64 Brands set 143 Targets for a Circular Fashion Future

London - 64 international fashion companies have set a total of 143 targets to help accelerate the industry’s transition to a circular fashion system. Leading companies, ranging from Bestseller and H&M to Kering and Inditex have shown their commitment to sustainability after signing the 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment and released their individual targets for circularity to the public online this week.

The move follows on from the May 2017 Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s largest event on sustainability in fashion, which saw the launch of the Global Fashion Agenda’s Call to Action. Fashion industry leaders pledged to move towards a more circular system at the time, with 64 companies, representing a total of 142 brands, equal to 7.5 percent of the industry, committing to defining a circular strategy for their own businesses by the end of 2017. Among the signatories are companies such as Adidas, Eileen Fisher, Hugo Boss, Reformation and VF Corp.

142 brands set targets for circular fashion systems by 2020

Since the launch of the commitment, the fashion companies have been working on setting their own individual targets by 2020, which have been reviewed by the Global Fashion Agenda and BSR. "Since the 64 companies signed the commitment, I've been very curious to learn about their company targets,” commented Eva Kruse, CEO of Global Fashion Agenda. “We have now reviewed all 143 of the targets, and although the focus areas and level of engagement vary from company to company, they all share a common feature by taking steps to transition to a circular fashion industry. I find that very encouraging."

All signatories have set targets in one or more of the following four sections: designing for circularity, increasing the volume of used garments collected, increasing the volume of used garments resold, and increasing the share of garments made from recycled post-consumer textile fibres. Out of the four areas, designing for circularity has received the most interest, with a total of 55 company targets set. This means that many fashion companies aim to either train they designers in circular design systems or aim to implement circular design principles, such as increasing a product’s durability. H&M is one of the fashion companies which has set a target to roll out dedicated training for circular design.

"We signed Global Fashion Agenda's 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment since it ties in well with our ambitious vision to become 100 percent circular and renewable,” said Anna Gedda, Head of Sustainability, H&M group. “Part of our 2020 commitment is to develop and roll out training on sustainable materials and sustainable material use to all applicable colleagues and to continue to work on building circularity into the design process for all our products. One of the goals for H&M group is to only use recycled or other sustainably sourced materials by 2030 and to become climate positive throughout our entire value chain by 2040 at the latest.”

The Global Fashion Agenda is set to publish its first annual progress report in May 2018, which will highlight the signatories' activities and progress in reaching their targets.

Photos: courtesy of the Global Fashion Agenda