What’s in Store for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Design Book – WWD

Design less, design better, know design, design value and design together. Those are the rules the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has preached for the past four years in fashion.

Now, Sustainability-bent the organization is encapsulating its vision in one book: “Circular Design for Fashion,” due out December 2.

The book is aimed at “fearless innovators”, as its preface says, or those committed to leading the future of fashion Laura Balmond, Make Fashion Circular team leader at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, says they have “a very clear vision of how good looking can be”.

Along with presenting the case for systems thinking (compositing the parts), the book also includes case studies from more than 80 early practitioners on circular design in fashion. Among the notable names are Vivienne Westwood, Gucci, Kevin Germanier, H&M, Gap, ThredUp and Vestiaire Collective. Case studies focus on topics such as zero-waste production with the book “Who Pioneers?” The segment details how Taylor Stitch’s menswear brand deals with waste with its custom shirt business.

Learn from Ellen MacArthur’s Jeans redesign project are also explored throughout the book, showing how to better source materials and design to eliminate waste (e.g. avoiding rivets and trim on jeans).

Most importantly, the book leads to three myths surrounding the circular economy (that recycling can save us, that durability is a one-way ticket to the economy). Sustainability and that we can engineer our ways out of climate catastrophe) – while adding some inherent insight. Organizational insights are molded into a ball of truth: circular design is an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and iterative journey.

“While the prevalence is increasing in awareness and becoming [part of] Balmond said. “While recycling is part of the system and we need to do it, there are so many other things in the overall system that we need to consider that are all design decisions. We wanted to bring that lens with us pretty early on. By pointing to those ‘myths’, it will be easier to understand our concept of what it means between a linear system and a circular system. It’s not really about recycling – it’s about how you design your business model. “

Ellen MacArthur’s work in fashion began in 2017 with publishing “The New Textile Economy” The report. Over the years, various philanthropic partners, among them the Laudes Foundation, the People’s Postcode Lottery and the Royal Society of Arts, have supported the organization’s work to promote business principles circular economy to the forefront of fashion.

The book’s long-term aim, according to Balmond, was “to put a twist on circular design in fashion.”

For more, see:

Ellen MacArthur Foundation Posts Limited Progress on the ‘New Plastic Economy’

Denim Do-Over requested by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation