‘Refashioning: Accelerating circular design at scale’ is a collaboration between RMIT’s School of Fashion & Textiles, Country Road Group, Courtney Holm, A.BCH World and Julie Boulton Strategy and Sustainability. Refashioning was supported by the Victorian Government’s Circular Economy Innovation Fund as part of the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC).

Why circular design is needed

The dominant production and consumption method used by the majority of brands today creates clothing for a linear economy – a system of take, make and waste. In this system, critical aspects that determine whether an item can participate in a circular system, such as material choices, product purpose and use, durability, and end-of-life options, are often overlooked, or considered long after the design process has concluded.

Embedding these strategic aspects early on in the design process is critical if we are to shift production and consumption from a linear to a circular model. Refashioning provides a systematic and methodological approach, in the form of a circular design guide, that all clothing brands – no matter the scale – can implement.

Importantly, Refashioning instructs designers to adopt both circular strategies of ‘slowing the flow’ and ‘closing the loop’, to deliver designs that are both durable and recyclable. This is a significant differentiator for circular design and is expected to deliver greater impact across the industry and value chain, including sourcing, design, use, end of life and re-circulation.

The methodology for designing and testing the guides can be read in the final project report.

Acknowledgements

RMIT Project Team: Alice Payne, Yasaman Samie, Jenny Underwood, Saniyat Islam, Rebecca Van Amber, Regine Abos

Project Partners: Julie Boulton, Julie Boulton Strategy and Sustainability, Courtney Holm | A.BCH | Circular Sourcing

Sunny Bhatt and Erica Martin, Country Road Group Leads

The team would like to thank all the participating designers who tested the guides and provided valuable feedback on its implementation.

The Refashioning team respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia