DESIGNED FOR CIRCULARITY

Marc O‘Polo is stepping up its commitment to circularity in the Fall/Winter 2023 season and is launching, for the first time, products for women and men that have been validated by circular.fashion, one of the leading transformation agencies with regard to compliance with the Circular Design Criteria. These products are marked with the label “Designed for Circularity”. Further expansion of the project is planned for Spring/Summer 2024 and beyond. Fabrics made from a single fiber type, unscrewable jeans buttons, reparability, and the timelessness of a product: Marc O‘Polo places the highest priority not only on recyclable materials but also, when designing and manufacturing collection items with the “Designed for Circularity” (DfC) label, on the physical and emotional longevity of a product. The goal: First of all, to keep clothing made from valuable, certified raw materials in circulation as a finished product for as long as possible. Second, to ensure that a product at the end of its long lifespan can be returned to its original, unprocessed fiber and thus be available again as a valuable raw material, so that resources and raw materials are conserved and natural systems can recover.

1) WHAT DOES CIRCULARITY MEAN FOR MARC O'POLO?
J.A.“Circularity is a very big and broad term, and for us it is not the same as the German Kreislaufwirtschaft (circular economy). Why? Because in German, Kreislaufwirtschaft refers only to recycling and thus to the moment a product reaches the end of its lifespan. In other words, the moment when the product becomes waste. Circularity goes a step further because it's not just about keeping materials in circulation, but entire products. Both physical and emotional longevity are key terms here. Circularity goes beyond the moment we recycle a product and looks at that product’s entire life. In addition, circularity encompasses new business models and services that are more all-encompassing and kinder to ecosystems, allowing our natural systems to recover and resources to be conserved.”

2) WHAT DISTINGUISHES A “DESIGNED FOR CIRCULARITY" PRODUCT?
J.A. “There are strict criteria from the transformation agency circular.fashion. For example, the agency examines exactly what Marc O'Polo does to ensure that a DfC product’s life cycle, and thus its use phase, is as long as possible. Or it looks at the measures taken so that customers can take good care of and repair their items. It's also about the physical and emotional longevity of a product.”

3) WHAT IS MEANT BY PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL LONGEVITY?
J.A. “Physically, longevity means how well the product is processed. For example, whether its fabric alters or seams tear. At Marc O'Polo, we have a very extensive catalog of physical benchmarks that are examined in regular laboratory tests. Emotional longevity means a timeless design. For instance, a product that is well-fitted; a favorite item that is worn frequently by many different people. Our reduced, Scandinavian style already makes us very well-positioned for this sort of longevity.”

4) WHAT CHALLENGES ARE THERE?
J.A. “We are responsible for producing garments that contain the raw materials that will be used for the next product cycle. For producing quasi-circular collections with consideration for take-back and sorting structures that allow quality-preserving, closed-loop recycling. During a product's development, we already determine whether that product is recyclable, i.e. DfC-ready. Afterwards, circular.fashion go through their validation process and very carefully research our practices along the supply chain, checking our products’ compatibility with the processes used in sorting and recycling facilities. There are certain crucial criteria as to what can and cannot be recycled. A primary concern is the composition of the main material, but the processing, down to trims and prints, also has to be considered. Sometimes, these processes are not in compliance with the DfC criteria and must be adjusted. Our goal is that what was once considered garbage will, in the future, be used as new, raw material that can then be integrated into the next cycle in a value-conserving manner. The best way to do that is with mono-materials."

5) SO IT'S NOT ALL UP TO MARC O'POLO?
J.A. “Circularity is an enormously important new item on our agenda, and one with some challenges. It is not just about material cycles in the textile industry. The topic is very multi-faceted, complex and holistic because so many different areas have to communicate with each other. We are working on projects that deal with how a product can communicate its properties to a recycler in an automated way. In other words: intelligent products. These are all concerns for the future, and we realize how exciting this is, how complex—especially because everything is dynamic and constantly changing. Trading partners are constantly developing, bringing new materials to the market; there are new sorting options and much more. There is a lot of potential in this field."

6) WHICH MATERIALS ARE SUITABLE FOR DFC PRODUCTS?
J.A. “Monofibers are ideal. With blends—for example, those containing spandex—recycling is possible only up to a certain point. If a fabric’s spandex content is more than 5 %, it can probably no longer be further processed via mechanical recycling. In principle, the product would then be suitable only for downcycling. That’s why all of our DfC products have a maximum spandex content of 5 %. We are particularly proud of our 100 % monofiber jeans, which contain no spandex at all! They convince with a loose and comfortable fit."

7) WHAT ROLE DOES THE DESIGN TEAM HAVE IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS?
J.A. “Creatively, the development process of our DfC pieces is incredibly exciting and challenging for our designers. It's not just about the look and feel. They have to deal with limitations in cuts and material, rethink fits and finishes, and find new solutions that still make a product appealing, desirable and affordable."