The United States’ Opportunity for Circular Fashion

In this paper, we describe the domestic policy opportunity to address fashion's pollution contributions through increased support of circular fashion models. We summarize fashion’s environmental, financial, and health impacts on our communities, and explain how circular fashion presents a necessary and urgent improvement to the linear take-make-waste business model. We consider the benefits of increasing U.S. consumer demand for reuse, and further enabling businesses and individuals to participate in resale, while building markets that do not yet exist at scale, like textile recycling. Finally, we propose public policy that will support fashion circularity, and explain how it will protect U.S. supply chains, support economic competitiveness, enable job creation and empower consumers.