Closing the Loop

The fashion industry is one of the most environmentally damaging sectors, characterized by high resource consumption, overproduction, and significant waste generation. Circularity has become a key framework to rethink fashion systems, with materials playing a central role as both environmental burdens and regenerative assets. This study is part of the PNRR-funded FasT4C project, which aims to develop and test a cradle-to-cradle, design-driven approach in fashion through Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. FasT4C – Fashion-Tech Design for Circularity highlights the strategic role of process design as a methodological tool for innovation and change, particularly within the context of Made in Italy, influencing all phases of the value chain—from prototyping to end-of-life—and fostering sustainable, circular products and processes. Focusing on the material dimension of circularity, the paper presents the pilot project Sustainable Fabrication from Circular Feedstock, which explores reintegrating textile waste—a today unavoidable byproduct—into fashion production through innovative, non-linear manufacturing methods, including technological and bio-based solutions. By reframing textile waste as a resource rather than a problem, this pilot advances design-led sustainable and circular solutions, contributing to redefining fashion materials and practices and opening new pathways for resilient, circular industry models.