The Ellen Macarthur Foundation, the brainchild of the round world sailor, is a non-profit organisation that works with companies to promote a circular economy that designs out waste and pollution.
The latest brand to benefit from its expertise is fashion company Tommy Hilfiger which has just unveiled its first circular design denim collection. The key to the new range is that all the items are based on components that can be traced and recycled.
It consists of seven garments that include jeans and denim jackets that are made from 100% organic fabric. The features include detachable buttons with the metal rivets are replaced with bar tacks. Metal zips and leather patches have been removed.
Crucial to the collection are instructions on how to wash and care for the garment in the most environmentally friendly way. They also come with advice on how to repair the garments or recycle it when it has reached the end of its life.
The CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Global, Martijn Hagman, commented “As a leading fashion brand, we have a responsibility to drive the transition to a circular economy and we are proud to work alongside the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to achieve this. This shift requires a full rethink of the fashion value chain, and these pieces are a testament to the skill, expertise and dedication of both teams as we continue to push the boundaries in both design and manufacturing. This is just one step on our path to creating fully circular products.”
Francois Souchet, Make Fashion Circular Lead of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said; “As a denim industry leader, and one of the first brands to sign up to Jeans Redesign, Tommy Hilfiger is demonstrating how we can all work together to redesign fashion’s future. The launch of this collection is an exciting step towards a circular economy for fashion where the clothes we love never become waste.”
Tommy Hilfiger has been majoring in sustainability in recent years. It has trained over 80% of its designers on circular design principles and launched ‘Tommy for Life’, its first circular business model where customers and partners give back their items to the company, who will then clean, repair and resell the items. It also claims to have produced more than two million pieces of lower impact denim, using a process that requires less water and energy compared to conventional ones.
