What if the clothes Britain bins every year ended up as the fabric of its next fashion drop? A group of big UK names is putting its weight behind that idea and wants to prove it can make money too.
The scale of the problem is hard to ignore. The UK generated around 1.4 million tonnes of post-consumer textiles in 2024, according to WRAP’s Textiles Market Situation Report. Nearly half of that is estimated to be non-reusable, which means it is too worn out to be resold or donated again.
Enter The Circuit. Marks & Spencer (M&S), New Look, Sainsbury’s Tu Clothing and Oxfam have joined forces with Circle-8, the development company behind the initiative, to build a UK supply chain that collects, sorts and preps end-of-use clothing as feedstock for fibre-to-fibre recyclers.
“Circularity only works at scale when there is both a reliable supply of waste and reliable demand for what that waste can become,” Elyse Winer, chief marketing officer and general manager consumer at Gen Phoenix, told Fibre2Fashion. She said that balance is what makes or breaks a project like this.
Starting in Batley
The first phase kicks off in January 2027 at Oxfam’s site in Batley, Yorkshire. Oxfam will separate reusable pieces from non-reusable ones and run the automated sorting equipment. It sounds less flashy than a shiny new fibre breakthrough, but sorting is the unglamorous bottleneck. Recyclers need consistent input, and a mountain of mixed fabrics, blends and trims is the opposite of consistent.
Phase one will also work on traceability reporting, spot circular material opportunities and build relationships with recyclers. Oxfam said the need is real. “Urgently need better solutions for textiles that can no longer be worn or reused,” Rachel Cosgrove-Pearce, retail director at Oxfam, said in a statement.
A whole squad behind it
This is not a one-brand flex. Biffa and Ekman Group are on board as development partners, while Usha Yarns, Kipas, Reju and Worn Again Technologies are the recycling partners. The Circuit supports both mechanical and chemical recycling so recovered materials can find more than one route to market. It also grew out of the Innovate UK-funded ACT project, and the founding group is open to more retailers and recyclers joining.
Circle-8 knows the model only works if the circle keeps growing. “No one organisation can create a circular textile value chain alone,” Cyndi Rhoades, chief executive officer and co-founder of Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems, said in a statement.
Why retailers are in
For M&S, recycling is the last piece of a bigger puzzle. Its Plan A for Another Life aims to give 5 million items another life by 2030 through rewear, repair, resale and recycling, and the retailer wants to be net zero across its value chain by 2040. Recycling is the step with the weakest infrastructure right now.
“The most sustainable clothing is clothing that is worn and loved for longer,” Katharine Beacham, head of sustainability and materials in fashion, home and beauty at M&S, said in a statement.
What it could mean for UK textiles
If it works, the payoff goes beyond tidy sustainability reports. Sorting and pre-processing close to where clothes are discarded could create UK manufacturing activity and jobs and give brands a steadier source of recycled materials.
It could also cut reliance on virgin resources, which matters as consumer and regulatory expectations tighten. Winer said that shift in mindset is the real opportunity. “The opportunity is to start thinking about waste as feedstock rather than an endpoint,” she said.
Retailers are clearly thinking long term, and New Look is a good example. The brand wants to help build more resilient supply chains over time and sees teamwork as the only way to get there. “Building a more circular fashion industry requires collaboration right across the value chain,” Lynda Petherick, chief executive officer at New Look, said in a statement.
The reality check
Recycled fibres still have to go head-to-head with conventional ones on price, performance and volume. There are no cost or volume numbers in the announcement yet, and phase one is built to test and learn, not to prove the model.
Questions around offtake commitments and how fast recyclers can absorb UK feedstock will decide whether this scales past a pilot. Sainsbury’s Tu is keeping expectations grounded. “It’s about learning, testing practical solutions,” Ben Smith, managing director of Sainsbury’s Tu Clothing, said in a statement.
For now, The Circuit is a framework with a start date and a strong lineup, not a proven industry. Its first year will show whether automated sorting can deliver the quality recyclers need, and whether retailers will commit to buying what comes out the other end.
If they do, the clothes the UK no longer wants could become a homegrown resource. If not, it joins a long list of promising pilots that never left the testing stage.