Visions for 2050: Sustainable, Circular, Connected and Strategic Fashion Textile Design

During the past year of pandemic and lockdowns, a ‘new normal’ has emerged that has changed the way we see the world, increasing our understanding of the role fashion and clothing plays in our connected, global ecological future. This keynote draws together a range of insights resulting from recent research projects and partnerships at Centre for Circular Design. It looks ahead, through the eyes of consumers, at a range of garments and how they might be created, purchased, used, recirculated, recreated and regenerated.
 
World Circular Textiles Day 2050 was launched on 8 October 2020 [1]. It aims to vision and support the ‘full circularity’ journey the industry is embarking on over the next 30 years. It is built on the understanding that everything matters, everything connects and that change at scale is possible. This future industry functions within the Planetary Boundaries [2], in balance with scarce resources, food needs and emissions caps. Waste streams feed into new resources; biomaterials have finally arrived [3] and the industry knows exactly how and when to use them.
 
In this future world, textiles are regenerated maintaining and even increasing in value, through design and engineering advances. Useful and beautiful fashion products flow between people through a myriad of mechanisms; people enjoy fashion in ways they could never have anticipated. The sharing economy becomes a reality because cleaning technologies enable peace of mind and new transportation systems create low-impact logistical solutions. People experience a range of benefits from the new communities that grow around fashions produced and reprocessed at a regional level. Working in the circular textile industry is fair and safe. The start-up culture has flourished and SME communities offer a quality of life never experienced before, as textiles are treated and traded with reverence and care. This fashion future is circular, connected, local, regenerative, fun and fair.
 
The keynote will introduce the audience to the EU Horizon 2020 Herewear Project [4], where agricultural waste (seaweed, manure, straw) is being turned into new biomaterials, in localised, extended-life circular clothing contexts. The garments will work in loops, via subscription models: rented; shared; swapped; repaired; re-used, re-purposed; recycled and upcycled (remanufactured). Garment prototypes for streetwear and corporate clothing will be produced by connecting up microfactories, organised into regional value creation circles; or by platform-supported, networked production resources. Full transparency will be provided through digital labelling and a digital twin, informed by LCA studies. A database and guidelines will be produced to support the design of fashion goods with a focus on the best performance for bio-based materials for reuse/recycling.