In our blog post Steps to Circularity, we outlined five steps that a company can use as a guide to incorporate Circularity into their business.
We will follow up with a deeper dive into each of the steps with the hope that your company adopts them.
Expand: As the brand starts seeing the benefits of the circular model, consider expanding these practices throughout the company.
The adoption of Circular within a brand is in itself a circular route. Think of the image of a spiral where you loop back around but at a different level. At the core of this spiral is your vision. Always have it visible, and bring it to your meetings within the company, with your suppliers and partners. Remind yourselves why you are doing the work you are.
Within each area of the business, you will learn and see how the business intersects with itself and soon solving one problem can solve multiple problems.
The word “scale” is often used when taking a project out of a pilot to a standard practice of the company. I recommend deleting “scale” and using “expand”. Expand moves at the pace that the solution is designed for. Not every solution is going to fit the entire company, or maybe your business operates differently in a different country because those customers have different expectations. But staying in a test stage forever also limits your ability to gain efficiencies and take a bolder approach to implementation.
One trap many companies fall into is to set up a test, maybe a specific fabric or construction or a resale program, but it is off to the side and doesn’t get the right resources to gain the benefits of the investment in the test. Marketing might do a small campaign and leave it rather than integrate it into the language and story of the brand.
Instead, a brand should see these pilots/tests as a kick-off to change over a longer time. Expand your programs over time, both the depth and breadth of your circular work. Through the education engage your colleagues and customers along the way.
Transforming one’s company is a big change, it is exciting, and this change is part of your company’s story. Think of Netflix which went from a company renting physical DVDs to a streaming content company. Think of the car companies shifting from combustion engines to electric batteries. Transformation happens and you can be part of that transformation in the apparel and textile industry.
As we outlined in our previous blog posts, there are so many resources already developed and ready to be implemented. The first step is always the first step. Take action and adopt a strategy for Circularity and then tap into the resources available to make it happen.
And know that Bleckmann is here to partner with you and implement that change.
