From the Sector

Source Fashion, Europe’s leading responsible sourcing show, has announced an inspiring line-up of keynote speakers for its upcoming event, running from 18th to 20th February 2025 at Olympia London. On Wednesday 19th February, a full day of thought-provoking sessions will be headlined by industry visionaries including All Saints Founder Stuart Trevor, award-winning social entrepreneur Safia Minney MBE, and Andrew Xeni, Founder of Nobody’s Child.
 
The sessions will explore critical themes shaping the future of fashion, from sustainability to circularity and transparency, aiming to equip visitors with actionable insights to transform their brands and business practices.
 
Session Highlights:

• The Urgency of Transparency
  • Speaker: Andrew Xeni, Founder, Nobody’s Child, Fabacus and Soreto
  • Time: 11:00 AM
  • Synopsis: As transparency becomes the cornerstone of sustainability, Andrew Xeni will discuss how brands can lead the charge in accountability and ethical operations. From unveiling supply chain practices to empowering consumers, this session highlights the role of transparency in building trust and driving meaningful change in the fashion industry.
•  A Clothing Company That Doesn’t Produce Clothes
  • Speaker: Stuart Trevor, Founder, All Saints & Stuart Trevor
  • Time: 1:30 PM
  • Synopsis: In a groundbreaking fireside chat, Stuart Trevor will showcase how his company is pioneering circularity by transforming pre-owned clothes into desirable fashion pieces. By rethinking the traditional industry model, Trevor will illustrate the potential of upcycling to combat waste and redefine sustainable style.
• Ecosystem Thinking in Fashion: Redesigning for Regeneration
  • Speaker: Safia Minney MBE
  • Time: 2:10 PM
  • Synopsis: In a dynamic panel discussion, Safia Minney will explore strategies to adopt circular and regenerative models, scale these practices, and foster collaborative supply chain solutions. Featuring contributions from experts across industries, this session is set to empower visitors with practical tools for transformative change.

 The keynote sessions will be complemented by speakers from industry-leading organisations such as John Lewis, Vivo Footwear, Pepsi Co, Kingfisher, and environmental NGO WRAP. The full programme will be revealed in the coming weeks.
 
Join the Conversation
Source Fashion 2025 invites fashion professionals, sustainability advocates, and industry leaders to connect, learn, and lead the transformation of the fashion industry.
 
As Europe’s leading responsible sourcing show, Source Fashion brings together a global community of brands, suppliers, and thought leaders to shape the future of ethical and sustainable fashion. Through cutting-edge events, expert-led sessions, and innovative showcases, Source Fashion champions transparency, circularity, and collaboration in the industry.

About Stuart Trevor
In 1983, Stuart Trevor was a finalist in the Paul Smith/Mont Blanc competition and in 1985 he won designer of the year at The Smirnoff Fashion awards “Menswear Day”. Aged 19 he became the first designer and main buyer for REISS. At 28 he founded All Saints and many of the clothes that continue to feature every week in the top 10 bestseller list of the high-street brand today, were designed by Trevor himself over 20 years ago.
 
About Safia Minney
Safia Minney, MBE, FRSA, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, consultant and advisor. Safia is recognised by the World Economic Forum as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur and is a leading influencer and international speaker on sustainable fashion, sustainable supply chains, ethical business and climate action.
 
Safia founded REAL Sustainability CIC in 2019, to promote awareness and action for sustainable living and leadership. In 2022 REAL launched Fashion Declares – a bottom-up, industry wide movement to promote rapid action to redesign the fashion industry to operate within planetary boundaries.
 
About Andrew Xeni
Andrew Xeni is a visionary technology and retail entrepreneur. After building successful fashion manufacturing business suppling leading UK high street brands, Xeni went on to create eco-conscious 2023 Drapers Retailer of the Year (<£100m), Nobody’s Child, of which Marks and Spencer is a strategic investor and shareholder.
Merging both retail and technology, Xeni also founded award-winning retail tech companies Fabacus and Soreto.
 
As CEO of Fabacus, a DaaS (Data-as-a-Service) technology platform for revolutionising the licencing and retail industries, Xeni has established partnerships with a number of leading businesses within the sectors, including, Fanatics, UFC, Epic Games, Ubisoft and IMG, part of Endeavour.
 
This year, seeing the growing consumer demand for sustainably, Xeni pioneered the UK-first Digital Product Passport in a collaboration with between Fabacus and Nobody’s Child, in partnership with Coinbase.
 
