Latest news with #circularfashion
Associated Press
a day ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Mastercard Economics Institute: Circular Fashion Is Sew on Trend
Mastercard Economics Institute Secondhand, pre-loved, pre-owned, upcycled – no matter the stitch or state, the circular fashion market is gaining popularity, according to the Mastercard Economics Institute. Shoppers are increasingly choosing circular items across price points, driven by savings and environmental benefits. Increasing its relevance, the market may be more immune to policy and global trade impacts since new product creation is not involved, a key element that could further fuel consumer appeal. In addition to gaining market share, circular fashion has different seasonality trends than the broader retail space and is concentrated in cities. Using aggregated and anonymized Mastercard data, these spending trends and impacts are explored in more detail as a key part of the online apparel sector. Read the full report from the Mastercard Economics Institute Follow along Mastercard's journey to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere. Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Mastercard
The National
6 days ago
- Business
- The National
How Egyptian designer Emily Mikhaiel is reinventing ethical fashion
By the time Emily Mikhaiel launched Nazeerah, her Egyptian-American fashion label rooted in regenerative farming and circular design, she'd already flirted with composting toilets, kelp farms and aquaponics. 'If I'd known how hard it was going to be, no, I wouldn't have started,' she tells The National, half-laughing, half-serious. A decade in the making, Nazeerah is not just a brand. It is a manifesto of support for Egyptian cotton farmers and not harming people or the planet. Entirely made from sustainably grown Egyptian cotton at the end of their lifespan, Nazeerah pieces will compost down to nothing, and 'return to the soil, where it started,' Mikhaiel explains. The brand's origin story is deeply personal. As a child growing up in the US, Mikhaiel made her first trip to her father's homeland Egypt at the age of 10. 'It was a complete culture shock,' she recalls. 'It wasn't like the Aladdin movie,' she adds, smiling. A family sailing trip from Cairo to upper Egypt, however, left an indelible mark, kick-starting a yearning to learn more about her father's roots and upbringing. She went on to study international relations, environmental policy and law, but it was a course in sustainable business that connected the dots. 'I kept asking myself, wouldn't it be amazing to set a precedent showing things could be done in a better way?' Her early experiments were eclectic. 'I wrote my thesis on composting toilets, but in the US, the red tape was a nightmare,' she says. There were dalliances with kelp farming ('you need a boat, and to scuba dive'); soil regeneration; and carbon sequestration. Then came the breakthrough: a rediscovery of family history. Her grandfather was a cotton broker, she learnt, while her father, picked cotton after school. Her grandmother, Nazeerah, was the local seamstress, crafting garments for the community from local cotton. 'She sewed women and children's clothing made from the cotton that was grown in the surrounding area and produced at the factories,' she explains. The idea of being the link between different elements was exactly what Mikhaiel was searching for. Bringing together sustainable farming, hand weaving and ethical practices, she named the company Nazeerah in her grandmother's honour. Egyptian cotton, famed for its extra-long fibres and exquisite softness, is a byword for luxury. It's why top-tier hotels wrap guests in the smooth, lightweight sheets. But the cotton economy in Egypt has been under pressure for decades, from both environmental degradation and global competition. Since the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1970s, the Nile no longer floods the fields with nutrient-rich silt. Instead, farmers now have to rely on costly chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Mikhaiel found a group working to reverse that trend, training farmers in chemical-free techniques, from composting to beneficial insect cultivation. 'I got extremely lucky by finding an organisation that's working with farmers here in Egypt and teaching them regenerative farming,' she says. From there, the vision took shape. She sought out weavers in upper Egypt who still work on handlooms and then faced down the real challenge: producing women's ready-to-wear that is entirely biodegradable. It meant upending the entire manufacturing process. 'I can't design and then select the fabric and the trims. I have to select the fabric, source the trims and then design from there,' she explains. Cotton thread replaced polyester versions, nylon shoulder pads were swapped for ones made from repurposed baby blankets, while plastic buttons were replaced for locally sourced horn. Even conventional elastic was ditched for a version made with natural latex and organic cotton, while garment bags were reimagined in recyclable paper. The biggest struggle, she realised, was persuading factories to get on board. '99.99% of all clothing is sewn with polyester thread or a poly cotton combination,' she explains, making factories unsure of how other threads will fare in the machinery. 'They're worried that cotton thread will break too easily.' One factory even reused leftover polyester from another brand by mistake. Today, the only non-compostable element left is the zip tape. 'We couldn't find an alternative,' she admits. 'But aside from that, every single part will break down naturally. It has been a huge undertaking to get to this point, but I'm really excited that we're here.' This journey would not have been possible without enlisting textile veteran Mahmoud El-Gazzar to bring local manufacturing expertise. 'He has a lot of experience,' she explains. 'He knows all the factories in Egypt and most of the suppliers, so we were able to get going.' Nazeerah is currently sold online, with a focus on the US market. The typical client? 'She's eco-conscious, she's busy, and she wants to know the story behind her clothes. Whether it's for health, sustainability or ethics – she wants to trust what she's putting on her skin.' Now, expansion is on the horizon. A new warehouse in Egypt will support shipping across the Gulf and Europe. 'There's demand,' Mikhaiel says. 'But so few brands here are doing natural, organic fabrics at this level.' For Mikhaiel, it's about more than just clothes. It's about changing the narrative – of fashion, of sustainability, and of Egypt's place in the global creative economy. She's often the only woman in the room, and, as she puts it candidly, 'probably only sitting at the table because I was born in the US.' Yet here she is, crafting a new kind of clothing – one that honours her past, respects the planet and knows exactly what it's made of.
