to fight against fast fashion through multiple ways:

    • establishing a criteria to qualify fast fashion brands malus points that will augment the products price up to 50%,
    • a ban on advertisement for fast fashion,
    • the obligation to mention the negative impacts on e-commerce websites.

    France is the first country to legally look into limiting the impact of fast fashion, leading the way to other countries to aim for more sustainable fashion.

    This legislation was pushed by the past decade of changes across the fashion industry. Brands are increasingly rejecting fast fashion principles that emerged thirty years ago and prone cheap clothing with many collections. The concept of slow fashion was introduced by Kate Flecther and the center of Sustainable Fashion, calling for efforts to close the loop in fashion and promote sustainable models.

    The Ellen MacArthur foundation established a vision for the fashion industry to introduce the circular economy concept in the way clothes are made and used. Fashion circularity means products to be used more, made to be made again, and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs. The aim is to design items to prevent waste through designing them to be reusable, repairable, biodegradable and recyclable. It envisions the fashion industry as a closed loop in which materials are kept in use as long as possible.

    At Impact Labs, we believe circularity should be the objective of fashion brands, and can be reached through putting in place a variety of models.

    Sustainable Fashion Models

    After analyzing tens of pioneers of sustainable practices in the fashion industry, we have outlined a list of models that fashion brands can put in place to reduce their environmental footprint.

    Ethics & transparency is the foundation of sustainable fashion. Brands should ensure that their materials and labor are obtained through fair and humane practices while allowing their customers to understand where and how products were made along the supply chain.

    Kotn is a great example of ethics and transparency, as illustrated through their “farm to clothes” slogan. They partner with Egyptian farms, which are transparently showcased on their website, as well as all the farming practices to ensure customers can follow where Kotn materials come from.

    Another key aspect of sustainable fashion is to promote the longevity of clothing in order to prevent customers from buying more. This model relies on high quality garments to last longer.

    Brands can also put in place repair services to expand the lifespan of garments, repairing damaged clothes instead of wasting them. This practice can be used in-house such as Patagonia or outsourced with brands like Prolong that are dedicated to offering B2B repairing services.

    Zero waste design consists of designing patterns that use fabrics in the most efficient way possible to minimize cutting waste during the production process. Although recently a topic of interest in response to fast fashion, zero-waste design has been around for centuries, as exemplified by items like the Japanese kimono and the Indian sari, which include minimal arm shaping such as rectangular sleeves and pants. Industrialisation led designers to have little visibility on the manufacturing of fabrics, increasing the amount of wasted fabric.

    Katla finds inspiration in Iceland, focusing on environmentally friendly fabrics and manufacture according to zero waste principles.

    Upcycling is a big component of sustainable fashion and consists of turning waste materials or old products into new, higher quality items thus minimizing waste and reducing the demand for new raw materials.

    Upcycling continues the life of products, keeping them out of landfills and adding value to them. It differs from recycling in its process: recycling breaks down the material, this can be reformed into something new but the broken down fibers tend to be less good quality, it is often blended with virgin materials to strengthen it. This process is highly energy intensive and may be inefficient: PET plastic bottles can be recycled with little waste up to 10 times into bottles, the fashion industry buys these plastic bottles and sells clothes out of which 85% end up in the bin in the same year. They get certified by the Global Recycling Standard but in fact merely delay waste.

    On the other hand, upcycling simply reimagines products. For instance, the British luxury brand Elvis & Kresse uses waste from fire brigades’ hoses to make goods like bags and belts.

    While recycling can be less efficient and more energy intensive, fiber to fiber recycling is an innovative process that involves breaking down used textiles into their original fiber form to create new textile products. This methods relies on virgin materials such as linen and cotton.

    Fiber to fiber recycling involves several techniques such as chemical recycling, to reclaim fibers from old items, which are then spun into new threads. It is a more challenging process in the fast fashion industry, as most clothes are made from a mix of different materials, such as polycotton, but we will see that technological advances can solve this issue.

    The rental model is more niche but highly efficient to ensure sustainability in fashion. Brands can offer clothing for limited periods of time, which works best for non frequently worn items like special occasions outfits.

    The most famous brand specialized in rental is Rent the Runway, which offers different kinds of services, namely rental, purchase, and subscription.

    Subscription models come next, offering rental subscriptions for clothing items. This model upholds slow fashion, reducing the number of yearly collections and reusing garments.

    For instance, MUD Jeans offers a 12-months subscription for a pair of jeans. Once the jeans are paid back, customers have the choice to send it back to the company for it to be recycled, or they can choose to keep it and start a new subscription.

    Pre-ordering models take us back centuries ago when customers would order in advance one piece of clothing to be tailored for them. This model inspired from the past reduces waste, resource efficiency, and enhances demand forecasting.

    On-demand fashion is on the rise, with brands like Misha Nonoo offering pre-ordering as part of their services. This creates a closer link between customers and stylists, enhancing transparency and accountability.

    The second hand model is also very popular, fueled by trends like “old-school” and “pre-fashion”. This model extends the lifespan of products by reselling clothes, decreasing the demand for new clothing production. This model also promotes accessibility by offering designer and high-quality produce to a wider audience.

    Like the repair model, brands can either include second-hand within their strategy or outsource it through platforms like Reflaunt which enables brands and retailers to promote circular fashion through resale.

    Through these models, fashion brands can take steps towards circularity, making the manufacturing of products and their end-of-life equally important. Through putting in place sustainable models and reaching circularity, brands are in direct contact with nature. This way, they have a role to play in regeneration, just like Patagonia, Regenerative Organic Certification.

    Dive into Regenerative Organic Certified by Patagonia

    Patagonia’s Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC) label is a pioneering initiative aimed at redefining sustainable agriculture. This certification emphasizes the holistic approach of regenerative organic agriculture, which promises to rehabilitate soil, respect animal welfare, and improve the lives of farmers. Through regenerative practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, and prohibiting synthetic inputs, the certification targets enhanced soil health and biodiversity. It also prioritizes animal welfare by advocating for grass-fed and pasture-raised livestock, prohibiting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), ensuring suitable shelter, and minimizing transport—all aligned with the “Five Freedoms” of animal welfare. Social fairness is equally important, emphasizing fair wages, safe working conditions, capacity building, and the right to organize for farmers and farmworkers.

    The certification process involves a thorough evaluation including an initial application, submission of a Regenerative Organic System Plan, a review process, an on-site audit by an approved certifying body, and a commitment to continual improvement. Currently, over 2000 farmers are involved in Patagonia’s ROC programs for cotton and food. Each brand under the ROC label must obtain a license for specific products and can add more products to this license, making it very product-specific. Importantly, while the entire supply chain does not need separate licenses, it must be disclosed through a Supply Chain Actor Disclosure Form, ensuring transparency and compliance with regenerative organic standards throughout.

    Dive into Regenerative Organic Certified by Patagonia

    Patagonia is well known for its sustainability and social responsibility commitments that are demonstrated in their innovative business model that donates profits to NGOs. The brand focuses on designing high-quality, durable, and recyclable products to reach circularity. With a clear emphasis on ethics and transparency, Patagonia seeks innovative ways to reduce its environmental footprint and support community engagement through initiatives like Patagonia Action Works. We had the opportunity to meet Patagonia’s CEO Ryan Gellert on our Reboot Podcast, who gave us valuable insights into such sustainable models. You can find it here.

    Elvis & Kresse have established a niche for luxury from reclaimed materials, launching in 2005 with the vision of reusing and re-engineering waste into valuable luxury goods. Through upcycling, they add value to produce meant to be wasted by using them to manufacture their own products. The company has saved 300 tons of waste from landfills so far, notably rescuing decommissioned fire hoses. They donate 50% of their profits to charities, showcasing a commitment to social responsibility and ethics.

    MUD Jeans is an example of innovative sustainable fashion, pioneering a circular economy model centered around recycling denim. Their Lease a Jeans scheme is highly innovative: they created a rental, subscription-based system which allows customers to lease jeans and recycle them at the end of the scheme. Furthermore, their “Road to 100” initiative commits to producing jeans entirely from post-consumer recycled cotton.

    Source: MUD Jeans.

    These three cases exemplify different ways of using sustainable models in practice in order to reach circularity in the fashion industry. From ethics and transparency, to subscription, rental, and upcycling, brands have a variety of options to choose from and bring innovative solutions to the market. By setting themselves as pioneers of sustainable fashion models, brands can lead the way to a global circular fashion, away from fast fashion and all the environmental disasters it engenders.

    Technology Implementation in the Fashion Industry

    While brands can put in place a variety of low-tech models to reach circularity, high-tech solutions also exist to boost the process of circularity.

    For instance, the French startup Carbonfact designed a carbon management software specifically for textile and footwear companies. It automates the measurement, reporting, and reduction of carbon emissions across a product’s lifecycle. The platform cleans product data, fills data gaps with AI, calculates carbon footprints for each product item, and helps companies comply with regulations like the EU CSRD and the NY Fashion Act.

    Moreover, Supercircle is a reverse logistics platform specialised in managing trade-in programs, handling excess inventory, and providing detailed data reporting to ensure transparency and efficiency in recycling. They offer partnerships to retail brands to make it easier for them to achieve circularity.

    Reflaunt is a platform that uses technology to help brands engage in the circular fashion economy. They offer services that allow consumers to resell their pre-owned items through the brand’s own channels, helping brands with sustainability and customer loyalty. Reflaunt integrates with brand websites to enable a simple resale process that can be applied to any type of textile company, from outdoors apparel to luxury, but also resale marketplaces. Reflaunt overall enhances the lifespan and value of fashion items.

    Prolong is a management platform focused on care and repair services for fashion items, aiming to streamline after-sales operations and enhance customer engagement. They help brands launch their repair services, connects them with a network of repair experts, and offer tools to integrate them into existing systems. The platform places a strong emphasis on increasing product lifespan and sustainability, turning traditional cost centers into profitable and loyalty-enhancing opportunities.

    Another promising technological advancement relates to fibre to fibre recycling of mixed fabrics such as polycotton. Eeden is a dutch startup that uses chemistry to transform polycotton into cellulose and polyester back into its basic components. These materials are then upcycled into new, high-quality textile fibres like viscose. On a larger scale, the Australian company BlockTexx has been developing and testing their innovative technology called SOFT (Separation of Fibre Technology) to recycle clothing made from blends of polyester and cotton fibres. They are in a position to commercialise their solution and allow fashion brands to outsource their fibre to fibre recycling.

    Lastly, e-commerce can be unsustainably used, leading to huge negative environmental impacts, as is the case with Shein. E-commerce is often seen as the antithesis of sustainability but, with the right initiatives, it can be an enabler of important sustainability actions.

    From reducing the textile carbon footprint, to enabling the resale of pre-owned items, enhancing repair services, and recycling fibre to fibre high-tech solutions can empower brands to contribute to circularity in the fashion industry.

    Technology Implementation in the Fashion Industry

    Despite being a significant global economic force, the fashion industry engenders considerable social and environmental challenges. There is an urgent need to change current trends that lead to big carbon footprints and substantial waste around the world. This urgency is highlighted by past disasters like the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse which exemplifies the terrible working conditions behind fast fashion.

    At Impact Labs, we believe innovations in sustainable business models and technology solutions that promote circularity point towards a new horizon for the fashion industry, fostering more responsible consumption and production patterns. These shifts are crucial around the world, as increasing efforts are made to align with sustainability targets and ethical standards.

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    Time. Shein Is the World’s Most Popular Fashion Brand—at a Huge Cost to Us All. 2023.

    Wired. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise. 2022.

    World Economic Forum. These Facts Show How Unsustainable the Fashion Industry Is. 2020.

    First published in May 2024, this article has been added to our Planetary Boundaries: Pollution, Waste & Circularity cycle.