This book offers a creative lens through which to discover and develop new products and navigate radical transformation, while addressing many of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Design decisions shape how we interact with the world around us, and creatives across every industry and demographic are embracing their role in reimagining products, services, and systems.
They include established luxury brands - Gucci and Vivienne Westwood, independent labels - Kevin Germanier and Marine Serre, high-street giants - Gap and H&M, pioneers of the virtual fashion experience - Alvanon and The Fabricant, and clothing resale and rental specialists - thredUP and Vestiaire Collective.
While achieving a completely circular economy will take time, these practitioners have all started their journey. Their perspectives and insights have helped build a rich understanding of circular design and what it means for the fashion industry.
It seeks to ignite curiosity, giving the inspiration and encouragement to explore, learn, and cultivate a new design mindset.
It’s increasingly acknowledged that the practice of design is not exclusive to designers, nor is it found only in studios. The materials, garments, services, shows, supply chains, and stores of the fashion industry all work the way they do because of innumerable design decisions, made by creatives all over the world.
Circular design goes far beyond rethinking single products or services, it has the potential to redefine how the entire fashion system operates. It’s a chance for anyone in the fashion industry – regardless of job title – to support the shift to a circular economy where, by design, waste and pollution are eliminated, products and materials are kept in use, and natural systems are regenerated.
Circular design is a pioneering practice of design. It’s the creative opportunity of the coming decade for the creatives, innovators, and pioneers who seek to reshape the fashion industry.
Circular design has the power to expand our vision, boost our creativity, and create a more resilient and thriving fashion industry.
Explore the stories and legacies of four circular design pioneers whose brands were recognised at the 2022 CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards - EILEEN FISHER, NKWO, Timberland and Vestiaire Collective.
As contributors to Circular Design for Fashion, their stories highlight how fashion can be redefined through circular design and the journey they’ve taken to get there.
The Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) Sustainable Fashion Awards provide a unique platform to highlight how fashion can be redefined through circular design, and in 2022 the Ellen MacArthur Foundation collaborated on the Awards.
With Dame Ellen MacArthur as Chair of the Jury, the Awards acknowledged those setting ambitious targets and taking concrete action towards change, with a strong focus on sustainable and circular innovation. Through highlighting the winners and nominees that are redefining the future for fashion on a world stage, the hope is that creatives everywhere are encouraged to rethink how they too can design for a regenerative, circular economy.
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Featured in Circular Design for Fashion, The Jeans Redesign is an example of how design is a force for change.
The project started with a simple question. Is it possible to design and make jeans fit for a circular economy today? Being an iconic fashion staple, jeans represented a fundamental opportunity to start addressing the flaws of the linear economy, in an ambitious, yet impactful way.
Documented in the most recent Insights report, the project has demonstrated that circular design can become the norm and further reinforces the fashion industry's huge potential to move towards a circular economy. Jeans are just the start.
adidas
ADIFF
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL)
Alvanon
Art Partner
ASOS
Atelier & Repairs
Bank & Vogue
Bethany Williams
Browns
Burberry
Bureau Betak
By Rotation
Candiani Denim
Circular Systems
Critical Textile Topologies
Duran Lantink
DressX
Eileen Fisher
Eon
FarFarm
Fast Retailing
Ferdinando Verderi
FFORA
Fibershed
Gabriela Hearst
Gap
Germanier
Good American
Gucci
H&M Group
Hallotex
Hirdaramani
ICICLE
I:Collect
IDEO
Inditex-Oysho
Jaypore
Kering
klee klee
La Bouche Rouge
Lacoste
Maggie Marilyn
MARINE SERRE
Month Day Year
Nkwo Onwuka
Orange Culture
Patrick McDowell
Pepijn van Eeden
Phipps International
Point Off View by Marina Testino
Powered by People
Proclaim
Provenance
PVH Corp. / Tommy Hilfiger
QAALDESIGNS
Reclothing Bank
Redress
Renewcell
RSA
RÆBURN
SAMUEL GUÌ YANG
Sara Sozzani Maino
Sellalong
Shantanu & Nikhil
Stella McCartney
Style House Files - Lagos Fashion Week
Susannah Frankel
Taylor Stitch
Teemill
The African Rack
The Fabricant
The Renewal Workshop
The Restory
The Sustainable Angle | Future Fabrics Expo
ThredUP
Tillmann Lauterbach
Timberland
Unmade
Vestiaire Collective
VF Corp / Napapijri
Vivienne Westwood
WGSN
W.L. Gore & Associates
Wolfgang Blau
YCloset
Yehyehyeh
YKK
Through examples of circular design in practice and the stories of noted fashion leaders such as Vivienne Westwood, Gabriela Hearst, Marine Serre, Bethany Williams, Nkwo Onwuka, and Ferdinando Verderi, the book shows how creatives can transform the industry from being a major cause of global challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss to being part of the solution.