Xeni is backed by a number of leading financial institutions, including iNovia Partners, led by former Google CFO, Patrick Pichette, as well as New Look founder, Tom Singh. In addition to managing a diverse portfolio of businesses, and sitting as Chairman for Nobody’s Child and Soreto, Xeni is an active angel investor.

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the H&M Foundation, has launched the Upstream Circularity Playbook, now available in six languages. This comprehensive resource draws on extensive case studies across multiple countries to provide a globally accessible, step-by-step guide specifically tailored for garment manufacturing regions. Designed to help stakeholders scale circular business models by valorising post-industrial textile waste, the Playbook equips manufacturing hubs with tools needed to drive sustainable change.

With over 520 global regulations now encouraging circularity and regionalisation in sourcing and design, the Playbook serves as a critical tool for establishing and scaling upstream circular ecosystems. It equips manufacturers, brands, policymakers, and investors with actionable strategies to implement circular fashion solutions in core manufacturing regions. With significant volumes of post-industrial textile waste yet to be properly harnessed, its consistency and high quality present a pivotal opportunity for scaling textile-to-textile recycling technologies in manufacturing regions. This can pave the way for recycling of post-use textiles and clothing. In Bangladesh alone, embracing textile recycling could unlock USD 4 to 5 billion annually through the export of recycled products, however, limited recycling capacity underscores a critical gap in industrial waste management.

Empowering Circularity in Manufacturing Countries
The Upstream Circularity Playbook draws on over 20 case studies from diverse regions such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, providing an international and regional perspective that fosters knowledge sharing across the fashion industry. The examples showcase successful collaborations between brands, manufacturers, recyclers, and textile waste collectors, offering a replicable model for scaling circular solutions in various global contexts. Collaboration across the entire value chain is critical for unlocking the full potential of circularity. The Upstream Circularity Playbook provides a roadmap for stakeholders to work together in building a just and scalable circular fashion system.

A Constructive Framework for Action
The Playbook offers a pragmatic, step-by-step framework for building the necessary infrastructure to scale circularity in garment manufacturing countries. It provides essential tools for:

• Segregating textile waste at the factory level to prevent contamination and enhance recycling quality.
• Leveraging digital traceability platforms to track waste flows and align with recycler requirements.
• Collecting, aggregating, and sorting textile waste to ensure it is properly prepared and delivered to recyclers.
• Matching textile waste to the best use case by selecting the most suitable recycling technologies to ensure high-quality material recovery.
• Designing for circularity by incorporating recycled materials into new products, contributing to the creation of a closed-loop system.

Harnessing the Opportunity
This emphasis on upstream circularity presents an immediate opportunity to valorise post-industrial waste, laying the groundwork for scaling textile-to-textile recycling and ultimately reducing dependency on virgin resources as they are gradually replaced by recycled materials. GFA previously noted in the Scaling Circularity Report that existing recycling technologies have the potential to drive up to 80% circularity in the fashion industry if fully scaled. Additionally, the Pre-Feasibility Report highlights that, in the case of Bangladesh, recycling textile waste could reduce cotton imports by 20%, saving nearly $750 million USD annually.  The Upstream Circularity Playbook therefore builds on this research by providing an actionable framework for the industry to harness such opportunities.

With contributions from over 20 experts and organisations, the Playbook is designed to spur action on a global scale. It provides a blueprint for fostering economic, environmental, and social benefits in garment manufacturing regions and emphasises the need for collaboration across the value chain to achieve a scalable solution for textile-to-textile recycling.

The Upstream Circularity Playbook is openly accessible and available in six languages, inviting stakeholders worldwide to provide feedback and join the conversation.

Project Re:Claim, a joint venture between the Salvation Army Trading Company and Project Plan B, has been nominated for the Plastics Industry Awards 2024 in the "Recycler of the Year" category. Using an ISEC evo system from PURE LOOP to process used garments and other textiles, the project is Europe’s first polyester textile recycling system. The award ceremony will take place on 22 November in London.

