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Fashion for Good project tests AI sorting to maximise value of garment resale
Fashion for Good has found in research for its Rewear project that most discarded clothes are in a wearable condition. It said: “We examined 8,280 garments across four European countries. Thirty-seven per cent had no damage at all. We are not throw- ing away broken things. We are throwing away things we have simply moved on from.” The Rewear project builds on
Fashion for Good’s Sorting for Circularity framework aiming to advance textile-to-textile recycling technologies and the resale industry. The organisation’s 18-month
project started in January 2024 in collaboration with Circle Economy, brand partners Adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss and Zalando to enhance the sorting of rewearable textiles using AI technologies. It said the project seeks to improve garment recovery for resale as an element in promoting circular- ity in the fashion industry.
Used clothing market in Malunda, West Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image: Shutterstock Near Infrared (NIR) technol-
ogy can determine garment composition, but the task of assessing re-wearability is largely manual. The project has tested automated sorting technologies to collect product information – such as colour, style, garment type, and quality – to enable sorters and brands to make better decisions, optimising the flow of textiles to achieve their highest value potential.
AI-powered sorting technology, tested in one of the project’s pilots, modelled a profit shift from zero to €6.5m annually for a mid-sized sorting facility. Fashion for Good said that
37% of garments analysed in Europe had no damage and 41% had only minor flaws, however physical condition is not the primary driver of resale value. “Instead, value is dictated by subjective perceptions,
specifically fashion trends and brand names associated to the garment,” it said. In another project finding,
more than 86% of imported garments sampled at Ghana’s Kantamanto Market arrived damaged, despite being exported as rewearable. The traders in Ghana and other reuse hubs then have to bear the cost of waste management, it said. •
www.fashionforgood.com
Bestseller says Ready project will help product
teams make better decisions Brand owner Bestseller has reported on the Ready research project which was designed to gain more knowledge about recycled fibres and how they work in real products. With its partners from the textile industry and academia, Bestseller helped establish small-scale testing facilities in Denmark. “Equipment like this has not been available in Denmark for decades,” it said, but it has made it possible to test materials early on and get a clearer picture of their quality and consistency before they are used in products. The project has allowed the group to explore how materials such as
recycled polyester and cotton behave, and to identify potential challenges earlier in the process. It said: “For product teams, this kind of insight supports better decisions, reduces uncertainty and strengthens collaboration between designers, buyers, technical specialists and suppliers.” •
https://bestseller.com
4 Textiles Loop • Summer 2026
Image: Bestseller
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