High fashion is going circular

The glam fashion brand Gucci is committing to going fully circular.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the fashion industry – it’s one of the most wasteful and polluting industries on the planet.

To see this coming from a company that I imagine is a pinnacle for many fashion brands is seriously encouraging.

To be completely circular, you need to consider the entire lifecycle of your product, start to end – right from when the cotton (or whatever) is grown, through it’s initial use and reuses throughout it’s life, to it’s very final day and into it’s next life.

Gucci is funding regenerative agricultural projects to source it’s raw materials from, moving away from any fossil fuel derived materials and sourcing recycled material for everything else, while also building partnerships with companies who specialise in reselling used/preloved/vintage fashion as a strategic initiative.

It’s a huge jump start to the fashion industry which sends an important message about the importance of circularity. It’s also an opportunity for other fashion brands to ride the momentum that a brand like Gucci will create.

There’s an important signal to notice in this – I don’t know what motivated Gucci to do it, but although funding regenerative ag projects will cost a bomb – to me it looks like they’ve spotted a pile of opportunity.

From owning regen farms to jumping into vintage fashion, I reckon some very smart people have seen avenues for growth where others might have only seen costs.