Circular product design assessment applied to clothing products

One of the major Strategic Innovation Theme and corresponding Research Priority for the next years is Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency, according to Euratex. Recently, the European Commission launched the new "Industrial Strategy for a globally competitive, green and digital Europe", that will help deliver on three key priorities: maintaining European industry's global competitiveness and a level playing field, at home and globally, making Europe climate-neutral by 2050 and shaping Europe's digital future. In this context, innovation and market potential of the European textile and clothing industry involve the frequent use of the terms “Circular Economy”. Forward, the sector will operate according to a globalised and efficient circular economic model which maximises the use of local resources, exploits advanced manufacturing techniques and engages in cross-sectorial collaborations and strategic clusters. Although the benefits of the circular economy are fairly well understood, in reality there are few industrial examples of companies that have implemented a circular economy paradigm. Circular product design provides long-term sustainability performance for products, by applying the principle of "designing out waste". This paper presents the application of circular product design assessment for clothing, by using two practical tools to assess products' circularity: HotSpot Mapping and Circularity Calculator (developed by Delft University of Technology, Netherlands). Generally, clothing products need major redesign to fit the circular economy, so it is essential to assess the potential of the various circular strategies such as Reuse, Repair, Remanufacture and Recycle.