Interviews

The economics of reuse are under strain as ultra-fast fashion floods markets with garments never designed to last. In this environment, circular systems are absorbing rising costs without corresponding value. Steven Bethell, Founder of Bank & Vogue and Beyond Retro, outlines how low-quality imports are destabilising charities, recycling infrastructure, and material integrity across the secondhand ecosystem.

Growing scrutiny of textile waste is exposing a technical reality: recyclers remain limited by trim heterogeneity, variable feedstock quality and labour-intensive preprocessing. From this vantage point, Eileen Mockus, COO at Accelerating Circularity, outlines how these structural barriers influence both early-stage pilots and industrial recycling lines. Her analysis points to the need for standardised specifications and coordinated investment to improve outcomes.

The fashion sector continues to struggle with inconsistent data, fragmented supply chains and growing regulatory pressure, limiting progress on circularity. The updated Circular Transition Indicators guidance aims to overcome these challenges with refined methodologies and clearer regulatory alignment. Elisabetta Rocchi, Associate for Circular Products and Materials at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, outlines how the sector-specific edition strengthens measurement and implementation.

The fashion industry’s demand for distressed denim often clashes with reliance on potassium permanganate, heavy bleaching, and water-intensive laundering. Pressure to modernise these approaches keeps growing. Providing momentum is Archroma, which developed the Denim Halo system to engineer predictable surface dyeing upstream, enabling strong contrasts with markedly reduced resource use and operational complexity.

As policymakers seek to standardise global rules on textile waste, African traders find themselves contending with definitions that could reshape their markets. Atobrah Edward Brinkley, Secretary of the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association, argues that lived realities of reuse and repair deserve equal recognition within sustainability frameworks largely framed by institutions far removed from their economies.

As international agencies develop new criteria for textile “waste,” concerns are emerging over how these definitions affect circular trade and livelihoods. SMART, the US-based association for secondary materials and recycled textiles, urges clarity and inclusiveness. Its Director of Government Affairs, Jessica Franken, stresses that credible environmental frameworks require full transparency and peer-reviewed data.

Efforts to tighten global definitions of “waste” have sparked a struggle over the future of reuse economies. Teresiah Wairimu Njenga, who leads the Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya, argues that poorly conceived guidelines risk collapsing viable circular systems under the guise of environmental reform, while the real issue of fast-fashion overproduction remains unaddressed.

Across Europe, fashion’s sustainability narratives are under growing scrutiny. Amid rising consumer confusion and corporate opacity, one Danish researcher and consultant has been pushing national institutions to act. At the forefront is Tanja Gotthardsen, who has taken on major platforms such as Zalando and Copenhagen Fashion Week, pressing for systemic accountability in how sustainability is defined, communicated, and enforced.

The conversation around denim is shifting from surface aesthetics to systemic responsibility. In this changing landscape, Carme Santacruz, Creative Director and Senior Denim Designer at Jeanologia, discusses how designers can balance creativity, technology, and emotion while pursuing sustainable transformation, ensuring that new processes respect heritage, enable experimentation, and keep the human essence of denim alive in a digital future.

Ethiopia’s experiment with industrialisation has transformed its social fabric as much as its economy. Behind the walls of its textile factories are thousands of young women and men who left rural life in search of stability and progress. Yet, their experiences reveal a complex story of resilience, disappointment, and adaptation. At the centre of this analysis is Michaela Fink, author of Labor Turnover in Ethiopia’s Textile Industry Global: A Hotspot of Social Transformation, who documents how industrial work reshapes identities, families, and communities across Ethiopia.