Circular business models will no longer be optional
More and more consumers demand a circular experience with their fashion consumption, to eliminate waste by recycling worn products. This is putting pressure on brands across the spectrum to think about enabling ways to return purchases after they have been worn by customers. However, consumers are sceptical of big brands making circularity claims as data is so widely available, and the validity of sustainability initiatives, such as H&M’s garment collection programme, are called into question.
With more brands following H&M’s model, having a circular business model will become a standard in fashion. The key differentiator between brands will become a circular experience. As Karl-Hendrik Magnus, senior partner at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, puts it: “As soon as some brands enable great ways of returning your garments into a circular cycle—not having to carry them back to the store but having them picked up, without any hassle, at your doorstep—and with a brand actually knowing what you have in your wardrobe, bidding for that, and sending you reminders of what would be great to bring back into the circularity cycle, then the experience will become so pleasant that mass participation of consumers will happen.”