The Bigger Picture

A Curated Guide to 2024's Breakthrough Reports in Textile Circularity

Thank you so much for supporting me throughout 2024. Here we are in December 2024, on the 25th month of publication, and at the final Fafafoom Studio Newsletter issue of 2024. Paid subscribers, there are not many of you, but your support speaks volumes and they fill my heart with utmost gratitude and motivation to keep going and growing.

This year, I have shared a great deal about my projects - garment-making processes, design observations, Climate Week showcases, and more. It’s a very zoomed-in view of how I do what I do. For this last issue of the year, let’s zoom out and see why I keep doing what I do. Never before has textile waste and circularity received so much attention like in 2024. So I’d like to give you a curated list of resources I found most helpful, not just in learning the latest progress in textile circularity but also in understanding the ever-evolving shape of sustainability in textiles.

I hope you will enjoy this more compact issue, and see you on the other side in 2025!

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

In February 2024, I spoke about my process of circulating clothes, a very personalized process that’s miniscule in scale and complexity compared to the Global Material Flows for Clothing as visualized and described in Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s The New Textiles Economy.

The macro factors of global apparel production supply chain, challenges and harmful consequences of the linear economy model, and numerous calls to action laid out in this report were (and still are) the guiding light for conscious production and consumption. The 2016 report functions a staple for sustainability in fashion standards.

I have seen many more reports since then, alluding to fashion’s dependence on fossil fuels, raw material challenges, designed opressions within the systems, and more. The momentum and cries of action to manifest sustainability and circularity have grown louder each year. And in 2024, I was surprised to see newly published reports focusing on textile waste and circularity.

In the interconnected system of apparel lifecycle, it is near impossible to create solutions by isolating components. Harmful consequences felt during one lifecycle state are often designed or executed at prior state(s), intertwined with supplier and processing factors that are hard to dissect.

The realities of apparel lifecycle can make effective storytelling both challenging and rich in nature. Challenging due to the complexities, rich due to its inherent connections with people. People whose culture, heritage, desires, and behaviors continue to shape the system to become the way it is today.

So what’s the reality of the system today? I’d like to highlight several reports that did just that, within my lens of an upcycling artist / slow fashion designer living in California, United States. We will start with the zoomed out global view first, then zooming in to United States, and lastly California.

No matter where you are in the world, I hope this curated highlight will be helpful in your own learning in manifesting circularity in your fashionable life, and giving hints in anticipation of what’s ahead.