‘Blueprint for Action’ develops collaborative approach to circular fashion
WRAP report identifies foundations for creating collaborative voluntary agreements across the textiles supply chain.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has unveiled a new blueprint that outlines how collaboration across the textiles industry can drive progress towards a circular fashion economy.
The Textiles Action Network: Blueprint for Action report outlines a framework for designing and implementing collaborative voluntary agreements (VAs) to address challenges that individual actors in the supply chain cannot tackle alone.
Given the size and scale of businesses involved in the textiles sector, WRAP suggests that collaboration and direct action is a quicker way to create change than waiting for policy measures to come into effect.
According to the European Parliament, only one per cent of used clothes are recycled into new clothes. Instead, around 87 per cent are incinerated or landfilled. The clothing and textiles industry also contributes between four to eight per cent of global GHG emissions.
Building blocks
Drawing on its experience with initiatives such as Textiles 2030 in the UK and other international efforts like the Danish Sectoral Collaboration on Textiles and the Circular Fashion Pact in Catalonia, WRAP’s blueprint identifies five building blocks for creating impactful voluntary agreements.
These agreements, WRAP argues, are essential for bringing together private and public sector actors to create the systemic changes needed for the textiles industry to meet its circular economy targets.
1. Firm foundations
WRAP identifies that co-creation across the value chain is needed to set up a successful VA by establishing and addressing the shared problems that value chain actors cannot solve on their own. A pre-competitive space is emphasised, so that information can be shared freely amongst collaborators.
2. Design for impact
Once the problems have been identified, the blueprint recommends defining the aims and ambitions, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the VA. Specific examples from WRAP’s Textiles 2030 and Danish Sector Collaboration demonstrate how roadmaps can be built to identify timeframes and expectations.
3. Enablers of impact
Clear governance and sustainable funding are emphasised to ensure that the VA is able to deliver on its targets. This includes having a competent co-ordinating organisation, and a set of common criteria, to ensure that trust can be built up between the collaborators.
4. Implementing change
Once the aims of the VA are clear, projects are encouraged to establish high-impact actions across the sector that, together, make systemic change. WRAP categorises these actions into three categories: process, practical, and research, with examples of each of these actions in use.
5. Measurement and evaluation
Careful and robust measurement tools, coupled with reporting and evaluation techniques, are recommended to ensure that progress is being made. In particular, checking the effectiveness of high-impact actions, and identifying which ones need a different approach allowed WRAP to readjust its approach as necessary. 
