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Ellen Macarthur

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Partnering with the Ellen Macarthur Foundation to help "close the loop" in fashion

Moving towards more circular principles both within our own operations and throughout our supply chain is a key part of Primark Cares. We’ve worked with the Ellen Macarthur Foundation since 2018, drawing on their network, knowledge and expertise to help embed more circular practices within our business.

Moving towards more circular principles both within our own operations and throughout our supply chain is a key part of Primark Cares. We’ve worked with the Ellen Macarthur Foundation since 2018, drawing on their network, knowledge and expertise to help embed more circular practices within our business. Today, we’re a Network Partner as well sitting on their Advisory Board.

In July 2021, we joined the Foundation’s Jeans Redesign Project. Our Jeans Redesign collection featured jeans and denim jackets for adults and kids made of organic cotton and recycled fibers, and designed to be easily recycled. The jeans were free of rivets, a common design element that makes jeans difficult to recycle, and the labeling also included guidelines on removing buttons and zippers before recycling to give the product another life.

Building on our work in this area, we have a new Circular Product Lead at Primark. And we’ve begun training our designers, buyers and suppliers on circular design principles.

“We’re pleased to see Primark explore and learn how to put products on the market aligned with circular economy principles and growing their understanding of the challenges that must be addressed to achieve the vision of a circular economy for fashion. Now the concept has been proven, we cannot delay progress. There is a need to continue driving action, at pace and scale, towards a circular economy for fashion.”    

Laura Balmond, Fashion Initiative Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

This year, we created Primark’s Circular Product Standard (CPS). Our CPS is a framework for how we intend to design products now and in the future and is built on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s (EMF) vision of a circular economy for fashion. We are a Network Partner of EMF, which is an international charity developing and promoting the circular economy. We also consulted closely with climate action NGO WRAP, circularity think tank Circle Economy and the nonprofit sustainability educator Sustainable Fashion Academy, in addition to team members and other industry partners. It took over two years to develop and will be used by both our Product teams and suppliers.

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