Forbes
28-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Textile Recycling Goes To France With Circ's New $500M Facility
A rendering of the new Circ facility in France. Circ Circ's new $500 million facility in Saint-Avold, France, is set to become the world's first industrial-scale plant dedicated to recycling polycotton textile waste—a feat long considered impossible at scale. 'Our first full-scale facility will push circular fashion over the critical tipping point in the global economy, proving that the future of textiles can be decarbonized, closer to waste-free, and regenerative by design. It's not just a major milestone for Circ, but a breakthrough for the entire circular economy at a time when the planet urgently needs scalable climate solutions,' says Peter Majeranowski, founder of Circ. Peter Majeranowski, founder of Circ (c) Geoff Wood The fashion industry is responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Yet, less than 1% of all textiles are ever recycled back into new textiles. At the heart of this problem is polycotton—a blend of polyester and cotton that makes up about 77% of the global textile market. Polycotton's durability and comfort have made it the backbone of modern clothing, but its mixed composition has made it nearly impossible to recycle using conventional methods. Most polycotton waste is landfilled, incinerated, or shipped overseas for disposal. The Virginia-based company Circ, which originally launched in 2011, and has been developing a patented hydrothermal technology. This can separate polyester and cotton from polycotton blends --- without damaging either material. And that's the key. That means the polyester turns into a liquid polymer, and the cotton fibers can still be reused. Traditional recycling methods typically can only handle pure cotton or pure polyester. But they cannot do blends. So, with Circ's tech, there is potential to close the loop and build a circular model for fashion. And they've already been testing this out at plants in Ohio and North Carolina in the States. Although other companies have developed smaller prototypes or even led pilots on circularity, Circ's would be the first to be at an industrial scale. 'Blended textiles like polycotton are notoriously difficult to recycle because it requires a process tough enough to separate the blend but mild enough to not damage either component," iterates Majeranowski. "Recovering both components is a systems challenge that requires precision, stability, and the ability to scale. Most innovators have solved part of the puzzle, but few have cracked the full process or proven it at industrial throughput. Our success comes from years of R&D, deep industrial partnerships, and a team with over 150 years of experience scaling complex technologies.' And they're building this new facility in France, the capital of fashion. Saint-Avold, which is located about four hours east of Paris, is a well-established industrial hub with deep roots in manufacturing and energy, explains Majeranowski. The site was selected for its strategic logistics, access to regional feedstock, competitive utility costs, skilled workforce, and strong local and regional government support. 'While our solution is designed to be globally scalable and geographically flexible, France provides a stable regulatory environment and a clear path to industrial deployment at scale,' he adds. Here, they will process 70,000 metric tons of post-consumer and post-industrial polycotton waste each year. This commercial operation is designed to serve as a model for global expansion, with additional plants planned for North America and Asia. The recycled output is as good as, or better than, materials made from petroleum or trees, but with a dramatically lower carbon footprint and no need for new resource extraction, he explains. Plus, they can handle any composition and color of polycotton. 'These recycled fibers are designed to be 'drop-in ready,' meaning they can seamlessly replace conventional materials in existing manufacturing processes without compromising on quality or performance," Majeranowski says. Over the years, Circ's approach has attracted more than $100 million in funding from a variety of fashion and sustainability-minded investors, including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Inditex (Zara), Zalando, Patagonia, and others. The company's materials are already being used by brands like Zara and Mara Hoffman, and its technology has been recognized as an Earthshot Prize finalist and a BloombergNEF Pioneer. Alot of this fanfare and financial investment has come Circ's way because they've been able to solve one serious pain point in textile manufacturing: the polycotton blends -- a major gap in textile manufacturing. So could this be the beginning of a real transition to circularity? Majeranowski is betting on it.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MySize Bets On Fashion Resale With Percentil Acquisition
