According to the Circular Fashion Index 2022, drafted by management consulting firm Kearney, Italy is the second most sustainable country among fashion producers.
In fact, Italian brand OVS came fifth in the top 10 global ranking, while Gucci came sixth. Gucci also led the top 10 list for the luxury category specifically, ranking ahead of Coach and Burberry. Patagonia, The North Face and Levi’s top the global ranking.
The Circular Fashion Index (CFX) measures fashion brands’ efforts toward extending the life cycle of their clothes.
The circularity performance of the companies was evaluated on seven dimensions, covering both the primary market, i.e. the sale of new products to customers (assessing the share of recycled fabrics in total production, the importance given to circularity in brand communication, the level of detail of washing instructions and the availability of repair services) and the secondary market (which includes second-hand sales, rental services and collection of used clothing). Each of the dimensions was assigned a score for a total value from 1 to 10.
OVS raised its commitment to recycled fabrics, starting from a 65 per cent share of the 2020 collection made with reduced-impact materials and aiming to reaching 90 per cent of recycled fabrics by 2025. Improved care instructions, repair services available in some stores and donation of pre-owned clothes to charity were among other implementations that boosted the score of the Italian brand.
Gucci was awarded for intensifying efforts with Gucci Equilibrium (a portal dedicated to providing updates on social and environmental best practices) and the Off the Grid collection (in recycled materials) as well as for increasing the communication around product longevity and circularity.
Kearney’s research covered 150 global brands representing 20 countries and 6 segments: sports and outdoor, underwear and lingerie, luxury, premium and affordable luxury, mass market and fast-fashion.
The overall result is not very flattering for the fashion industry, that still struggles in addressing its own sustainability shortcomings. Research found only 7 per cent of brands regularly employ recycled materials, 54 per cent of companies use them just for a few selected items or product features, while 39 per cent use no recycled materials at all. Even if communication and promotion of circularity efforts are among the fastest measures to implement, 44 per cent of brands don’t do it at all, and 40 per cent of companies give the minimum amount of care instructions required by law.
DOf the 150 brands monitored, 35% are based in Germany, France and Italy. France remains out of the top positions, but, with its 22 brands, gets the highest score in the CFX (3.65), followed by Italy (2.95) and Germany (2.63).
The United States has an average score of 2.95 and of the remaining 16 countries Sweden is the one that scored the best (thanks to Lindex), followed by Canada (with Lululemon) and the United Kingdom (with Burberry).
