Circularity in fashion is urgently needed as the climate crisis unfolds. Regardless of where you stand on the climate issue, we all can agree that apparel production and consumer use generates a lot of waste. One problem brands face today is that their attempts to launch circular models such as resale platforms, are often met with cynicism and accusations of greenwashing. The Pretty Little Thing (PLT) Marketplace platform was slated as ‘ridiculous’ in a recent article of The Big Issue, for example.

A core criticism is that fast fashion is disposable by its very nature. Apparel manufacturers serious about extending the life of clothes should design for durability and longevity, so that garments can withstand longer wear and wash cycles and be fit for second or even third lives. To support this, forward-thinking brands are digitising their apparel, often via their care and content labels. With digital triggers on garments, connected to usable product information - stored in the cloud - brands can demonstrate a deeper commitment to scalable, future-fit, properly managed circularity.

Consumer trust on circularity will come with digital triggers, transparency

Access to data will make it easier to repair, reuse, resell, and recycle garments in the years to come. Data will also verify eco-claims about the product, and help brands and retailers comply with incoming laws on environmental reporting.

Supply chain transparency and full disclosure of how and where garments are made will allow shoppers to make informed decisions, and act responsibly to prolong the lives of the items they buy. Providing details of the complex material compositions of apparel will also help accelerate the growth, productivity, and efficiency of industrial textile recyclers – a key part of the circular economy that the world aspires to. This is why digital trigger technology on garments, such as QR codes on labels, NFC (near field communication) and RFID tags embedded in items, is big news in fashion circularity right now. If scannable triggers on garments can give instant access to data-rich information, then shoppers and regulators alike can eyeball the truth.

At NRF Retail Week in New York this January, we demonstrated a digitally connected t-shirt. Consumers could scan the shirt’s ‘smart’ heat transfer logos or care label embedded with a QR code to view the product’s journey, see unique AR content, and discover how to extend the shirt’s life. Our big message was: here is the technology and it’s ready to scale.

Legal pressures are mounting

A slew of eco-labelling laws are planned in the EU, and there is growing industry advocacy in the US, according to our recent report. It is realistic to anticipate that within the next five years there will be a legal requirement to make product information and details of a garment’s eco-credentials more transparent.

To comply, brands must begin by designing with sustainability in mind and select appropriate material, the details of which can be made accessible to regulators, consumers, and a host of other stakeholders. This transparency and traceability must then extend to the supply chain, ensuring that brands have the visibility of where materials are sourced and how their garments are made. It ends with communicating that information, and a digitally-connected label on the garment does the job.

Recent textile and fashion industry events such as ITMA 2023 and the Global Fashion Summit have proved powerful forums for the industry to debate and plan its circular transition. The merit of digital IDs has been a hot topic, with many industry professionals talking about unlocking multiple use cases with the technology they are investing in. Compliance is one thing, but Digital Care Labels are a great starting point to digitising garments, as once a garment is digitised it can drive value to brands and factories as they address a host of other challenges: transparency, brand protection, supply chain efficiency, circularity. A single digital ID on a garment can enable it all.

Recycled textiles feed circular production

Behind legislation and enhanced labelling is the hope that circular economies will evolve. Once mass textile recycling is up and running, fashion brands will be able to source good quality recycled material for clothing production, rather than relying on virgin materials. If they design for easy dismantling, and give sorters and recyclers the correct data via Digital IDs, processes can be automated and scaled so that feedstocks are readily available for the industry.

Global fashion brands are developing recycling technology with this vision in mind. Inditex's fashion brand Zara and research and development company Circ's initiative aims to separate polyester and cotton fibres to facilitate garment recycling and propose an alternative to their end-of-life cycle. The goal of the two companies is to "develop new recycled raw materials for the manufacturing of new garments." Avery Dennison recently invested in Circ, and we are proud to support ground-breaking innovators like these - making fashion circularity a reality.

Consumer education needed now

There is work to do to ensure wide adoption and proper consumer understanding of what’s possible. Avery Dennison is involved with both the digital product passport CIRPASS panel in Europe and the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) in the US, to help scope digital labelling and passport technology, in line with industry and consumer needs.

Behind the clever technology is a simple ambition: applying digital technology directly to garments can enable genuine, scalable circularity. Digital IDs will give consumers a better understanding of how to repair, recycle, and resell their clothes. This will not only encourage more sustainable fashion choices but also pave the way for mass adoption of trusted secondary marketplaces, and recycling channels. Scalable technologies are available today. The sooner they become de rigueur in fashion, the better. 

About the author

Jake Hanover is the director of digital solutions and apparel solutions at Avery Dennison. Avery Dennison is a materials science and manufacturing company specialised in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of labeling and functional materials.