Case Study

First Circular Clothing Collection now Available

Zurich/Kreuzlingen - The Circular Clothing cooperative has released its first Cradle to Cradle-certified clothing collection. For its Black Denim collection, it provided the Kreuzlingen-based fashion label “the Blue suit” with access to suppliers and audited all materials and the supply chain.

The Circular Clothing cooperative, a collaborative platform for Swiss textiles firms, has developed a first use case just a year after being founded. The cooperative supported “the Blue suit”, an ethical fashion label based in Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau, on its development journey for its Black Denim collection, which is the label’s first to be fully Cradle to Cradle certified. This certification is the global standard for products that are circular and responsibly manufactured. It is based on the five principles of material health, product circularity, clean air and climate protection, social fairness, and water and soil stewardship.

“We have audited all the materials and the entire supply chain, including the production steps”, comments Albin Kälin from epeaswitzerland in a press release. “It is not only the first fashion use case that will profit from this Cradle to Cradle certification; rather, future use cases of the Circular Clothing cooperative will also benefit”, he adds. Based in Bäch in the canton of Schwyz, EPEA Switzerland is responsible for developing and implementing Cradle to Cradle Certified products and services for various companies around the world and is the accredited expert for Cradle to Cradle Certified certifications.

With the help of the Migros Pioneer Fund, the pioneering project Circular Clothing paves the way for small Swiss textile labels to operate in line with the principles of the circular economy. The cooperative offers them solutions they would otherwise be unable to afford on their own: access to safe and healthy materials, a shared and transparent supply chain integrated with a Cradle to Cradle Certified certification. In a first step, the cooperative has created an online assessment that helps interested textile companies with where to start in their efforts to develop a circular product.