Despite Fashion Pact, fashion industry remains major polluter

Kearney's 2023 CFX finds that the needle has barely moved since last year's report, with the 200 global brands analyzed barely reaching an average of 2.97 on a circularity scale of 10.

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Global management consulting firm Kearney released the 2023 Circular Fashion Index (CFX), its third study measuring the global fashion industry's progress toward circularity and sustainability. Based on proprietary analysis, the CFX acts as an objective tool helping companies understand where they rank in their sustainability practices and which circularity levers remain to be pulled. Notwithstanding the Fashion Pact launched at the G7 Summit in France in 2019, the industry remains one of the highest global polluters hence the value of measuring progress. Kearney's 2023 CFX finds that the needle has barely moved since last year's report, with the 200 global brands analyzed barely reaching an average of 2.97 on a circularity scale of 10. A recent Kearney Consumer Institute (KCI) survey of consumers in Italy, France, and the United States shows a lack of education on sustainability when it comes to buying and disposing of fashion products. Almost half of respondents could not say whether virgin materials are better or worse than recycled/ upcycled ones, and 30 to 40 percent either weren't aware they could return clothes for recycling/upcycling or didn't know how to do it. No surprise then that most consumers would rather donate clothes or share them with friends and family. In the best scenario those clothes are used again, but more often they end up in a closet until it's time for the next donation. Even the secondhand resale market is not developed as much as it could be.

Similar to post-consumer products, preconsumer products (unsold stock) and textiles (scraps) also aren't making their way back into the circular supply chain to the extent they should-again no surprise given that there are numerous barriers, in terms of infrastructure and technology, to overcome.

Underdeveloped Infrastructure