From the Sector

Fashion for Good announced "Closing the Footwear Loop," a major initiative bringing together 14 leading fashion and footwear brands and their existing circularity programmes to tackle the industry's complex circularity challenges. This collaborative project aims to enable the transformation of footwear's current linear "take-make-dispose" model into a circular one, driving innovation across the value chain.
 
Participating brands include: adidas, DEICHMANN, Dr. Martens, Footwear Innovation Foundation (affiliated with FDRA), Inditex, lululemon, ON, Otto Group, Puma, Reformation, Target, Tommy Hilfiger, Vivobarefoot, and Zalando.
 
Footwear: A Complex Challenge
The global footwear industry churns out 23.8 billion pairs of shoes  annually, a figure that highlights both its scale and its environmental footprint. Each shoe is composed on average of more than 60 different components , ranging from fabrics and plastics to rubber and adhesives, intricately assembled to meet performance, aesthetic, and cost demands. This complexity, however, hinders the adoption of circular practices, leaving the sector lagging behind in circular innovation compared to other areas of fashion.
 
While consumers and the industry alike are increasingly calling for more circular solutions, the reality is stark: the most recent studies conclude that approximately 90% of footwear ends up in landfills , contributing to an ever-growing mountain of waste. Unlike other areas of fashion where innovation has been more readily integrated, footwear's multi-material construction and complex design complicate efforts to sort, disassemble, or recycle effectively.
 
This challenge is exacerbated by a lack of reverse logistics infrastructure and the absence of design principles that prioritise circularity. Current practices largely focus on linear production models — manufacture, use, and discard — failing to address the lifecycle of products. The sector's lag in scaled innovation compared to apparel underscores the urgency for systemic change, as the environmental consequences of inaction continue to mount.  
 
While this complexity presents a significant hurdle, brands are already exploring innovative solutions, including material science advancements and take-back programs, to address these challenges and pave the way for more circular footwear.

These individual efforts complement the collaborative work within “Closing the Footwear Loop”, creating a synergistic approach to driving industry-wide change.

Fashion for Good is working with ecosystem partners The Footwear Collective, Global Footwear Future Coalition (GFFC), and Global Fashion Agenda to drive a collaborative approach across the industry.  
 
Closing the Footwear Loop was born out of Pioneering the Future of Footwear and addresses multiple key intervention points: lack of end-of-life infrastructure, complex multi-material designs, and a need for unified circularity approaches. This project will deliver:
 

• Detailed mapping of European footwear waste streams (in collaboration with Circle Economy), providing crucial data on volumes, materials, rewearability, and recyclability. (Report & business case assessment due 2025)
• A roadmap towards circular footwear design, developed with Fashion for Good Alumni circular.fashion, outlining principles for material selection, durability, recyclability, repairability, and responsible chemical management. (Guidelines due 2025)
• Validation of end-of-use innovations, including trials and impact assessments, to overcome current bottlenecks and drive industry-wide adoption. (Recycled material outputs due 2026)

According to Fashion for Good, 2025 marks a turning point for the fashion industry, where innovation and sustainability are more crucial than ever. From addressing the intricate challenges of circular footwear design to redefining the resilience of global supply chains, the industry faces both immense tasks and transformative opportunities.

Here are their six pivotal shifts shaping fashion’s future in 2025:

Footwear's Innovation Sprint
Footwear is emerging as fashion’s next big frontier for innovation, ready to match the advancements seen in apparel. Yet, it faces its own set of challenges in achieving circular design. Traditional shoe construction—reliant on complex material blends and adhesives—has long hindered recycling efforts. But 2025 holds promise. A wave of breakthroughs in sustainable materials and manufacturing techniques is on the horizon, led by both established players and bold startups. Together, they’re redefining what’s possible, paving the way for scalable circular footwear.
 
Regional Circularity Takes Center Stage
The future of materials is accelerating, with innovators urgently seeking access to recycled feedstock. Regional sourcing and recycling hubs are becoming pivotal, as the industry builds networks capable of scaling circular solutions. By moving beyond pilot programs, brands are making tangible strides toward robust supply chains that meet both legislative demands and consumer expectations for sustainability.
 
