Circular fashion is a framework that makes all things last. It promotes designing, sourcing, producing, and selling clothing with the intention of it being used and circulated through the world for as long as possible, avoiding waste in every step along the way. The fashion industry currently operates as a linear system, meaning that raw materials are used in production, and after use, all waste is thrown away. According to the Pulse of Fashion Report, the fashion industry produces 92 million tons of waste globally, and the majority of this waste comes from the production process. Fast fashion production at its current scale is inherently unsustainable, and the solution is circularity. A circular fashion system produces clothing through a more thoughtful model where the initial sourcing of an item and the end of its life are equally important. It emphasizes using less materials in production, limits waste by using eco-friendly materials and deadstock fabrics, and garments are carefully crafted to last or to be upcycled into something new. 

In our Wake Up Your Wardrobe guide, we introduce you to The Circle, a three step framework to live by. The first step is “The Cop” where we encourage buying clothing secondhand, purchasing from slow fashion brands, or renting and borrowing garments from various rental services. The second step, “The Keep Up” is all about extending the lifetime of your wardrobe by upcycling or refashioning your garments into something new through basic sewing and mending techniques. Lastly, since circularity dies as soon as you decide to throw away your clothing, the final step, “The Let Go” focuses on changing the way you get rid of your unwanted pieces. In order to keep your garments in the circle, it is critical that you donate, resell, or swap your unwanted items, rather than throwing them away and having them end up in a landfill.