Circle Economy has partnered with Fashion for Good to accelerate re-commerce and rental business models in the apparel industry. Through this partnership, Circle Economy and Fashion for Good will establish a global network of over 50 front-running solution providers and innovators, brands, and rental and re-commerce experts to exchange insights and tangible solutions to move the apparel industry towards circular business models that can create a positive impact for people and the environment. The project will work with six brands on a circular innovation process that will help them design and launch these new types of business model pilots by 2021.

Re-commerce, rental, and leasing offer commercial opportunities for brands to innovate their business model while optimising the useful life of clothes to their full potential and reducing the overall impact of the industry. The past two decades have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of times clothes are worn. Coupled with a shift toward fast fashion, average consumers today buy 60 per cent more items than they did 15 years ago and wear them for half as long. Seventy per cent of closets usually go unworn and it is estimated that 33 per cent of women wear items as little as five times before disposing of them.