Israel-based e-commerce and AI-driven apparel-sizing firm MySize aims to expand its reach in fashion resale and up its circularity profile with the acquisition of European second-hand fashion marketplace Percentil. Percentil was founded in Spain to promote second-hand fast fashion from brands such as Zara, Mango and Massimo Dutti. The retailer filed for bankruptcy in February, citing competition from fast-fashion brands such as Shein as a factor. With its acquisition, MySize will reposition the platform as a premium marketplace focusing on higher-value items and an elevated re-commerce experience. More from Sourcing Journal Rising Prices, Falling Confidence: Secondhand Retail Steps Up Up Close: In Conversation with Archive Co-founder and CEO Emily Gittins ThredUp Launches Vintage Popup with Beyond Retro 'Our goal with Percentil is clear: Build a profitable, scalable and sustainable circular fashion business from day one,' said Ronen Luzon, CEO of MySize, Inc. 'This is not about growth at all costs. We are focused on smart, cash-efficient scaling—with a model that generates EBITDA-positive returns from the very beginning.' MySize sees the deal as a potentially profitable investment, as the total transaction value was around approximately 610,000 euros (approximately $679,000), consisting of a 40,000-euro (approximately $44,500) cash payment made by one of MySize's wholly-owned subsidiaries and the assumption of certain customer and labor liabilities and debt and social security payments in the aggregate amount of approximately 570,000 euros (approximately $634,500). MySize financed the acquisition through existing cash reserves without the issuance of additional shares or debt. MySize expects the Percentil business to generate $1.5 million in revenue in the second half of 2025, representing a projected 25-percent increase to the company's total revenue and a step-function improvement in group profitability. 'We believe this to be a strategically sound and financially compelling acquisition,' Luzon said. 'With a minimal upfront investment, we believe that we've secured a revenue-generating business with deep logistics capabilities, a growing customer base and a model that's profitable. We believe that Percentil's integration accelerates our entry into the circular economy while strengthening the financial foundations of our group.' With the acquisition, MySize will launch a B2B resale solution that enables brands to monetize overstock and returns by integrating with Percentil's platform. This will allow fashion brands to sell returned, overstock or pre-owned garments. The platform will help major retailers to comply with new European Union legislation requiring formal reuse plans for garments. The monetization model is SaaS-based, providing recurring revenue streams and potential high-margin scalability. The total accessible market for second-hand and circular fashion in Western Europe is estimated to exceed $25 billion by 2025, according to ThredUp's 2024 Resale Market Report and Statista's projections for the European second-hand apparel market. MySize said the addition of Percentil will create synergies with its existing portfolio of companies, including Naiz Fit, which provides size and fit solutions to reduce returns, and Orgad, MySize's e-commerce and logistics unit. Percentil also will be able to tap into MySize's proprietary AI technology to optimize pricing, enhance product recommendations, personalize user experience and improve operational efficiency. As part of the acquisition, MySize will take select assets of Percentil's operating structure out of bankruptcy, including 17 employees (including the former CEO and chief marketing officer), the central warehouse and its proprietary quality control and picking systems, an AI-powered pricing engine and proprietary garment assessment tools and processes, and a stock of more than 120,000 quality-vetted garments ready for sale. Luzon said that the new Percentil model will offer brands a solution for compliance with the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which will soon require plans for reuse, recycling and waste-reduction frameworks as part of environmental responsibility. 'With the EU leading global efforts in textile circularity, we see second-hand platforms evolving from niche alternatives into critical infrastructure for the fashion industry,' Luzon said. 'Percentil gives us a front-row seat in this transformation.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