The UK produces more than half a million tonnes of polyester textile waste every year. Project Re:Claim aims to recycle post-industrial and post-consumer clothing and textiles. The focus is on the recycling of post-industrial polyester from contract textiles for hospitals or hotels (e.g. bed and table linen), workwear and school uniforms, as well as promotional banners (e.g. printed sports banners). The fabrics and textiles come from controlled material streams (closed-loop systems), ensuring minimal impurities. The recycling technology used is an ISEC evo 302 E from PURE LOOP. This innovative technology, developed by the EREMA Group’s member, enables efficient production of high-quality rPET from textile waste.

Europe’s first polyester textile recycling system
The plant, installed at a Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) processing centre in Kettering in early 2024, represents Europe’s first commercial scale polyester textile recycling system specialising in post-consumer polyester. SATCoL is the trading arm of The Salvation Army and UK’s largest charity owned textile collector.

Together with Project Plan B, a specialist in garment design with a focus on design for recycling, PURE LOOP optimised its integrated shredder-extruder combination ISEC evo for the specific requirements. "Plan B has a vision, and we are convinced something great can come out of it," emphasises Manfred Dobersberger, Managing Director at PURE LOOP. Thanks to the configuration of shredder and extruder on one drive shaft and the patented double feed ram system, the ISEC evo 302 E gently processes discarded polyester into rPET, which can be reused for new yarns and other products. "Up until now, polyester that had no useful life left would have been disposed of," explains Tim Cross, CEO of Project Plan B. "With the ISEC evo, we can now return textile waste as a valuable material back to the supply chains. It’s a carbon saving solution, and it plays a significant role in helping our collective journey to Net Zero."

Textile recycling: an industry with growth potential
The plant aims to recycle 2,500 tonnes of polyester in its first year, doubling this amount in the second year. In addition to the environmental benefits such as diverting unwearable textiles away from landfill, initial estimates indicate that the production of pellets from Project Re:Claim uses only one-tenth of the energy compared with pellets produced from virgin polyester. One prerequisite for this is an energy-efficient recycling machine such as the ISEC evo.

The Salvation Army announces a collaboration with celebrity fashion stylist Rebekah Roy for Sustainable Fashion Week. Rebekah will join as special guest for an exclusive online second-hand fashion event and share expert tips on styling second-hand fashion.  The webinar will be held on Tuesday 24th September at 8 pm (BST). The partnership presents an opportunity to promote second-hand shopping and create lasting change.  
 
Listed as one of the top 100 "Most original and influential people in the UK creative and media industries” by Time Out, Rebekah is an award-winning stylist whose career boasts working on more than 75 catwalk shows, including for London Fashion Week, Rolls Royce, Ascot and Harrods. Beyond the runway, Rebekah has collaborated with iconic musicians including Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Enya, Kate Nash and Max Rae.
 
As a strong advocate for sustainability, Rebekah has also pioneered the UK’s first vegan fashion show and regularly curates the Source Fashion show at London Olympia, reflecting her commitment to a sustainable lifestyle and her vision for a fashion industry that respects our planet.
 
Sustainable Fashion Week unites the community in taking creative action; to change the fashion system from the bottom up and the programme features a series of events to take action locally and change fashion globally.  As part of SATCoL’s commitment to sustain our planet and transform lives, the 30-minute webinar with Rebekah Roy will be available to the public for free and it will encourage second-hand shopping as she shares expert tips on styling vintage looks to make your wardrobe last. In addition to this, guests will receive a free guide to take away to support them further after the event.
 
The webinar is a call to action to drive lasting change and SATCoL will take the opportunity to introduce the great work they do to help sustain the planet and give used textiles a second lease of life whilst, helping to raise vital funds for charity. The webinar will be hosted by Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL), who operates around 250 stores and a UK-wide clothing bank collection service on behalf of the charity. SATCoL has received industry wide recognition in fashion for their efforts to support brands and retailers to meet their sustainability goals and the webinar encourages the public to also take part in diverting more items away from disposal and to shop second-hand.

John Lewis has announced a trial where customers can bring their garments, accessories and a selection of homeware back to life through an in-store repair service. To launch the trial, John Lewis and Johnsons (part of Timpson Group) are joining forces to bring their expertise for this new offering to customers.

From reviving your wedding dress, to restoring the zip on a luxury clutch or adjusting a pair of curtains, the service will offer repair and alterations, laundry, dry cleaning and more.

Launching in selected stores from 22 July, the service will accept any brand allowing customers to drop off items to be fixed, altered, cleaned or restored, and come back to collect them after they have been given a fresh lease of life for years to come.

