Leading the Circular Textiles Revolution

This pilot project is testing how value recovery can be embedded directly into secondhand sorting systems, transforming how donated clothing is processed and sold.

Working with secondhand operators, the pilot explores a tiered intervention model to recover value from garments typically rejected during grading:

• Assistive resale (selling as-is with repair or care guidance)

• Ultra-light repairs & cleaning (quick, low-cost fixes like button replacement or patching)

• Light repairs (targeted interventions for higher-value items)

The goal is to determine when and how repair makes economic sense, and whether low-effort interventions can increase sell-through, reduce waste, and improve revenue for the secondhand sector.

The project is currently moving through phases of data collection, intervention design, and real-world pilot testing, tracking metrics such as repair time, cost, resale value, and diversion reduction.

Ultimately, this work aims to deliver a scalable circular business model for the reuse sector, including a business case, operational toolkit, and replication model for organizations across Canada.

This project is building the foundation for circular design adoption across Canada’s textile and apparel sector, from practical implementation to future policy alignment and standardization.

Building on the launch of the Circular Design Toolkit, current work is focused on activating the toolkit through:

• Workshops and training programs for brands and manufacturers

• Academic training for the application of the tool in post secondary classrooms

• Small business toolkit development

• Development of a Circular Design Guideline, tailored to Canadian industry and policy contexts

• Creation of assessment tools to help businesses evaluate and improve their design practices

In parallel, the project is advancing toward a national circular design standard, in collaboration with the Canadian Standards Association, helping align industry practices with emerging global regulations.

By bridging design, business models, and policy, this work is enabling companies to move from intention to implementation, while supporting long-term system change across the value chain.

The Love Your Clothes initiative is evolving into Canada’s leading platform for citizen engagement in circular fashion.

Following the 2025 site launch, current work is focused on scaling reach, deepening engagement, and turning awareness into measurable behaviour change. The platform empowers people through the 7Rs framework, reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose, resale, rent, and recycle, with practical, accessible tools.

Key 2026 initiatives include:

• A national integration kit enabling brands and municipalities to embed circular messaging into everyday touchpoints

• Expansion into community spaces such as collection sites, repair cafés, and clothing swaps

• A video podcast series (“Love Your Clothes: The 7Rs in Action”) to deepen public understanding

• A youth learning pathway, including a digital course

• A Campus Club and Affiliate program, to get involved with a campus club, fill out this form.

This work is shifting Love Your Clothes from an information digital hub to a behaviour change platform, supported by data and partnerships that embed circular practices into daily life across Canada.

This project aims to map Canada’s existing textile infrastructure; including secondhand collection, reuse, repair, upcycling, and recycling, and to identify the gaps, barriers, and opportunities needed to build a truly circular system.

A core component of the project is the Secondhand Collection and Diversion Network (SHCDN) Assessment, which gathers insights from charities, collectors, and resale networks to better understand the flow of post-consumer textiles (especially non-rewearable items) and the challenges they face.

Together with national stakeholder interviews and waste audit data, the project will deliver a comprehensive Infrastructure Gap Assessment and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) that will:

• Map current infrastructure across Canada (collection depots, sorting hubs, repair facilities, recyclers, and upcycling innovators)

• Track secondhand and end-of-life textile flows to resale, recycling, export, landfill, and downcycling

• Highlight regional capacity gaps and barriers to scaling reuse and recycling

• Inform key policies such as EPR, digital product passports, and green procurement

This work will provide the national data foundation needed to guide strategic investment and systems development for a circular textile economy in Canada.

This initiative is exploring what it will take to build connected, circular supply chains for Canadian natural fibres, including wool, flax, hemp, and other bio-based materials.

Rather than simply promoting fibre substitution, this work focuses on understanding whether Canada has, or could realistically develop, the infrastructure, coordination, and market conditions needed to support circular systems from production through to end-of-life.

Current work is focused on mapping the full fibre lifecycle, from farming and processing to reuse, recycling, and biological end-of-life pathways, while identifying where systems break down. Early insights point to key gaps in processing infrastructure, aggregation, market alignment, and value chain coordination.

The next phase will explore how supply can connect to real market demand, identifying viable product applications, pilot opportunities, and partnerships that can strengthen domestic circular supply chains.

This project lays the foundation for regionally rooted, resilient textile systems in Canada, while supporting climate goals and reducing reliance on synthetic materials.

To contribute to or get involved with the project fill out this form.

The Policy Committee is supporting the development of a national policy strategy and roadmap for a circular textile economy in Canada, grounded in industry alignment and evidence-based.

Through stakeholder engagement and roundtables, the committee is identifying high-priority policy needs that collectively create the dynamics to drive a market shift that enables change at scale across the circular textile value chain, such as:

• Protecting consumers against the hidden cost of low-quality textile products

• Creating a level playing field for direct manufacturing to consumer e-commerce models

• Shifting tax incentives to support circular business models

• Activating producers in the scaling of domestic reuse and development of end markets

• Disseminating circular public procurement of workwear with recycled content

• Financing of innovation and infrastructure

The policy roadmap lays the groundwork for coordinated national action, ensuring that future policies accelerate the transition to circularity while reflecting the realities of Canada’s textile system .