Estimates suggest that, if fully mobilised across the sector, up to 2 million tonnes of T2T recycled and next-generation material capacity could be achieved, helping to unlock the share of these materials to grow from less than 1% towards 8% of global fibre production by 2030, according to the Boston Consulting Group and Fashion for Good report.
The fashion industry faces an urgent materials challenge. Despite growing regulatory pressure and brand commitments, the transition to textile-to-textile (T2T) recycled and next-generation fibres remains stalled. Today, less than 1% of global fibre consumption comes from T2T recycling, with only a small share derived from post-consumer waste. Significant barriers continue to hinder progress at scale, including fragmented demand, insufficient financing, and a lack of well-developed recycling infrastructure and supportive policy frameworks. As a result, supply and demand remain disconnected – particularly for post-consumer materials – constraining both production and adoption. This has created a “chicken-and-egg” dynamic, where no single actor can move forward with confidence. Addressing this challenge requires collaborative efforts across the entire value chain to address shared challenge.
The Circular Fibre Collective provides a structured framework for brands and suppliers to address these barriers through collective action. By facilitating voluntary forms of aggregated demand across brands and suppliers, creating enabling conditions for investment, advancing supportive policy, and providing practical adoption tools, the initiative will send a clear market signal to innovators, suppliers, and financiers, giving them the confidence to scale and invest in circular fibre solutions.
The Collective is structured around two pillars. The first focuses on adoption enablers, including facilitating voluntary forms of aggregated demand, and supporting the development of individual non-binding commitments, as well as material supply mapping, policy exploration, and financing unlocks. The second provides practical adoption tools such as Fashion for Good’s Fiber Club, a Toolkit on next-generation materials, and T2T Recycled Materials Cohorts to help brands overcome commercial barriers to adoption.
Each organisation brings distinct expertise to the partnership. In addition to overall platform management, The Fashion Pact will facilitate voluntary forms of aggregated demand on T2T recycled materials, and explore financial mechanisms for scaling; Fashion for Good will manage the Fiber Club and Toolkit and other tools for commercialisations, bringing deep innovator expertise and learnings from validation programmes. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation supported the design of the initiative and will continue to provide circular economy expertise.
The initiative was shaped by a consultation with 25 leading fashion brands and builds on the research outlined in Fashion for Good and BCG’s February 2025 report, Scaling Next-Gen Materials in Fashion, which projects a potential of 13 million tonnes of next-gen and T2T materials to enter the market by 2030.
Industry players, brands and suppliers interested in joining the Circular Fibre Collective are invited to contact The Fashion Pact or Fashion for Good to learn more about engagement opportunities.
(1) Boston Consulting Group and Fashion for Good, Scaling Next-Gen Materials In Fashion: An Executive Guide, February 2025
The Fashion Pact and Fashion for Good, with strategic design input from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, today announced the launch of the Circular Fibre Collective, a first-of-its-kind cross-industry initiative designed to accelerate the adoption and scaling of textile-to-textile (T2T) recycled and next-generation fibres across the global fashion industry. We encourage industry players to engage with the Circular Fibre Collective, joining forces to support shared objectives and collectively drive demand signals for these materials to unlock investment and scale textile-to-textile recycled and next-generation fibres.