Extending a garment’s life by just nine months can reduce its carbon, waste and water footprints by up to 30%*. Prolonging the life of clothing is a key pillar of the circular economy, and with more consumers embracing the culture of mending and repair, recent research found that more than a third of UK adults plan to increase household repairs, rather than buying new**. This is also the case with our customers, with nearly half seeing a lifespan guarantee to repair or replace any item as the most appealing added service.

The trial will launch in five John Lewis branches: Oxford, Liverpool, Cheadle, Milton Keynes and Welwyn.

John Lewis will learn what customers want during the 16 week trial - such as the type of services customers look for, type of garments most repaired and the demographics of customers seeking the repair service - in a test and learn approach.

* WRAP, Valuing Our Clothes: the cost of UK fashion
** Aviva, Ramping up: repairs, renovations and recycling

The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) are coordinating the research project, which is funded as part of the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program. The aim of BioFibreLoop is to develop recyclable outdoor and work clothing made from renewable bio-based materials. The kick-off event took place in Denkendorf on June 26 and 27, 2024.

The textile industry is facing two challenges: on the one hand, production must become more sustainable and environmentally friendly and, on the other, consumers are expecting more and more smart functions from clothing.

In addition, the production of functional textiles often involves the use of chemicals that are harmful to the environment and health and make subsequent recycling more difficult.

Intelligent innovations must therefore ensure that harmful chemicals are replaced, water is saved and more durable, recyclable bio-based materials are used, thereby reducing the usually considerable carbon footprint of textile products. Digitalized processes are intended to ensure greater efficiency and a closed cycle.

For example, the BioFibreLoop project uses laser technology to imitate natural structures in order to produce garments with water and oil-repellent, self-cleaning and antibacterial properties. At the end result of the research work will be affordable, resource and environmentally friendly, yet high-performance and durable fibers and textiles made from renewable sources such as lignin, cellulose and polylactic acid will be available. All processes are aimed at a circular economy with comprehensive recycling and virtually waste-free functionalization based on nature's example. In this way, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 20 percent by 2035.

The technology for the functionalization and recycling of bio-based materials is being developed in three industrial demonstration projects in Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. At the end of the project, a patented circular, sustainable and reliable process for the production of recyclable functional textiles will be established.

The BioFibreLoop project has a duration of 42 months and a total budget of almost 7 million euros, with 1.5 million going to the coordinator DITF.

The consortium consists of 13 partners from nine countries who contribute expertise and resources from science and industry:

• German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF), Coordinator, Germany
• Next Technology Tecnotessile Società nazionale di ricerca R. L., Italy
• Centre Technologique ALPhANOV, France
• G. Knopf’s Sohn GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
• FreyZein Urban Outdoor GmbH, Austria
• BEES - BE Engineers for Society, Italy
• BAT Graphics Vernitech, France
• Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum, Belgium
• Idener Research & Development Agrupacion de Interes Economico, Spain
• Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy, Finland
• Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmiljø, Denmark
• Steinbeis Innovation gGmbH, Germany
• NIL Textile SRO, Czech Republic

The Salvation Army has launched a Take Back Scheme Fashion campaign featuring stylish looks from their generously received clothing donations. As the largest charity owned textile collector in the UK, the Scheme is operated by the trading arm of the charity (SATCoL) who have partnered with some of the largest retailers and brands in the UK including John Lewis and Tesco.
 
The Take Back Scheme is the perfect way for people to support the fashion circular economy while shopping online or instore with their favourite brands.  The campaign invites the public to be part of a drive to reduce waste and extend the useful life of products.

The fashion forward campaign features a collection of garments styled by fashion stylist Karl Willet. Karl is known for his elegantly classic, yet contemporary vision and the images for this campaign nod to his classic styles that stand the test of time.

Karl works with celebrities from across the music/film industry including Paloma Faith, Jermaine Jackson and Geri Halliwell to name a few. Karl shared, “Styling looks with second-hand clothing is a fun and creative way to express your personal style. It’s important to embrace sustainability because not only does it reduce environmental waste, but it also encourages individual style and is affordable. The Take Back Scheme is a way to make a positive difference.”
 
The donated garments featured in the campaign, were specially chosen to reflect The Salvation Army colours of red, white and black, and the charity’s message of hope. SATCoL has made their Take Back Scheme even more accessible with 2 in-store offerings and 12 clothing banks available online, so customers can donate their unwanted items on the go. Each year, The Salvation Army collects around 65,000 tonnes of textiles, diverting them to good uses and raising funds.

