On October 11th, 2023, the Monitor for Circular Fashion by SDA Bocconi, powered by Enel X, presented its annual report to boost circularity in fashion. In addition to the 26 companies in its community, key industry players participated in the multistakeholder event, such as the European Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and EURATEX.
In 2023, TOD's, Ferragamo, and Vivienne Westwood joined the pilot projects
The Monitor for Circular Fashion is a research observatory of the SDA Bocconi School of Management and powered by Enel X, which every year presents the results of its work at the SDA Bocconi headquarters in Milan. Candiani Denim has been an ingredient brand of the Monitor for Circular Fashion since it was founded.
In 2023, 26 companies joined the community, and three new pilot projects to test circularity KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), led by TOD's Group, Ferragamo, and Vivienne Westwood, were added to the seven launched in 2022.
The benefits of circularity, textile waste management, and EPR were investigated throughout the year
According to the results, brand reputation, new business opportunities, and increased consumer loyalty are the main benefits of circularity, while its biggest obstacles are the concern of costs and the availability of technologies and infrastructure. Moreover, according to the survey and the co-creation workshops, board size, CEO duality, and sustainability incentives as executive remuneration positively correlate with sustainability performance.
The survey and co-creation workshops also investigated textile waste management and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) topics. To reduce and optimize their pre-consumer waste, the partners of the Monitor for Circular Fashion prefer to increase internal reuse, develop upcycling projects, and exploit 4.0 technologies, while their preferred actions to manage post-consumer waste include the partnership with experienced operators in both waste management and upcycling and consortium membership for EPR.
The Circular Fashion Manifesto was updated according to the European Commission's Textile Transition Pathway
During the October 11th event, the partner companies also presented the updated Circular Fashion Manifesto, declaring their commitment to greater transparency and traceability along the value chain to UNECE and the European Commission. Eight actions inspired by the European Commission's Textile Transition Pathway extended the manifesto in 2023.
“With the commitment to the Textile Transition Pathway of the European Commission, the companies of the Monitor for Circular Fashion confirm that they continue to work on eight common actions, including: promote and implement sustainable and circular business models; continue to raise consumer awareness of conscious consumption patterns; anticipate the regulations proposed in the European strategy for sustainable and circular textiles; seek common methods to assess and compare the sustainability performance of products; improve the level of traceability and transparency of value chains through the digital passport; support the development of skills for green and digital transition; increase access to and interaction with SMEs and educate on sustainability and circularity issues in the fashion industry”, said Francesca Romana Rinaldi, Director of the SDA Bocconi Monitor for Circular Fashion.
“As part of efforts to accelerate the resilience and the green and digital transformation of the European industry, the transition pathway for the textiles ecosystem outlines 50 actions, including the promotion of circular and sustainable practices, the support for SMEs to innovate and to grow internationally”, stated Valentina Superti, Director of the European Commission DG GROW (Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs).
“The Monitor for Circular Fashion was an early adopter of the UNECE call to action the Sustainability Pledge for traceability and transparency, which has now received more than 100 pledges from leading brands, NGOs, industry associations, and initiatives across 28 countries, involving a larger network +700 partners. We at UNECE call on the industry to take concrete and targeted measures to help consumers make informed and better choices, and thus move the needle towards sustainable fashion”, confirmed Maria Teresa Pisani, OiC Trade Facilitation Section Chief, UNECE.
What are the takeaways of the Circular fashion survey on New Generations?
The Monitor for Circular Fashion event also focused on new generations and presented the results of the Circular fashion survey on New Generations by PwC and SDA Bocconi School of Management for the Monitor for Circular Fashion Report 2023, which involved 2422 respondents based in Italy composed by Gen Z (61%), Millennials (27%), and Generation X and Boomers (11%).
Millennials are the most sensitive to greenwashing since 56% no longer want to buy from brands that deliberately omit or mask environmental information, and 59% no longer want to buy from brands that overestimate or exaggerate their actions to protect the environment.
In contrast, only 39% of new generations are willing to pay 10% more for a product equipped with the Digital Product Passport (DPP) compared to 46% of Boomers. According to all generations, in the aggregate, the environmental impact and the composition and authentication of the product are the most important information to include in DPP, while its main benefits are increased trust and loyalty, more informed decisions, and combating counterfeiting in resale platforms.
You can download the report here.
