Leading fashion companies including Zara, ASOS, H&M and global luxury group Kering have pledged to foster circularity and boost sustainability in the fashion industry.

Under the guidance of Global Fashion Agenda - an organisation committed to closing the production loop in the industry -  fashion representatives gathered last May to discuss how they can take important steps towards sustainability.

After the event, 64 of the world’s leading fashion companies signed a commitment to accelerate the transition to a circular business model that reduces the industry’s overwhelming waste.

Among the signatories were big brands such as Adidas, ASOS, Inditex, and Hugo Boss.  This week, however, each of these companies announced their action plan with specific pledges.

The pledges address 4 areas: design for circularity, increasing the volume of used garments collected, increasing the volume of used garments resold, and increasing the garments made from recycled post-consumer textile fibres.

Design for circularity received the most attention meaning that companies will focus on either training their designers in circular design strategies to implement circular design principles, such as increased durability, reparability, and recyclability.

                                            Source Global Fahion Agenda 

For example, ASOS has pledged that by 2020 it will have trained its designers on circular product design and will also implement circular principles for packaging. In addition, it will launch a garment collection scheme and a recycling programme for customers in UK and Germany.

Inditex, the company which owns Zara, Stradivarius, Massimo Duty, Bershka, and Pull and Bear, pledged that by 2020 all of its 2,000 local stores will have an active garment collection scheme in partnership with local organisations which can re-distribute and recycle the garments.

Eva Kruse, CEO of Global Fashion Agenda, said: “Since the 64 companies signed the commitment, I’ve been very curious to learn about their company targets”.

“We have now reviewed all 143 of the targets, and although the focus areas and level of engagement vary from company to company, they all share a common feature by taking steps to transition to a circular fashion industry. I find that very encouraging”, she explained.

You can access all the 143 pledges from all the signatories here.