The profits raised from the resale of these donations is given to The Salvation Army to continue their work across the UK.

On the occasion of the 15-year anniversary of the inaugural Global Fashion Summit, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) has released a special edition of the Fashion CEO Agenda  — a strategic resource designed to steer fashion organisations towards achieving a net positive industry by 2050. In line with the 2024 theme of Global Fashion Summit, ‘Unlocking the Next Level’, this year’s Fashion CEO Agenda presents five pivotal opportunities for fashion executives and the industry at large to unlock transformative impact for people and planet.

In the 15 years since the inception of Global Fashion Summit in 2009, sustainability has evolved from a peripheral concern to a central focus in the fashion business landscape, prompting significant strides across the industry. Despite this progress, the alarming escalation of global warming and exponential rise in clothing production demand urgent and collective action from fashion industry leaders.

Unlocking the next level of positive impact necessitates a comprehensive understanding of interdependencies and system-wide solutions. The 2024 edition of the Fashion CEO Agenda aims to empower fashion leaders and the wider industry to embrace five key opportunities:

• Operationalising Sustainability
• Redefining Growth
• Activating Consumers
• Prioritising People
• Mobilising Based on Materiality

Drawing from the five priorities of the Fashion CEO Agenda — Respectful and Secure Work Environments, Better Wage Systems, Resource Stewardship, Smart Material Choices, and Circular Systems — this special edition highlights five cross-cutting opportunities that will help achieve the next level of progress on these priorities.

Tailored for fashion brands, retailers, and producers, this edition of the Fashion CEO Agenda differs from previous editions as it focuses on challenging norms and amplifying efforts, and serves as a crucial inflection point for the industry to foster positive outcomes for both society and the environment. By upholding the rights of workers, championing diversity and inclusivity, redefining success metrics, and reshaping growth paradigms, profound transformation is possible.
 
Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda, says: “The Fashion CEO Agenda 2024 aims to help leaders to shift their mindset, providing clear unlocks for embracing the challenges for future proofing their businesses and operations. I urgently encourage leaders to work closely with cross-functional teams, use empathy, and a values-based approach that prioritises the planet and the well-being of the people. By doing so, we secure the foundation of our businesses and deliver not only financial returns but also positive impact on the world around us.”

Through renowned events, impact programmes, and thought leadership publications, GFA consistently convenes industry pioneers, shares tangible case studies, disseminates best practices, and highlights practical tools. While recognising the enduring utility of these resources, stakeholders are now encouraged to build upon existing insights and embrace increasingly sophisticated, holistic, and human-centric opportunities to unlock the next level of industry transformation across the entire value chain.

The Fashion CEO Agenda 2024 is an openly accessible resource and available to download at the GFA’s website

Eastman announces a partnership with Patagonia to address textile waste.

The outdoor apparel company teamed up with Eastman to recycle 8,000 pounds of pre- and post-consumer clothing waste, which Eastman processed through its molecular recycling technology. The process involves breaking down Patagonia’s unusable apparel into molecular building blocks that Eastman can use to make new fibers.

"We know apparel waste is a major problem, and consumers increasingly want better, more sustainable solutions when their most loved clothing reaches the end of its life," said Natalie Banakis, materials innovation engineer for Patagonia.

"Our collaborations show the world what’s possible when it comes to sustainability,” said Carolina Sister Cohn, global marketing lead for Eastman textiles. “We have the technology to make the textiles industry circular, and we know it requires collaboration with innovative brands to make circular fashion possible. This is only the beginning, and we look forward to more collaborations throughout 2024."

As part of the "RUDOLSTÄDTER KUNSTSTOFFTAGE" series, the TITK - Thüringisches Institut für Textil- und Kunststoff-Forschung e.V. invites you to the symposium "All about cellulose: How we can use a native polymer for intelligent, innovative and sustainable products".

In their presentations, speakers from industry and research will highlight the potential and diverse applications of the sustainable platform polymer cellulose for clothing, hygiene and medical textiles, battery and storage technology or as a meltable material for 3D printing.
The conference language is English.

The conference is aimed at textile manufacturers and processors as well as materials scientists and SMEs from the industry in general. As in previous years, there will be the opportunity to visit the technical centres and laboratories of the business-oriented research institute.

Event details and registration options can be found under DATES.