Hard Tech Investment Shifting
Investments in hard tech and innovation within the fashion industry will face a nuanced landscape in 2025. The tightening of venture funding will necessitate greater discipline among startups. Only those who effectively validate their minimum viable products (MVPs) and manage cash judiciously will thrive. This period of consolidation and selective investment presents opportunities for the most prepared innovators to capitalise on market shifts while adapting to evolving investor priorities.
 
The Waste Crackdown
Zero-waste is no longer a lofty ambition—it’s becoming a necessity. With stricter legislation reshaping the landscape, the fashion industry is innovating rapidly to tackle its waste challenges. From advanced materials recovery systems to AI-powered sorting technologies, the industry is racing to adapt. As the resale market is projected to grow, the drive for waste reduction is unlocking new opportunities for impact.
 
Decarbonisation Reality Check
As the industry grapples with missed targets, 2025 will see an intensified push for collective action, with mounting pressure on suppliers to accelerate green transitions. Success will depend on deep collaboration—between brands, local governments, and cross-sector coalitions—especially in manufacturing regions where grid transformation remains critical. The journey is complex, but the shared commitment to decarbonisation is stronger than ever.
 
Supply Chain Geopolitics 2.0
Investment in other manufacturing markets is accelerating as brands seek alternatives to China. But this isn't simple nearshoring - it's about strategic diversification and building resilient regional networks. The focus is shifting to developing new manufacturing ecosystems that can support both traditional and circular production models.

Fashion for Good and its footwear partners adidas, Inditex, ON Running, PVH Corp., Reformation, Target, and Zalando announce a new initiative aimed at accelerating and validating the next generation of footwear innovations. This builds on the organisation’s existing work leveraging their expertise in scouting, validation, innovation and collaboration. This initiative will address the key intervention points needed to drive footwear circularity spanning four work streams across the supply chain from materials to end of use. Industry wide collaboration will be vital to overcome the various roadblocks we face in this space. Therefore, Fashion for Good is launching a call for action, asking all relevant innovators to apply and collaborators to join in the movement.

Around 23.9Bn shoes are produced globally each year, they are often made using over 40 different components from a range of different materials including TPU, EVA, PU and rubber. The industry faces significant challenges due to this high complexity of shoe construction. This combined with a low collection rate, results in a vast majority of discarded footwear ending up in landfills. Fashion for Good sees the need to address this challenge and focus on laying the foundation for footwear circularity as well as accelerating innovation.

Therefore, Fashion for Good will double down their work in this space, building on their existing projects including the Fast Feet Grinded pilot, which tests and validates Fast Feet Grinded's footwear recycling process. Expanding on existing workstreams Fashion for Good will collaborate with our footwear focused partners, including adidas, Inditex, ON Running, PVH Corp., Reformation, Target, and Zalando

To effectively address the challenges in footwear sustainability, Fashion for Good has identified the key intervention points across the shoe lifecycle and structured work into four core workstreams:

1. Materials - Scouting and validating sustainable alternatives for footwear materials including TPU, PU, EVA, leather, and rubber
2. Design - Defining circular design in the footwear space and collectively driving guidelines to build a circular infrastructure
3. End of Use: Sorting, Disassembly, & Recycling - Developing a comprehensive data set on post-consumer footwear waste flows, including (non-)rewearable fractions, volumes, construction and composition. As well as scouting and validating solutions for repair,  end of use, disassembly and recycling of footwear
4. Traceability - Laying the foundation by amalgamating a footwear traceability data protocol to build traceability for evidence to substantiate sustainability claims

CALL FOR INNOVATIONS
Fashion for Good is on the lookout for breakthrough sustainable solutions in the footwear sector that maintain performance and durability. If you have a relevant technology, whether you're an innovator, university, or established company, can apply by 20th September 2024 here.

Fashion for Good launches the Sorting for Circularity USA report unveiling significant findings from the project. A first of its kind in the US, the report delves into consumer disposal behaviour, textile waste composition, and the potential for fibre-to-fibre recycling within the country. It provides insights for making informed decisions for further investments, infrastructure development and the next steps towards circularity.

