How we aim to close the loop by moving away from traditional linear models in the design and production of our couture accessoires.
How do we follow circular design principles?
For our cen. couture accessories, we use circular fabrics that come from overproduction or are fabrics from high-quality designers that would otherwise have to be destroyed, thus giving them a second chance. In addition, some of our materials are easily recyclable, e.g. PLA for 3D printed pieces.
Furthermore, we will incorporate upcycling principles into each of our collections through embroideries explicitly designed for upcycling. In connection to that, we will offer our cen. customers the opportunity to participate in one of our regional upcycling workshops to show them how to give new elegance to old or damaged clothes. We are sure that they will see their newly designed pieces with different eyes again.
In order to make the cycle of our product development clear and understandable for our cen. community, we will pay attention to the greatest possible transparency of individual steps of our textile supply chain. We exclude cooperation partners outside the EU.
Why do we follow slow fashion principles?
The new, regenerative circular economy within fashion and textile industry needs a new form of design. Tangible products are only the most obvious part of an economy that needs to change. Rather, services, business models, exchange relationships, markets, etc. must also be redesigned or redefined.
In this context, new approaches no longer deal only with recycling and disposal of residual or pollutant materials, as the first circular economy has done since the 1980s, but are about designing cycles from the very beginning. There should be no more waste, but only recycled nutrients. The goal behind this is not further resource depletion, but resource use in cycles. In its most ambitious form, such a transformation towards a regenerative circular economy is a major economic project.
5 reasons why it is so important for cen. to follow circular design principles:
Circular design reduces waste and disposal.
Circular design promotes the use of existing materials.
Circular design supports the re-use and re-design of existing clothes.
Circular design enables people to be saviours of their own clothes.
Circular design contributes to the conservation of our natural resources.
Paying attention to circular design, we aim to close the loop by moving away from traditional linear models for design and production.
by Viktoria Heinzel
references:
Braumüller, J., Jäckle, V. & Lorenzen, N. (2019). Fashion Changers. Knesebeck Von Dem GmbH.
Fletcher, K., Pierre, L. S., Tham, M. (2019). Design and Nature: New ways of knowing for sustainability, LENS Conference, Milan, April 3-5.
Fletcher, K. (2015). Other Fashion Systems in Fletcher, K. & Tham, M. (Eds.), The Handbook of Sustainability and Fashion, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
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