#Retail & Brands

2023-12-14

Chanel becomes Ellen MacArthur Foundation Network Partner

After joining the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as a Network Member last year, luxury French fashion house Chanel has now become a Partner. Over the next three years, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation will work closely with the house and support its circular economy journey.

Marking the start of the Partnership, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation helped design Chanel’s Circular Economy Hackathon in Paris — bringing together more than 200 employees, students, manufacturers, suppliers, and experts to raise awareness about the circular economy and explore how Chanel can support the transition from linear to circular.

Following its first Hackathon last year, on the theme of tackling plastic pollution, this year’s event focused on the circular economy. Organised by the fashion branch of the French house, the event was held at Chanel’s Rue Cambon headquarters last month.

Participants created their own circular economy solutions designed to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials, and regenerate nature.

The Foundation’s CEO, Andrew Morlet, opened the event and the Executive Lead, Network, Joe Murphy, joined the jury with President of Chanel Fashion Bruno Pavlovsky, Oceanographic Institute Chair Patricia Ricard, Politecnico di Milano Professor Luca Magagnin, University of Cambridge Director, Cambridge Zero, Emily Shuckburgh, Bigger Than Us documentary filmmaker Flore Vasseur, and senior members of Chanel’s leadership team.

The jury selected winning circular economy solutions that will be implemented at Chanel in the coming months.

“The 2023 Chanel Fashion Hackathon is part of our in-depth transformation of the House’s activities, which began several years ago. The aim of this unprecedented event is to accelerate a global virtuous evolution towards a more circular fashion and luxury industry.”

Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel Fashion and President of Chanel SAS

“We were delighted to collaborate with Chanel as a Network Partner and look forward to working closely with the team as our relationship continues to evolve over the next three years. The Circular Economy Hackathon offered a dynamic and exciting approach to solving challenges, and we are excited to support Chanel as it pioneers the transformation towards a circular fashion industry.”

Andrew Morlet, CEO, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The Network of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which includes businesses, policymakers, financial institutions, and academia, is a pioneering global community committed to taking action to drive systemic change. Chanel, together with the other Network organisations, shares an ambition to change the way it works. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation looks forward to supporting the house, and facilitating collaboration opportunities across the Network, as it strives to accelerate the global transition to a circular economy.

“Production is a product”

From technical textiles and AI-driven robotics to the limitations of textile circularity: Professor Dr Thomas Gries looks back on more than two decades of development at ITA Aachen. In the interview, he explains why production technology remains a decisive success factor, discusses international collaborations and innovation ecosystems, and shares his views on the transformation of production landscapes and the challenges facing an increasingly regulated industry.

“We need to move away from the price trap and return to a value-driven mindset.”

With its new Textile Innovation Center, KARL MAYER is sending a strong signal for innovation, collaboration, and the future of textile applications. In this interview, Karl Josef Mayer discusses new opportunities in warp knitting, the processing of staple fibres, recycling, the changing role of machinery manufacturers, and why the textile industry must once again focus more strongly on the value of textiles. by Oliver Schmidt

“Innovation, resilience and international experience remain the great strengths of the Swiss textile machinery industry”

Geopolitical uncertainty, growing competitive pressure from China, new free trade agreements and the shift towards a circular economy are currently reshaping the global textile industry. In this interview, Cornelia Buchwalder discusses the current mood within the Swiss textile machinery sector, the industry’s distinctive innovative strength, new market opportunities in India and Asia, and the technological trends that could shape the upcoming trade fair cycle leading up to ITMA 2027.

Recover™ secures multi-year recycled cotton agreement with H&M

Recover™ has signed a multi-year agreement with H&M to support the integration of its recycled cotton fiber, RCotton, for use in H&M’s products. Since early 2024, H&M and Recover™ have collaborated on product development, which now enables scaled commercial introduction of Recover™ mechanically recycled cotton into H&M’s collections.

GORE-TEX® KIDSWEAR launches innovative membership scheme for kids’ jackets

With its revolutionary new membership model, GORE-TEX® Kidswear now offers families a simple, flexible and sustainable way of kitting out their children in top-quality jackets. It is aimed at the parents of children aged between five and ten and kicks off with a choice of functional winter jackets.

KARL MAYER presents a textile TEXTRONIC® innovation at ITM 2026

With highly efficient machines and continuous textile innovations, KARL MAYER underscores its role as a reliable partner for discerning top-tier customers. Just in time for ITM 2026 in Istanbul, the industry leader is introducing a true innovation: an eyelash lace with its characteristic fringed look – combined with a previously unattainable 4-way stretch. While the established fabric could until now only be produced as rigid version or with one-dimensional stretch, the new elasticity in both dimensions expands the possibilities for cross-band panel fabrics.

DYNEEMA® and NP Aerospace advance personal protection for military servicewomen

Dyneema®, owned by Avient Corporation, an innovator of materials solutions, is supplying its high-performance unidirectional (UD) materials to world-leading armor manufacturer NP Aerospace, enabling the production of armor systems designed specifically to fit the female body. With 2,000 new armor systems, including 4,000 plates, made in the United Kingdom (UK) and delivered in June 2026, this collaboration addresses a long-standing lack of high-quality personal protection specially built for female defense and security personnel.

Textile Exchange publishes comprehensive polyester LCA study

Textile Exchange has released a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study on polyester, providing detailed data on the environmental impacts of both virgin and recycled polyester production. The study aims to strengthen understanding across the fashion, textile and apparel industries and support more informed decision-making regarding polyester sourcing and production.