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Creating a circular fashion economy.

At New Look, we’re finding more ways of minimising waste.  By acknowledging where we need to improve, we can implement the most effective circular solutions.

Last year 97% of our operational waste was diverted from landfill. Engaging our whole business to take responsibility to identify and reduce waste is the best accelerator towards our targets.

Darren Lintern, Head of Projects and Design

Textiles 2030: working with WRAP
Textiles 2030: working with WRAP mobile image

Textiles 2030

In 2021 we became a partner member of Textiles 2030, a new initiative overseen by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

WRAP is helping accelerate the fashion and textiles industry’s move towards a circular economy within the UK, using two key targets. Each target is set in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change and we report annually on our progress in relation to these goals.

The Textiles 2030 goals
  • Reduce the aggregate greenhouse gas footprint of new products by 50%, by 2030 (baseline: 2021)
  • Reduce the aggregate water footprint of new products sold by 30%, by 2030 (baseline: 2021)

As partner members of WRAP, we look to achieve these goals by implementing change, achieving global impact and demonstrating leadership across three key pathways.

The three key pathways of Textiles 2030
  • Designing for circularity
  • