ThredUp, Rent the Runway and The RealReal among founders of ACT policy group

A group focused on advancing sustainable textile policies has been launched in the US, founded by 11 big names from the circular fashion industry.

The American Circular Textiles (ACT) policy group, which was spearheaded by the Circular Services Group (CSG) and Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), is aiming to bring together fashion’s circular community to develop policy addressing the ongoing growth of domestic textile recovery and end-of-life solutions, with a particular focus on textile reuse.

The group’s founding members mostly act as reuse and rental service providers, including Rent the Runway, The RealReal, CaaStle, ThredUp, Trove and Fashionphile.

ACT will host monthly meetings, learning sessions and workshops centred on creating a dialogue around scaling reuse, following its 2022 objective of aligning on and publishing a position paper by the end of the year.

The paper, which will be directed at local and state legislators, policy makers and government officials, will outline mechanisms that advance textile reuse.

Set to continue onboarding circular economy service providers

In 2023, ACT said it is looking to continue expanding its scope to further include textile recyclers and other stakeholders as it hopes to continue onboarding new circular economy service providers, ultimately working towards the establishment of a formal body that supports organisations within the industry.

“As a leader in re-commerce, Rent the Runway has long believed in the power of wearing and celebrating clothing to its fullest potential as a way to curb the enormous amount of waste the industry generates,” said Megan Farrell, head of sustainability at Rent the Runway, in a release.

Farrell continued: “To take our collective work to the next level, we need solutions that will help scale textile recycling and reuse once a garment has reached the end of its wearable life. We’re happy to join ACT and drive progress on this important work together.”