The U.S. Textile Waste Landscape
The United States is a global leader in textile consumption and waste generation, positioning itself as one of the largest sources of secondary raw materials for post-consumer textile feedstock. Despite this, only 15% of the textile waste generated in the US is currently recovered, with 85% ending up in landfills or incinerators.

With the impending policies in the European Union and certain American states, alongside commitments from both public and private sectors to promote fibre-to-fibre recycling, there is a growing demand for infrastructure related to post-consumer textile collection, sorting, and recycling.

Addressing Data GPS
In the pursuit of establishing a functional reverse supply chain and the necessary infrastructure, two critical areas lack data  – consumer disposal behaviour, and material characteristics of post-consumer textiles. The Sorting for Circularity USA project addressed these gaps through a comprehensive national consumer survey and waste composition analysis.

The survey revealed that 60% of respondents divert textiles, while 4% discard them, driven primarily by factors such as condition and fit. On the other hand, the waste composition analysis unveiled that over 56% of post-consumer textiles are suitable for fibre-to-fibre recycling, with cotton and polyester being the most prevalent fibre types, indicating a substantial potential for these textiles to be used as feedstock for mechanical and chemical recycling processes.

The project revealed a $1.5 billion opportunity for fibre-to-fibre recycling by redirecting non-rewearable textiles from landfills and incinerators to recycling streams. The report outlines growth strategies for the US textile recycling industry, emphasising enhanced financial value through efficiency improvements, increased commodity valuation, and policy mechanisms like extended producer responsibility schemes. Collaboration among stakeholders is crucial, including brands, government, retailers, consumers, collectors, sorters, recyclers, and financial institutions, to promote circularity, invest in research and development, and advocate for supportive policies and incentives to drive technological innovation. This redirection of textiles towards recycling underscores the substantial economic potential of embracing circularity in the textile industry.
 
There is an opportunity to build on these insights and assess the feasibility of different sorting business models and (semi) automated sorting technologies to create a demo facility suitable for closed-loop textile recycling. Ultimately, evaluating the commercial and technical feasibility of a semi-automated sorting process and identifying investment opportunities to scale solutions nationwide.

Building on a renewed five-year strategy, Fashion for Good selects ten new innovators for its 2024 programme to receive tailored support validating their technologies. This cohort represents an increased focus on novel footwear material and recycling technologies, man-made cellulosics, and nylon recycling.

The 2024 Innovation Programme provides support based on the development stage and ambitions of each innovator, matching them with relevant industry partners to drive technology and impact technology and impact validation as well as investing activities.

The selected innovators joining the 2024 Innovation Programme are:

• Algreen Ltd: Algreen co-develops alternative materials from algae and biobased sources that can replace fossil-based products such as PU.
• Balena: Balena creates biodegradable partly biobased polymers for footwear outsoles.
• Epoch Biodesign: Epoch Biodesign is an enzymatic recycler of PA66 and PA6 textile waste.
• Fibre52: Fibre52 is a bio-based solution replacing traditional bleach prepared-for-dyeing and dye processes.
• Gencrest BioProducts Pvt Ltd: Gencrest works with various agri-residues to convert them into textile-grade fibres using their enzymatic technology.
• HeiQ AeoniQ: HeiQ AeoniQ™ is a continuous cellulose filament yarn with enhanced tensile properties.
• Nanollose - Nullabor: Nullarbor™Lyocell is developed from microbial cellulose which is converted into pulp pulp to produce a lyocell fibre with their partner Birla Cellulose.  
• REGENELEY:  REGENELEY pioneers advanced shoe sole recycling technologies by separating and recycling EVA, TPU, and rubber components found in footwear.
• Samsara Eco: Samsara Eco is an enzymatic recycler of PA66 and PET textile waste.
• SEFF: SEFF Fibre produces cottonised fibres and blends of hemp fabrics utilising a patented HVPED process.

