A Conversation with Dr Christina Dean on Accelerating Circular Fashion In China
By Christina Dean 23 January, 2025
Unchecked, fashion can use 1/4 of the world’s carbon budget by 2050 and China, as the largest textile producer, has a key role in the transition to circular fashion. Get the latest on this & Redress' collab with Vogue China & Xiaohongshu from Dr Dean, Redress Founder
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China is a major clothing consumption and production market and with this inevitably comes negative environmental impact. Recognising the critical need to engage Chinese fashion consumers in the conversation about fashion’s sustainability by emphasizing the importance of buying less, choosing better and extending the life of garments, Redress in collaboration with Vogue China and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), recently produced a two-episode series on just that. We chat with Dr Christina Dean, Founder/Chair Redress, to learn more about the collab, circular fashion in China & what is needed to make it the norm.
CWR: Congratulations on your collab with Vogue China and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) to produce the two part episode series on accelerating circular fashion in China. Can you tell us more about the series and the two episodes?
Dr. Christina Dean (CD): Thank you! That was the result of partnership and alignment between complimentary parties – NGO, media and social media, and creative and production professionals – in action!
To accelerate circularity by educating designers & consumers requires partnership so that we can create bigger change
Redress has a big heart for change and achieving our mission – to accelerate circularity by educating designers and consumers – in the gargantuan fashion industry that clocks USD$2.4 trillion revenue annually and has a corresponding carbon and water footprint to boot – requires partnership so that we can create bigger change. Media and social media, loud foghorns for desirability, fashion trends and culture, are therefore a major target if we are to reach more Chinese audiences to inform and inspire about more sustainable fashion design and use choices.
Redress has enjoyed a successful partnership with Vogue China, specifically on their Vogue Fashion Fund project that supports the development and growth of Chinese fashion designers. We’ve mentored some of the brightest designers in China, as well as in the rest of the world through our own sustainable design competition, the Redress Design Award. The fashion designers’ role in sustainable and circular fashion is increasingly better understood and addressed, which is music to our ears given that around 80% of a product’s environmental impact is locked in at design stage (EU Science Hub (2018), Sustainable Product Policy).
Redress has enjoyed a successful partnership with Vogue China…
…our two-episode video series (1 & 2) follows 3 talented Chinese designers turning dumped garments to new looks for a prominent Chinese fashion influencer
In collaboration with VOGUE China and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), our two-episode video series (watch episode 1 & 2) follows three talented Chinese designers as they adventure through a vast, post-consumer discarded clothing recycling facility in China, selecting dumped garments to redesign for a prominent Chinese fashion influencer. So, in essence, we basically mixed stardust – from celebrities, designers and fashion influencers – with waste issues as they trawled through discarded clothes in order to bring back to life, to show that even dumped clothes have a lot of fashion life and love to give.
The video series is presented and co-Directed by Bonnie Chen, Supermodel, Environmentalist and Filmmaker and also features a prominent Chinese fashion influencer. The message is clear – we’re inspiring Chinese consumers to keep their clothes in use for longer.
CWR: How has the reaction and feedback been on the series been so far?
Dr. CD: It’s been positive across different stakeholders. In terms of reaching our China consumer target, VOGUE China and Xiaohongshu have a collective audience of over 150 million users and followers, which is a huge group to access with entertainment-driven and exciting content that typical fashion consumers can enjoy. Consumers don’t want condescending or critical advice when it comes to their fashion behaviours, they generally wish to be inspired into action.
It’s been positive across different stakeholders
It was particularly interesting to me that our long term recycling partner, 温州天成纺织有限公司 / Wenzhou Tiancheng Textile Co. Ltd, who generously allowed us to shoot in their facility, found the engagement with the public so promising. I am a huge fan of textile recyclers, who are often the supply chain’s unsung heroes, and so it was great to highlight the role that these recyclers have in waste reduction in the public consciousness.
Interestingly, our long term recycling partner found this public engagement promising…
…textile recyclers are often the supply chain’s unsung heroes
The entire partnership model that we created was unique to get this project off the ground. Anyone can come up with ideas and pitches and proposals. That’s easy. It’s how you get them off the ground that matters. Getting the right alignment and chemistry with co-creators is critical. We created these videos for Vogue China with our long-term content co-creators, Moonlight Entertainment with whom we have made various docu-series and video series with various awards under our belts, together with co-Directors Bonnie Chen and Jeremiah Neri and producer Peter Cheung.
We’re certainly looking at how we can improve and expand this work, so this just the beginning.
CWR: Where is circular fashion and textile waste generation today in China and the rest of world?
