David Jones, R.M.Williams, The Iconic sign landmark agreement

Big W, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R.M. Williams and The Iconic have signed up as members of the newly launched National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme (NCPSS).

Each organisation has committed $100,000 to fund a 12-month transition phase while a new Seamless scheme is established.

Seamless was created by a Consortium led by the Australian Fashion Council (AFC) with Charitable Recycling Australia, Queensland University of Technology, Sustainable Resource Use and WRAP Asia Pacific.

AFC CEO Leila Naja Hibri said Seamless is the industry’s response to its clothing waste problem which will change the way Australians make, consume and recycle their clothes.

“Today, some of our industry’s most pioneering and progressive brands and retailers are uniting to do what no single business, organisation or even government can do alone,” Hibri said.

“Seamless will guide the transition from the current unsustainable linear model of take, make and dispose, to a circular economy of reduce, reuse and recycle.

“We need to start transitioning to the wardrobe of the future, where clothes are acquired differently, loved for longer and recirculated with care. This systematic and seismic transformation will require courage, creativity and most importantly, collaboration.

“We need to act now. Our industry, and most importantly our planet, depends on it.”

The NCPSS and the Roadmap to Clothing Circularity was officially launched by the Minister for Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, and is intended to drive the industry towards clothing circularity by 2030.

This will be done by incentivising clothing design that is more durable, repairable, sustainable and recyclable; fostering new circular business models for Australian fashion based on reuse, repair, re-manufacturing and rental; and expanding clothing collection and sorting for effective re-use and ensuring non-wearable clothes are recycled into new high-value products and materials.

It also involves encouraging consumer behaviour change for clothing acquisition, use, care and disposal.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority is also contributing $100,000 to the transition phase as a supporting partner.

The scheme design report released today recommends that Seamless is funded by a 4 cent per garment levy, paid by clothing brands and retailers who become members of the scheme.

AFC noted that if 60% of the market by volume sign up to the scheme, a funding pool of $36 million will be raised per year to transform the industry. It added that the activities driven by Seamless, stakeholders and citizens are projected to divert 60% of end-of-life clothing from landfill by 2027.

The Australian Government provided funding for the scheme design.