SATCoL’s latest collaboration with Europe’s newest responsible sourcing show, Source Fashion

Winchester School of Arts and SATCoL’s redesigning fashion campaign collaboration was featured on the Source Fashion catwalk at Olympia London

Putting the fashion supply chain at the fingertips of UK buyers and Europe’s newest responsible sourcing show, Source Fashion was held Olympia London from February 12th – 14th February 2023, and announced a collaboration with the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) to showcase its Fibersort textile recycling technology, designed to repurpose and resupply more recycled materials into established supply chains, at the February edition.

Fibersort is the first technology of its kind in the UK – automatically identifying and sorting second-hand textiles by fibre type. Fibersort makes sure garments are accurately separated by fibre type for recycling, and the system is the first in the UK to sort post-consumer garments which can no longer be reworn.

Charlene Bent, SATCoL said, “We were thrilled to be working with The Hyve Group on Source Fashion. It provides another opportunity for businesses to learn more about our sustainable solutions, to reduce waste, reuse and recycle pre-loved items and help to raise vital funds for charity work. We are part of a society that overconsumes in many areas. Our role in minimising the environmental impacts of textiles is to divert as much as possible away from disposal and lessen the burden of over production.

“Reusing clothing is a crucial way to divert significant volumes - each year we prevent around 62,000 tonnes of clothing and home textiles from being disposed of. The more second-hand clothing we can process through our existing channels and through recycling systems such as Fibersort, the more potential we have to reclaim and, work with our retail partners, to ‘resupply’ more recycled materials into established supply chains.”

Part funded by WRAP’s Resource Action Fund, an active and live project which shares findings with DEFRA and WRAP. Additional investments by SATCoL such as the bailer help reduce transport costs and improve the economics of recycling further. As founding signatories of SCAP 2012 and Textiles 2030, SATCoL have contributed to significant reductions in environmental impacts caused by textiles and since 2012, over 350,000 tonnes of clothing have been diverted to good uses.

In addition to exhibiting, the SATCoL team were part of a panel of guest speakers where they shared more about SATCoL and the work they do to help protect the planet. The team were joined by Sustainability & Charities Manager Micki Filocco from F&F, a brand SATCoL have worked with as a corproate partner for several years. The session will feature talks around Corporate donations – excess, and end of life, garments, Fibresort technology - recycling back into a circular textiles supply chain and Take back schemes and partnerships opportunities.

SATCoL also showcased garments from their Winchester School of Arts (WSA) collaboration at the Source Fashion catwalk show. The WSA students repurposed pre-loved textiles donated to The Salvation Army clothing banks and presented the upcycled garments as part of their final year project. The collection formed part of SATCoL’s Redesigning Fashion campaign in 2022.

Suzanne Ellingham, Director of Sourcing, Source Fashion said, “Partnerships and collaborations like this one with SATCoL are the future of sourcing and circularity and demonstrate the ethos behind launching Source Fashion.”

Reflecting a new vision for sustainable, ethical and inspirational material sourcing, Source Fashion will unite accredited and audited manufacturers from key sourcing regions around the world with high-profile retailers, brands, and designers who are looking to responsibly and sustainably source new products.

Watch our latest video from the event on SATCoL TV