The Fashion for Good museum in Amsterdam marks its 6 year journey with a special fashion exhibition focused on circularity, called What Goes Around Comes Around. Honing in on how circularity plays out in different circles of influence, the exhibition showcases inspirational displays that make tangible what a circular fashion industry will look like.

What Goes Around Comes Around pays homage to the extraordinary work of pioneering artists, innovators and designers working to shift the fashion industry with new solutions. The exhibition opens January 27, 2024 and will be open to the public for 5 months. It is the grand finale, as the Museum is closing its doors. As such it will be the Museum’s final call to collective action, which the fashion industry still so highly needs.

“We are highlighting three areas in What Goes Around Comes Around", explains curator Sophie Jager-van Duren at the Fashion for Good Museum. “First: new work by local artists Atelier Reservé and The Patchwork Family, design collectives working towards circularity, demonstrating what is happening right now. We are also showing looks from established designers BOTTER, Ronald van der Kemp and Marga Weimans, Yuima Nakazato and Nicole McLaughlin. Second, the community, with an installation for visitors to participate in, planting the seed that we need each other to change the fashion system. Lastly, the industry - honing in on examples of innovations and technologies. We invited designers to create new work with circular materials including Living Ink, MIRUM, Altmat and Biophilica.”

Today’s fashion industry is caught in a vicious cycle of ‘take-make-waste’ and this system has a growing negative impact on people and the planet. For instance, in Europe, the average consumer is responsible for 15 kilos of textile waste per year and these numbers are increasing. To address this, we need action from individuals, the industry and society alike to go from a linear take-make-waste model into one that is circular by design.

The Fashion for Good Museum is inviting anybody to come visit its final exhibition and learn from concrete examples, to understand the current state of the fashion industry, gain the tools for taking individual or collective action and be inspired by circular fashion available today.

Designing for circularity means designing without creating waste or pollution, as all materials are continually reused instead of discarded. A circular system is restorative and regenerative and reduces pressure on natural resources. The ultimate goal of the exhibition is to put circularity into practice, help people envision a circular economy based on community practices and empower visitors to take collective action, starting in the museum but extending to their homes and daily lives.

Through the exhibition and its public programme, which consists of interactive workshops and educational events, the museum functions as a community space where visitors are invited to learn, gain new perspectives and are exposed to inspiring examples, building the skills and knowledge to create positive change. The upcoming few months there are multiple events, educational toolkits and other opportunities to join us, all open for the public, keep an eye out on our website and social media channels for the latest updates.

The exhibition is open for the public from Saturday 27th of January until June 5th 2024, marking World Environment Day on June 5th as the final closing day of the museum.

Leveraging insights from Wealth in Waste, Fashion for Good released a toolkit designed to revalorise textile waste in India.

"The Sorting for Circularity India toolkit is a milestone in our journey towards a waste-free world. We have mapped the textile waste landscape, unpacking the huge potential, as well as the roadblocks and commercial opportunities in India’s textile waste industry. We are excited to move beyond rhetoric with this powerful coalition of partners and translate our findings into a roadmap for concrete actions", said Katrin Ley, Managing Director, Fashion for Good.

In 2021, Fashion for Good launched the Sorting for Circularity India Project to organise the Indian textile waste market in a three-phase approach so as to streamline, strengthen and foster the Indian textile waste market to drive the transition to a more circular economy that recaptures value to its maximum potential.

The project brought together various industry players including Fashion for Good partners adidas, Levi Strauss & Co., PVH Corp., Target, Arvind Limited, Birla Cellulose, and Welspun India, as well as Fashion for Good innovators Reverse Resources, PICVISA, and Matoha; H&M, Primark, and TESCO also joined as external partners. The project is supported through catalytic funding provided by Laudes Foundation and IDH, and knowledge support from Canopy and Circle Economy Foundation.

Drawing upon the invaluable insights gained throughout the project, Fashion for Good unveils a toolkit designed to harness the untapped potential of textile waste in India. Together, these resources provide valuable insights, assessments, and practical guidance to advance recycling in India's textile industry.

