Circular Sourcing enables businesses to digitise and sell their fabrics alongside their current operations, catering to micro, small, medium, and even home-based businesses, with the goal of reducing Australia’s surplus fabrics and designer deadstock.
A survey conducted by the business in 2022 unveiled that over 10 million kilograms of so-called deadstock textiles, which are unused and intended for downcycling or waste are spread across the country.
A.BCH and Circular Sourcing founder Courtney Holm said: “While Circular Sourcing doesn't solve every textile waste issue, it offers an important pathway.
“Keeping materials in use in their highest use case is simply the right thing to do. Before designers buy more new fabric, they should see if there’s something that already exists that could serve their purpose."
The Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre's Innovation Fund which saw a lot of potential in the platform provided funding for the project in 2022, supporting its design, build, and launch.
Emily Anderson, team lead at Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre explained: “Transforming from a linear to a circular economy is a process… Circular Sourcing provides a solution to support the local textiles industry to grow and embrace circularity in their practice.”
Leila Naja Hibri, CEO of the Australian Fashion Council, expanded on Anderson’s point by adding: "Innovative initiatives like Circular Sourcing play a critical role in helping our industry transition from the current unsustainable linear clothing lifecycle to a circular clothing economy of reduce, reuse, and recycle."
Circular Sourcing's project partners include Meriel Chamberlin (Full Circle Fibres), Stephen Morris-Moody (MTK), Dewi Cooke (The Social Studio), and the team at Harvee/The Business Pickle.
