Whether it’s trying to keep up with the latest fashion trends or squeezing into an endless array of cheaply made, quickly produced scraps of fabric, which often end up in landfills, fast fashion is becoming a huge problem worldwide. Beneath the flashing digital advertisements, glossy pictures, and stylish designs lies a trail of environmental destruction, exploitation, and waste.

We need to respond to this growing crisis. Seamless was established as a national initiative to enable the Australian clothing industry to collaboratively transform how clothing is chosen, enjoyed, and recycled in Australia. Here, Seamless CEO Ainsley Simpson shares more about Australia’s journey toward a circular clothing economy by 2030 with Seamless.

How does second-hand shopping help reduce clothing waste, and what more can be done to encourage this trend?

Our new clothing benchmarking data shows that Australians are buying less and buying differently. 240 million second hand clothing items were sold last year, which is about 9 preloved items for every Australian. With a high number of clothes leaving our wardrobes in good condition, we are starting to see a normalisation of reuse, through swapping, sharing and second-hand shopping in market places like charitable op shops and online resale platforms. Keeping clothes in circulation for longer is an important part of a clothing circular economy, and we can all play a part.

System-Wide Change: Why do we need everyone to work together in a system wide approach to fix clothing waste, what key players need to be involved?

When a company places new product on the market, it is responsible for the whole life of that product – we all expect this for our electronics, batteries and containers; now we are just at the beginning for clothing. We need all clothing brands and retailers to accept this responsibility by joining Seamless, Australia’s national clothing stewardship scheme.

There are over 70 responsible brands that have joined Seamless including Big W, David Jones, The Sussan Group, Universal Store and more. There are also over 200 Seamless supporters who are business connected with the clothing industry like those in reuse (such as Good Sammy, Save the Children and Vinnies), repair (Hello Tailr), rental (rntr, THE VOLTE), resale (eBay) and recyclers (RCYCL, ResourceCo, Samsara Eco, Shred X, Textile Recyclers Australia), as well as many technology and tertiary institutions.  Everyone wears clothes. We have the power of choice in what, when and where we buy. We can all choose clothing that is durable and that can have multiple lives. We can also choose to buy with purpose from responsible brands, like those that have joined Seamless to enable a national system for all Australians.

Despite progress, 222,000 tonnes of clothing still ended up in landfill in 2023. What’s stopping us from recycling more clothing instead of sending it to landfill?

This is a challenge being experienced across the globe. Many countries around the world are transitioning to a circular economy, and this does take time and collaboration. We are making progress  – over the past five years, there has been a 17% increase in the number of clothes from Australia being recycled, which includes over 10,000 tonnes here in Australia. Progress is currently stimulated by policy and procurement signals such as sustainable business practices and personal choice. We have many innovative recycling organisations and Seamless supporters who are also contributing to this initial progress. We must establish viable end markets for the recycled fibres; be it for new clothing or alternative products like insulation, carpet underlay or furniture fill.  Going forward we need to take stock of Australia’s role as part of a global system by seeking continued investment in infrastructure, nationally coordinated policy intervention and practical information for Australians. Seamless is on a mission to establish a convenient, responsible and free recycling system for all our unwearable clothing.

What needs to happen for Australia to have a circular clothing economy by 2030? How close are we to achieving this goal? 

With clothing formally recognised as a problematic waste and listed on the Ministers priority list, and over 1.46 billion items of clothing being placed on the Australian market every year, we need a nationally coordinated transformation of the clothing industry. Having received Federal funding for development design, Seamless is Australia’s first clothing stewardship scheme and the world’s first circular product stewardship scheme. Seamless takes a stewardship approach, which recognises that the clothing brands who place clothes on the market are responsible for the entire life of that garment, from design through to safe, sustainable recycling.

Seamless is funded by a 4 cent per garment levy paid by responsible brands who have joined Seamless as members. This funding pool is being invested in four priority areas which are critical to the mission to achieve a circular clothing economy by 2030:

• Circular design: incentivising clothing design that is more durable, renewable and recyclable
• Circular business models: fostering new models for reuse, repair, rental, and services that prolong clothing life
• Closing the materials loop: expanding clothing collection, sorting and recycling practices for effective reuse and resource recovery
• Citizen behaviour change: encouraging all Australians to do better, changing how they choose, use, care, and recycle their clothing.

How can government plans like the Reuse and Repair Strategy help with clothing waste?

Government policy interventions are highly effective when they directly support industry-based product stewardship. The NSW Reuse and Repair Strategy is a valuable Government intervention which can be replicated nationally. It supports more circular action and keeps products at their highest use for longer periods of time. Extending the life of clothes provides the wide sector the opportunity to innovate – clothing brands are evolving their business models, citizens are changing their behaviours and infrastructure can keep pace with rapidly changing resource recovery needs.

Another scalable policy intervention which can be adopted at state and local government level is the Federal Environmental Sustainable Procurement Policy. This comes into effect for clothing and textiles on 1 July 2025. Government will lead by example and leverage the power of their procurement spend to deliver outcomes targeting climate risk, environment and circularity outcomes. Sustainability outcomes are linked to credible metrics to evaluate progress and performance, which again are valuably aligned with industry-led product stewardship schemes.                         

How can individual consumers make more sustainable choices when purchasing clothing? What role does education play in shifting consumer habits toward sustainability in fashion?

Every individual can do better when they know better; that’s why citizen behaviour change is a strategic pillar in the Seamless strategy.  Change needs to ripple across the whole system starting with clothing brands stepping up, we also need the supply and buy chain – we all have a role to play.

Find our more here at Seamless: seamlessaustralia.com