Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Apparel supply chains: why circularity is possible and will come

Leadership from the top at Eileen Fisher

Eileen Fisher’s leader of social consciousness Amy Hall speaks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how the apparel sector can develop circular economy models.

Eileen Fisher is already collecting previously worn clothing – some of which is then re-sold, some of it re-purposed into different garments. There are clear incentives that work, so that consumers will engage in terms of product return – Eileen Fisher offers a $5 voucher for every item brought back to a store. They debate the current barriers to repurposing at scale: the technology isn’t yet in place that allows for taking back thousands of items and extracting fibres for new clothing. But there are some exciting new business models with significant potential.