Design Interventions for Circular Retail Model

Imagine that in the future a repaired item of clothing will cost more and is more fashionable than a new one fresh from production. What now may seem utopian, naive, and impossible is precisely the basis on which we must discuss sustainable solutions in fashion –this research project starts right there.

The central question of the project focuses on exploring how care, repair, refurbish, and the return of surplus goods or unused items can create a positive impact on the environment and society. How can new business models of circular trade be developed that preserve the value of goods by redesigning trading processes along the value chain. Therefore, how can fashion retail succeed in developing service formats such as CARE, REPAIR, REFURBISH and RETURN and thus develop attractive circular business models?

With the new textiles EU-legislation, businesses in the fashion industry need to come up with concepts on how to deal with overproduction and returns and how to get access to and keeping on getting value out of already sold clothes and accessories. The focus of textile solutions is currently on complex recycling solutions and technologies. They rarely focus on consumer behaviour and measures to extend the life span of products. Caring, repairing and refurbishing are currently loss-making services if they are part of the services a brand offers. If they are somewhat profitable then they are executed in small scale sewing and alteration shops where people work for very low incomes.

In the project Kaiserhaus Handelz on the one hand we will develop a business model, which is based on the principles of regenerative circularity «care, repair, refurbish and return», and which adds value to things and thus creates for the businesses an opportunity to continue doing business with the clothes that already exist and have been produced. To create a situation which is characterized by:

• No outlet, no loss of value.
• No more returns of damaged goods from customers without care, repair and refurbish/remanufacturing solutions before new products are handed over.
• Not to abandon the pieces because of business considerations, but to continue working on them and with them.
• To stop adding to the pile of clothes and to offer an opportunity before the clothes are sent to legal (or illegal) recycling systems.
• And a legal solution that will allow the fashion industry to continue to do business as usual in the future.

On the other hand, we will develop a «shopping-experience» for individual customers which offers the same thrills when using the complex services (care, repair, refurbish, return) as customers can get out of «linear» shopping.

And thirdly we need to establish parameters for the training of professionals, who can offer these complex services in care, repair, refurbish and return in a way which corresponds to the planned customer experiences.

Status: ongoing
Funding: Innobooster Fashion & Lifestyle powered bei innosuisse & Dagorà
Team HGK: Angela Grosso Ciponte, Evelyne Roth
Forschungspartner Wirtschaft: Circular Lab Association, Bern

Weitere Partner:

• Handelz AG, Bern
• Kitchener AG, Bern
• Transa Backpacking AG Zürich
• ReWork AG, Bern
• Qwstion, Zürch
• IDM Nähwerk, Thun
• Mover plastic free sportswear, Lausanne, mover.eu
• Nccfn Group Gmbh, Berne

Articels:
https://emagazin.fhnw.ch/dreht-sich-die-mode-der-zukunft-im-kreis/

Webpages:
https://www.handelz.ch