National action plan to set direction for a more circular textile sector
On 2 October, the action plan was launched at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen by Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Samira Nawa, together with the consortium behind the plan: Dansk Mode & Textil, Lifestyle and Design Cluster and TRACE. The audience brought together a broad range of stakeholders from across the textile sector, contributing to the event with strong engagement and plenty of questions.
- We are going to revolutionise the textile industry today, the Minister said at the launch.
She also stressed that the challenge is not only about technology and systems, but about our relationship with clothes and textiles:
- The most important and the most difficult thing we can do is change the culture we have around clothing. We all need to do better. We owe that to ourselves and to those who come after us.
The overall aim of the action plan is to help reduce textile production and consumption and, in turn, the sector’s overall climate and environmental impact. At the same time, the transition is intended to strengthen the sector’s competitiveness in circular business models and create new opportunities for innovation, collaboration and circular value creation.
The transition starts at the design table
One of the central points of the action plan is that the transition should not only happen once textiles become waste. It needs to begin much earlier.
This is where design has a concrete role to play. The action plan points, among other things, to the need for products with longer lifespans and better opportunities for maintenance, repair, reuse and recycling. At the same time, companies should be better equipped to integrate circular principles into their business models.
Karen Marie Hasling, Associate Professor, PhD and Head of the MA programme Design for Planet at Kolding School of Design, highlights precisely this holistic perspective:
- Circular transition is not only about finding new ways to recycle materials. It is also about designing for longer lifespans, understanding what makes people use, care for, repair and reuse textiles, and rethinking the systems and business models that products are part of.
This closely reflects the overall vision of the action plan, in which products and materials should remain in use for as long as possible, with prevention, life extension and reuse prioritised ahead of recycling and other forms of recovery.
The action plan was launched at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen on 2 October, with stakeholders from across the textile sector taking part.
Three tracks and nine initiatives
The action plan is structured around three tracks and nine initiatives.
The first track, the circular transition of the industry, is intended to strengthen companies’ capabilities, support the implementation of new EU regulation and promote the development of circular business models.
The second track, circular infrastructure and system solutions, is intended to establish the basis for the partnerships, infrastructure and market mechanisms needed to keep textiles and textile fibres in circulation for as long as possible.
The third track, textile literacy, skills and behaviour, is intended to strengthen the knowledge and skills of citizens, educational institutions and the workforce, while supporting more resource-conscious choices and longer textile lifespans.
The nine initiatives range from EU readiness and repair infrastructure to producer responsibility, public textile procurement, teaching materials and a national information campaign.
Design education has a concrete role to play
The action plan is not only aimed at companies and infrastructure. Education is also part of the transition.
One initiative will develop teaching materials for educators at Danish textile and design programmes. Historical material knowledge, craft techniques and resource-conscious practices will be connected with current requirements for circular design, material choices and product development.
The aim is, among other things, to ensure that future designers, product developers and other professionals have the skills to develop products and solutions with longer lifespans, higher quality and better opportunities for repair, reuse and recycling.
The action plan also describes a continuing education programme for designers and product developers, focusing on strategic product design, circular design principles and business models.
The National Action Plan for Textiles brings together nine initiatives across three tracks and sets a common framework for the transition towards a more circular textile sector.
More knowledge is needed to support the transition
The need for new skills is closely linked to the need for more knowledge. The action plan points out that limited research and insufficient data mean that several key parameters relating to the environmental impact of textiles still cannot be assessed with certainty.
Research and knowledge institutions are therefore among the actors involved in the transition.
This becomes tangible in the initiative on teaching materials, which is to be developed in close collaboration between educational and research institutions, museums, companies and other professional stakeholders. The aim is for teaching to draw on both research-based knowledge and current experience from the textile sector.
For Karen Marie Hasling, this interaction between different fields is key:
- It is at the intersection of design, people, technology, research and industry that we can develop new ways forward. A circular textile sector will not be created by one single solution, but by many new ways of thinking, designing and collaborating.
A common framework – not new regulation
The action plan is not new regulation and does not set binding national targets. Instead, it is intended to create some of the necessary conditions for the transition by building knowledge and skills, strengthening collaboration across the textile ecosystem and supporting the implementation of forthcoming EU regulation.
The nine initiatives will be implemented from 2026 to 2029, while the vision extends beyond that period. By 2030, the ambition is for Danish companies, public-sector actors and civil society to have built the skills, partnerships and infrastructure needed to support a more circular textile economy.
The action plan therefore sets out a long-term transition in which design, research, education, industry and public-sector actors will need to work together to develop and scale new circular solutions.
Karen Marie Hasling, Associate Professor, PhD and Head of Design for Planet at Kolding School of Design, emphasises the need to consider the entire lifecycle of textiles from the design stage onwards – from material choices and longevity to repair, reuse and new business models.
