This thesis aims to find a new collection method for post-consumer denim garments that fits the future context and the needs of ecosystem stakeholders. The thesis is aimed at all who want to work on a circular fashion industry from a business- or ecosystem perspective. The design solution is aimed at brands and retailers.

In a circular economy, denim is recycled at the end-of-life. To scale up recycling, collecting needs scaling up. Now municipalities grant the right to collect garments to collectors. They use textiles containers. The profitability of this business model is decreasing and many garments still end up in the trash.

Stakeholders in the denim industry were interviewed about the barriers, drivers and ideal situation for collecting or working with post-consumer (recycled) denim. The most critical barriers stakeholders mentioned are: clothing is treated as a waste stream; the company’s scale is too small for impact; (fast) fashion is counteractive to circularity; financial barriers; a lack of transparency in the ecosystem; needing to convince consumers to hand in clothes; and uncertainties around legislation. The most important drivers they mentioned are: legislation (the Extended Producer Responsibility) leads to action; financial incentives (from legislation); more attention for sustainability; and growing consumer enthusiasm for sustainability. Consumers often value attributes like a comfortable fit over sustainability when buying garments. There is a need to educate the consumer on topics like handing in clothes. For an ideal situation, industry stakeholders mentioned: collaboration between stakeholders; sustainability is profitable; brands and retailers take care of different steps in the value chain; more transparency. They also asked: should the future be local or global; and should we create closed loops within a brand or the industry? Trends that impact the ecosystem are trends in logistics and legislation.

Brands and retailers will be impacted by the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and will bear responsibility for collecting garments at the end-of-life. Therefore, the design challenge is to facilitate the collection of worn denim for brands and retailers. The thesis studied the case of De Rode Winkel to learn more about jeans collection in stores. This gave insight into the volume composition of the collected jeans. The retailer kept some of the jeans, which led to a decrease in revenue for the sorter. A different approach to the business model was needed. Therefore, the design challenge was redefined to develop the business case of collection as a service.

In the final design, Textiles2Textiles offers collection as a service (CaaS) to denim brands and retailers. The consumer hands in their garment at a store and receives a discount. The service, called the Collecting Collective, takes care of educating the consumer; providing retailers and brands with the means to collect; and sorting the garments and sending them to the right step in the value chain. The service can exist in a system without and with the EPR. At first, the service will be only for denim garments, but will later extend to the collection of all garments.