Discover what CISUTAC is up to

The way Europeans buy, use, repair, and dispose of clothing is becoming a critical lever in the transition to a circular textile economy. While innovation in materials and recycling technologies is essential, real change cannot happen without consumers. CISUTAC partners Wageningen University & Research, Kringwinkel Antwerp, Oxfam Belgium and Ireland, and Decathlon Italy, recently produced two reports, bringing behavioural science, real-world experiementation, and large-scale communication campaigns to life across several European countries.

Transparent, harmonised, and accessible product data will determine whether circularity in the textile sector remains an aspiration or becomes a reality. CISUTAC partners RISE and GTS released an Open Data Guide that addresses precisely this challenge. The guide explores how the textile industry can overcome the critical bottleneck of insufficient data accessibility, laying out practical steps for brands, recyclers, and other stakeholders in the value chain to prepare for the forthcoming Digital Product Passport under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

Traditional repair options were not only inefficient but also difficult to scale across the volume De Kringwinkel handles. It became clear that to make a meaningful impact on garment reuse, zipper repair had to become faster, easier, and more accessible, both for internal reuse purposes and for customer-facing services. The CISUTAC repair station was developed to address this need, with De Kringwinkel becoming its first real-world test site, allowing the innovation to be embedded directly into reuse operations.

As concerns over textile waste continue to grow, the CISUTAC project partner RREUSE released a crucial new report, “Unlocking Opportunities for Circular Business Models in Textiles: Phasing out Linearity”. Released in September 2024, this report provides a comprehensive overview of the current repair, reuse, and recycling systems across the EU, revealing both the challenges and opportunities within the circular textile economy.

In March 2022, the European Commission embarked on a transformative journey for textiles with its EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, aiming, among other, to revolutionise waste management and consumption habits in Europe's textile industry. As part of the CISUTAC projetc, RISE and Centexbel released a comprehensive report titled "Circular Transition Scenarios & Software for Post-Consumer Textile Waste Channelling" that serves as a guiding compass, offering insights into various pathways for Europe's textile industry to achieve a circular future.

In the quest for a more sustainable future, recycling protective workwear like firefighter suits is a unique challenge. To address this issue, CISUTAC partner PCH Innovations developed a cutting-edge workstation aims to automate the disassembly of firefighter suits, making it more efficient and cost-effective. With their solution, PCH Innovations combines human flexibility with smart machines to streamline the workflow.