Dr. CD: Circularity in fashion today is in quite a shocking state, with less than 1% of material used to produce clothing being recycled into new clothing. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017), A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future.) The global economy might be doing better, but it too has a long way to go, with estimates suggesting that the global economy is only 7.2% circular. (Circle Economy (2023), Circularity Gap Report 2023)
<1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
Redress, as a Hong based and Asia-focused environmental NGO, maintains our Asia-focused strategy, recognising the region’s significant influence on the global fashion industry. Asia is home to the majority of the world’s clothing consumption and production, and its rapidly growing emerging markets and production bases contribute to substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
As the largest exporter of textiles, China faces substantial challenges with textile waste…
…but it has a goal to foster a green, low-carbon & circular economic system – now more than ever, collaboration is needed
As the largest exporter of textiles (worth US$148B, 43.6% in value) and apparel (US$182B, 31.7%) in the world (World Trade Organization, World Trade Statistical Review 2023) China faces substantial challenges with textile waste. The country produces more than 26 million tons of discarded clothing each year, which equates to approximately 70,000 tons per day. (China Association of Circular Economy, 2016), Alarmingly, China’s annual disposal of garments is projected to rise to around 50 million tons by 2030.(China Association of Circular Economy, 2021).
China has published a nationwide goal to foster a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system. Now more than ever, there is an urgent need for collaboration among designers, manufacturers, and consumers alike to accelerate circularity in Asia.
CWR: What’s needed to fast-track more circular fashion and make it the norm?
Dr. CD: Money, money, money! Investment is needed to scale industrial solutions to accelerate recycling. It is estimated that for a step change in sustainability in the fashion industry through innovation by 2030, the fashion industry needs $20 billion to $30 billion of financing per year to develop and commercialize disruptive solutions and business models that will meet shifting consumer preferences and regulatory pressures. (Fashion for Good and BCG Transformation in the Fashion Industry: Unlocking Investment to Scale Innovation, 2020)
Money, money, money! Investment is needed to scale industrial solutions to accelerate recycling…
… few investors have the technical knowledge, leaving a significant financing opportunity unaddressed
Much of the investment funds currently flowing into circular fashion are into soft technology for circular fashion – like resale and rental platforms – which do aid in prolonging clothing’s life but not so much into the hard technology, of recycling and recycled yarns, which as the report suggest typically requires three to five times more funding than digital solutions do.
In fashion, nearly half of the financing opportunity lies at the beginning and the end of the value chain, where raw materials and end-of-use solutions have the highest impact potential
One of the various problems with funding circular solutions in fashion is that few investors have the technical knowledge to effectively evaluate the potential of these technologies and form an investment decision, leaving a significant financing opportunity unaddressed.
CWR: What else is keeping Redress busy? What exciting projects do you have lined up to keep pushing circular fashion?
Dr. CD: Everything keeps us busy! It can feel like we’re on a sinking ship because all projections suggest that fashion consumption, waste and negative environmental impact are only worsening. Textile waste is estimated to increase by about 60% between 2015 and 2030 (Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (2017), Pulse of the Fashion Industry) and left unchecked, some reports suggest that the fashion industry is projected to use a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050 (UNEP (2018), Putting the brakes on fast fashion).
Everything keeps us busy…
…unchecked, fashion can use 1/4 of the world’s carbon budget by 2050
That said, we’ve got a lot more in the tank and even though I founded Redress 18 years ago, it still sometimes feels like we are only just getting started!
We’re currently just opening the 15th cycle of the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition, the Redress Design Award, with two industry events in Shanghai and Hong Kong, alongside announcing some exciting and impactful China fashion partners.
CWR: What piece of advice or ask would you give to consumers/ businesses/ governments/ investors to solve fashion’s negative environmental impacts?
Dr. CD: The core ask, without wishing to sound too philosophical, would be a question our core human purpose in life. I’ve always believed we’re only stewards of our industry and the planet for a short period of time and I’d propose that we work to leave it better than we found it. Dream on, I know!
Further readings
- A Decade Of Dedication – As Redress turns 10 years old, its founder Dr Christina Dean reflects on the victories achieved in driving circular thinking in fashion including the EcoChic Design Award and TV show Frontline Fashion. Plus, check out their initiatives going forward
- Putting Waste Back Into Fashion – China is clamping down on textiles due to the heavy pollution & waste from the industry. With potential new revenues streams in recycling, hear from Redress CEO Christina Dean on how the EcoChic Design Award’s army of sustainable designers is closing the loop on textile waste
- Out With the New – Fashion choices matter: Dr Dean shows us how a secondhand wardrobe can save the worl
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