Fashion for Good and Circle Economy join forces for circular initiative

Circle Economy has announced a strategic partnership with Fashion for Good for its Switching Gear Project - an initiative that aims to accelerate re-commerce and rental business models in the apparel industry.

The partnership will see Circle Economy and Fashion for Good establish a global network of over 50 frontrunning solution providers and innovators, brands, and rental and re-commerce experts to exchange their expertise and create tangible solutions to “move the apparel industry towards circular business models.”

Supported by C&A Foundation, the “Enabling Network” is part of the Bridging the Gap initiative - a group of six organisations working to stimulate sector-wide collaboration, facilitate innovative technologies and the design of best practices to enable the implementation of circular business models in the fashion industry’s supply chain. World Resources Institute, WRAP, London Waste and Recycling Board, QSA Partners and Forum for the Future are current partners of the Bridging the Gap group.

Circle Economy also announced the first founding members of the “Enabling Network”: Eileen Fisher, Gibbon, MUD jeans, Reflaunt, RePack, Stuffstr, Style Lend, The Next Closet, The Renewal Workshop.

“We are very excited to build the Switching Gear network together with Fashion for Good. We strongly believe that connecting a powerful and active community of brands, solutions providers and experts is key to advancing the practical implementation of circular business models in the market,” Gwen Cunningham, program lead of circle economy, said in a statement.

Douwe Jan Joustra, head of circular transformation at C&A Foundation, added: “Working together as part of the Bridging the Gap initiative, Circle Economy and Fashion for Good, can assess the needs of brands and connect them with innovators and experts working to solve the issues preventing the implementation of circular business models.

“This network will be a powerful platform to create and share knowledge about how to implement and give scale to the clothing rent and re-commerce system, so we can make fashion a force for good.”

The project will work with six brands on a circular innovation process that will help them to design and launch these new types of business model pilots by 2021.

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