Global Fashion Agenda has announced the participants of the Circular Fashion Partnership, including the global brands Bershka, Bestseller, C&A, Gina Tricot, Grey State, H&M Group, Kmart Australia, Marks & Spencer, OVS, Pull & Bear, Peak Performance and Target Australia. The Circular Fashion Partnership is a cross-sectorial project led by Global Fashion Agenda, with partners Reverse Resources, The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and P4G, that aims to achieve a long-term, scalable transition to a circular fashion system.

The partnership facilitates circular commercial collaborations between major fashion brands, textile and garment manufacturers, and recyclers to develop and implement new systems to capture and direct post-production fashion waste back into the production of new fashion products. In addition, the partnership seeks to find solutions for the COVID-19 related pile-up of deadstock and to engage regulators and investors around the current barriers and economic opportunities in the country.

The initiative is focusing on Bangladesh as it is thought to possess the most in-demand and recyclable waste of any garment producing country, but the majority of its waste is currently being exported and/or downcycled. Therefore, there is a substantial opportunity to make it a leader in circularity by scaling the recycling capacity in the country and generating more value from these waste streams. Following the hardships in the country generated by COVID-19, this approach also aims to build industry resilience for the future.

The business model and project learnings will be presented at the end of 2021 in a Circularity Playbook for Bangladesh which will be used as a guide to replicate the partnership in other countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.