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In January 2018, every CEC member company committed to a series of bold pledges to close the loop in capital equipment. From 100% circular operations to the adoption of new business models, these public commitments were an essential step by leading multinationals to engage the full sector to join the transition and jump on the shared learning curve.
The coalition reports on progress against members' pledges and shared learnings on a yearly basis, and published its first summary of key learnings in January 2019, and a second learning and progress document in January 2020. Members meet quarterly to address shared problems and build the business case for circular projects, including factors such as internal decision-making, key circular value drivers; and how to approach organisational change.
The coalition has focused three of its four annual workshop sessions on specific, function-oriented insights to facilitate rapid learning. We encourage businesses in the production and supply of capital equipment goods to embark on their own journeys towards circularity. For further enquiries, please get in touch through the Circle Economy website.
As of July 2020, the four core brands are halfway through the circular innovation process and have created their initial pilot concepts, which they are currently preparing to prototype. Their final pilots will launch in March 2021.
Upon project completion, Circle Economy will develop open-access tools and resources for the wider industry based on the process that our core brands follow and the insights garnered as they progress. These resources will be packaged into a ‘Circular Business Model Toolbox’ and published online.
To date, the network has convened five times via content webinars to discuss shared opportunities and challenges such as consumer appetites for new models of consumption, the metrics needed to measure the true impact of circular business models, and the role of technology in driving their uptake. We’ve also hosted a matchmaking event to connect brands and retailers with the network.
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We continuously disseminate insights from the project and the network through in-depth articles, social media posts, and various podcast and speaking engagements, a selection of which can be found below:
Podcasts
Articles
2020 will see the brand’s pilot concepts turned into reality. The Enabling Network will continue to grow in size, reach and engagement, and work to use its collective power to address common challenges and its collective voice to drive the urgency for change within the industry.
The Circular Business Model Toolbox will be published in Q2 2021, as an open-access resource for all apparel brands who wish to follow in the footsteps of our frontrunning Switching Gear brands and develop rental and resale business model pilots.
DCTV established four “regional hubs” in different provinces of the Netherlands that stakeholders in and outside the industry can go to for questions on circular textiles. Each hub is focused on one key circular textiles issue: high-quality recycling technology, circular corporate clothing, circular brands and business models, and circular design and new (biobased) materials.
The DCTV team published a database of 170 Dutch circular innovators from across the textiles value chain. This database can be filtered by different categories, making it easy for the industry to find the right innovator. It further marks the first step in assessing the size of the national market for circular textiles solution providers.
We also hosted and participated in four events that brought together key stakeholders in circular textiles around knowledge-sharing and generating new solutions for the industry: the launching event of DCTV, Rethinking Fashion, the Circular Fashion Games, and the National Conference of the Circular Economy.
In light of the covid-19 pandemic, the DCTV team put out a call for solution providers from other sectors to use the increasing amount of post-consumer textiles that are being stored in warehouses across the country as a result of the pandemic (20,000 bales of post-consumer clothes). The call received multiple reactions, and the DCTV team is currently judging which is the most feasible solution, matchmaking will happen over the next months.
DCTV provided acceleration support to 6 innovators: SaxCell, Lena the Fashion Library, Fast Feet Grinded, ICCT, Remo, Denim Deal and Ioniqa.
The innovators database, publicly available for anyone to consult on the DCTV website, has received over 2,700 visits since it was first published in February 2020, 70% of which are from the Netherlands and 30% of which are from 67 other countries, providing the innovators with additional reach and exposure.
DCTV publicly responded to a national plan which is due to play a significant role in shaping the Dutch textiles industry: the Dutch Textile Sector Plan. The Sector Plan created by industry representatives Modint and Inretail proposed to introduce an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme in order to accelerate circularity by 2050. DCTV used its convening power to align partners and key players in forming a response to this plan, which played a role in increasing the national ambitions set for in the Dutch Textiles Policy Plan, also aimed at accelerating circularity by 2050. While the sector plan itself has not changed drastically as a result, we believe it’s important to push for more ambitious targets and to critically and publicly evaluate industry-wide and governmental plans to transition the industry.
The Polyester Fibre Recycling overview was developed to shed light on the potential of this fibre after its first use. The spider diagram shows what happens after a polyester product is discarded into the textile collection bin, and importantly also shows what issues are present at these different points in the post-consumer supply chain– important issues that need attention in the circular textiles chain.
In its second year, DCTV aims to build on the strong foundation which has been set to date, with an increased focus on driving on-the ground-action. Key activities will include accelerating four innovators and connecting these innovators to the Dutch and international end-markets. DCTV will also work towards matching 20 innovators with brands and clients as well as improving the uptake of circular innovations by delivering circular trainings to Dutch brands.
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