New Look pioneers sustainable fashion circular economy ‘game changer’
New Look has become one of the first fashion retailers to partner with second-hand clothing website Re-fashion and tech company EVRYTHING to create a much easier way for consumers to recycle their unwanted fashion.
Working together, EVRYTHNG and Re-Fashion are looking to create a way to not only make selling-on of clothes easier but also better manage the digital identity and provenance of the items being re-used. Using EVRYTHING’s Active Digital Identities, all items of clothing from New Look can be digitised and so can leave a trace as they are moved around.
This allows a garment to tell consumers its story with a digital experience unique to the consumer using technology and data to guarantee it is exactly what it says it is, and connecting the consumer to the item and the brand in a way that has never been possible before, says the company.
Digitised products generate and deliver real-time data throughout the product lifecycle, driving greater operational efficiency, better consumer engagement and higher brand advocacy. Consumers simply scan the digital identity on the product’s label or tag with their smartphone to receive valuable product information and personalized experiences. Products can be traced from point of origin right through to point of use, or consumption, and on to recycling or recommerce.
“As this year’s COP26 highlighted, time is not on our side and we all need to act fast in the battle against climate change, as consumers and as businesses. At Re-Fashion we’re passionate about putting a stop to billions of fashion items ending up in landfill every year,” says Steve Lyons, director and owner, Re-Fashion.
“We are dedicated to creating fashion circularity and re-use, but needed a way of tracking every item we sell so we could encourage its return. Our partnership with EVRYTHNG is absolutely crucial in helping create a more sustainable fashion industry. By matching our approach with EVRYTHNG’s technology, the recycling method becomes easier to action by creating the digital identities for items either at the point of production or, as they’re processed by our team. We have a truly circular solution for fashion out in the market, as we speak.”
Sue Fairley, Head of Sustainability, New Look said: “At New Look we strive to put sustainability at the forefront of what we do – not only responsibly buying and sourcing raw materials but also addressing circularity and ensuring that a product is repurposed and reused as much as it possibly can be.”
She adds: “We don’t want people to throw away their products, but we know that they get bored with them, which is why circularity is so important for the fashion industry. We can’t continue to deplete the world of its resources and now technology is at a point where we can address those concerns and introduce what we call the ‘kind’ product.”