The Fashion for Good Museum has opened its doors for the new pop-up exhibition News From The Future. As part of a new Educational Programme and Toolkit - developed by the Fashion for Good Museum team - a selection of up-and-coming talents composed of Dutch fashion students and emerging designers have been asked to respond to the question: “what could the future of fashion look like?” Their answers are revealed in the exhibition in the form of garments, videos, installations and more. This is a future-forward exhibition where you can explore different fashion perspectives beyond the climate crisis, giving hope and, perhaps, a reality check.

Post-consumer waste, overconsumption and the pollution of our waterways are just some of the industry issues we are currently facing. Mirrored against rising temperatures and increasingly unstable weather conditions, the global shift as a result of climate change is inevitable. What does this mean for our future generations? How do we move forward from here? This raises one central question: What does the future of fashion look like?

News From The Future, the new exhibition at the Fashion for Good Museum, invited Dutch students and new creative voices to reflect on these questions. The emphasis on emerging talent is a common thread throughout the exhibition’s and the look and feel is designed by upcoming graphic designer Sara Biatchinyi.

Participating artists and designers include students from art and fashion schools across the Netherlands from the University of the Arts Utrecht, Zadkine MBO, MBO Rijnland and Saxion College. The students’ work was chosen after they participated in the educational programme “Classroom of the Future: the Stories Behind Cotton”. This programme was developed by the Fashion for Good Museum’s Curator and Education Coordinator Alyxandra Westwood and Education and Fashion consultant in sustainability Yophi Ignacia founder of The Future Mode, in collaboration with the aforementioned schools.

To further enhance these narratives, and to facilitate and promote a space for connection between emerging talent, the Museum invited Current Obsession Magazine - an interdisciplinary jewellery platform and magazine - to co-curate an installation and reflect on the future of jewellery. Over the course of the exhibition the Fashion for Good Museum will come to life hosting an art auction, panel discussion and a weekly updated installation, showcasing emerging talent. All of these elements together will collectively address the sustainable and regenerative design practices in both the Fashion and Jewellery industries.

Designer Kevin Paraiso (Paris/Benin) showcases a creative workshop in the museum, featuring looks from his Cosmic Summer .Dolkrey collection, which was presented during Spring/Summer ‘23 of Paris Fashion Week. “Cosmic Summer reflects on our desire to bring vibrant colours and a sense of uplift to the fashion of today and tomorrow. A cosmic news from the future.” A hopeful collection, with future-forward elements seamlessly integrated from the use of deadstock, circular materials and an on-demand tailoring business model with inhouse printing - presents a positive outlook.

Launching “Classroom of the Future: The Stories Behind Cotton”
The educational programme “Classroom of the Future: the Stories Behind Cotton'' has been developed into an open source toolkit for MBO and HBO education. The toolkit is live and available to download from the Fashion for Good Museum website as of the 30th of November 2023.

It consists of a set of six lessons all exploring the various aspects of cotton with specific emphasis on people and planet. The toolkit brings together different forms of interactive tools for the classroom: videos, podcasts,  lesson plans and workshops. The content shows the perspective of local and international makers and innovators working to create a better and fairer fashion system.
The programme was part of and based on the previous museum exhibition Knowing Cotton Otherwise (2022-’23) and invited students to reflect on the  exhibition themes - water, transparency, agriculture, climate, processing, origin, labour/forced labour and end-of-use - through their own perspective. The educational methodology and goals within the programme were developed to level the field between MBO and HBO students, reflecting a more realistic image of what it's like working in the professional field. During the programme students worked together equally, challenging the segregated Dutch education system and aiming for new results.

News From The Future is open to the public at the Fashion for Good Museum at Rokin 102 in Amsterdam.

The Sorting for Circularity USA consortium project welcomes new partners and expands its North American geographical scope. Fashion for Good is pleased to announce the addition of lululemon as an external brand partner, joining the existing seven brand partners. They also welcome their new implementation partners Helpsy, United Southern Waste Material, Goodwill Industries International Inc., and its members Goodwill of Colorado, Goodwill Industries-Suncoast, Inc., Goodwill of the Finger Lakes, and Goodwill of San Francisco Bay. Additionally, Fashion for Good is pleased to recognise adidas as the project's lead sponsor, facilitating the complete realisation of the project scope.

