This post is also available in: DE
29.04.2022
circular.fashion installs the world’s first intelligent sorting station for old clothes at “Aktion Hoffnung” Augsburg.
The first intelligent sorting station was put into operation at aktion hoffnung in Ettringen, Germany. With the help of an intelligent sorting station for ID-based sorting, the aid organisation has the possibility to directly recognise the exact material composition as well as commercial factors such as the resale value of used textiles and thus to allocate sorting fractions more efficiently and accurately.
Improved sorting quality
Thanks to the improved sorting quality, it should be possible to serve high-quality reuse or recycling fractions, for example, for fibre-to-fibre recycling, for which not enough information, such as the exact material composition, is available at the sorting company today.
“For aktion hoffnung as a non-profit church-based collection organisation, the sustainability idea will be even more in focus in the coming years. Being part of a new and innovative pilot project is therefore a matter of course for us. We hope it will provide us with many opportunities to rethink the textile circular economy.” – Johannes Müller, Managing Director of aktion hoffnung.
Circular infrastructure is being built
This is just the beginning. In the long term, a circuit-capable infrastructure is to be built up that can be expanded and used beyond the pilot phase. The pieces can then be quickly and precisely put into the right cycle. That is why the introduction of the world’s first intelligent sorting station is only part of the Closed Loop Pilot initiated by circular.fashion and FairWertung e.V.
“Non-profit clothing collectors are pioneers in reuse. FairWertung and its partners now also want to be drivers of a circular economy. Since circular economy means teamwork, together with circular.fashion, we have launched the Closed Loop Pilot to pioneer again.” – Thomas Ahlmann, Managing Director Dachverband FairWertung e.V.
Cooperation with fashion brands
In cooperation with the fashion brands ARMEDANGELS, Besonnen, OTTO, The Slow Label and Vretena as well as the non-profit used textile collectors/sorters of the umbrella organisation FairWertung e.v., we are implementing a real circularity system for the fashion industry.
Within the framework of the project, the participating fashion brands each developed a circular collection, which was equipped with a circularity.ID®. In addition, they chose a sales model so that the textiles are returned after a few months to test the return channels. From now on, these textiles will arrive at the world’s first intelligent sorting station!
OTTO today launches the Circular Collection created as part of the Closed Loop Pilot. It comprises nine items of clothing from the brands “OTTO products” and “Lascana”.
About circular.fashion:
circular.fashion is an innovation company that drives the implementation of a circular economy in the fashion and textile industry with systemic and digital solutions. The Berlin-based company develops services and software for circular design and recycling in closed loops to enable a transparent flow of information between material suppliers, fashion brands, consumers and recyclers.
Article image: circular fashion
HL