Jonquil Hackenberg
CEO, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Today’s fashion industry is not only environmentally unsustainable. It’s economically fragile. Every discarded garment is value that’s lost.
In a circular economy, clothes are used more, made to be made again, and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs. This requires products and materials to be designed differently, but it also requires businesses to operate differently. We’ve seen exciting progress in product design and textile-to-textile recycling infrastructure. Yet, the crucial question remains: how can businesses make money without making new clothes?
Business case for circular fashion
Customers are ready. Demand for reused clothing is soaring. Secondhand platforms like eBay now show at London Fashion Week. Since 2019, startups like Vinted, Depop and Vestiaire Collective have reached unicorn status. Established names are stepping into the space as well, with brands from Patagonia to Coach embedding resale into their core offerings. Now, customers need businesses to make choosing circular options like resale, rental, repair and remaking easy and cost-effective.
This shift isn’t just good for the planet and for customers, it’s good for business. Building circular business models into a company’s core strategy can reduce exposure to raw material supply disruptions and price volatility in a rapidly shifting geopolitical context. It can build significant product value. If a product can be reused, remanufactured or resold again and again, a company can capture — and recapture — its value multiple times. Estimates suggest that new business models in repair, resale and rental could be worth USD 700 billion by 2030, making up 23% of the global fashion market.
We can all contribute to
reshaping the fashion industry.
Reinventing the fashion industry
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Fashion ReModel project, launched in 2024, aims to show how these models can scale by getting to the heart of a business: its revenue. We’re collaborating with market leaders from the high street to high-end to make the economics work for businesses today while working towards solutions that will improve future commercial viability.
We can all contribute to reshaping the fashion industry. Shifting to a circular economy for fashion requires innovative product design, reimagined business models and enabling infrastructure. It’s time to design a better fashion industry.