Fashion for Good, together with Resource Recycling Systems, launched the Sorting for Circularity USA consortium project in January 2023. The project will conduct an extensive consumer survey to map the journey of a garment from closet to end of use, and present a comprehensive snapshot of textile waste composition generated in the United States. The insights gained from this 18-month project will help to scale collection, sorting, and recycling innovations and inform decisions on necessary investments and actions.

Within the first 6 months, the project has expanded to cover 6 key states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Colorado. Additional implementation partners have also signed on to support the fibre composition data analysis: Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) Association, Helpsy, United Southern Waste Material, and Goodwill Industries International Inc., with its members Goodwill of Colorado, Goodwill Industries-Suncoast, Inc., Goodwill of the Finger Lakes, and Goodwill of San Francisco Bay. Resource Recycling Systems will drive the dissemination and analysis of the consumer survey together with New York State Center for Sustainable Materials Management and Syracuse University Center for Sustainable Community Solutions, and execute the textile composition analysis using Matoha’s near infrared devices with advisory support from Circle Economy.

Demonstrating the importance of pre-competitive collaboration in tackling the industry’s biggest challenges, lululemon joins Eastman, H&M and Nordstrom as key project partners, together with Fashion for Good corporate partners adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co., and Target. Adidas' lead sponsorship ensures a deeper analysis of USA textile waste infrastructure and the identification of valuable opportunities for advancement.

In the USA, textile waste is the fastest-growing segment of the country's waste stream, with 85% of discarded textiles ending up in landfills*. Understanding the composition of material, volume and location of used textiles is crucial for capturing them and sorting them for the best and highest quality end use. Moreover, the range of national and regional geographies within the Sorting for Circularity project series enables for nuanced cross-country comparisons - revealing differences in the textile waste generated and infrastructure required.

Sorting for Circularity, a framework co-developed by Fashion for Good and Circle Economy, aims to (re)capture textile waste by unlocking the feedstock potential for recycling, expedite the implementation of game changing automated sorting technologies such as near-infrared spectroscopy and advanced textile-to-textile recycling, and drive circularity within the fashion value chain. The project builds on the success of Sorting for Circularity Europe and India, which revealed insights on material composition, volume, and location of used textiles and provided a solid foundation to accelerate textile recycling in those respective geographical locations.

*United States Environmental Protection Agency (2019). National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling.

The Italian company offers its dyeing technology for practical and theoretical design explorations at the Fashion For Good Museum in Amsterdam.

On Saturday October 22nd in Amsterdam, Andrea Venier, Officina39 Managing Director, took part in the Denim & Dyeing seminar to talk about Recycrom™, the patented revolutionary and sustainable dyestuffs range obtained through an innovative upcycling process that involves textile fibers from used clothing and manufacturing waste for dyeing and printing applications.

The seminar was organized inside the Fashion For Good Museum by the Stichting Textielcommissie Nederland, together with a Design Challenge to which took part a selection of young designers who have explored Recycrom™’s colorful potential in their creations. The winning designs are exposed in a 2-week pop-up show at Fashion For Good Museum.

The Museum is also hosting the “Knowing Cotton Otherwise” exhibition, that highlights the relationship between cotton and the fashion industry, the role of cotton in an increasingly intertwined web of global cultures, and the sustainable innovations driving its circular transformation.

Innovative solutions from Fashion for Good Innovators Oritain and Officina39, which tackle some of the challenging aspects of cotton’s production such as origin and traceability, dyeing and water use, are also used by the artists in their installations. Three of them have been inspired by the ecofriendly dyeing potential of Recycrom™: the protagonist of the meeting between art and fashion, sustainability and design, past, present and future of the industry. The first artist that has challenged herself is Caithlin Courtney Chong, who has realized an artwork installation with Recycrom™ in the print room, and a suggestive installation dedicated to Officina39’s sustainable dyestuffs.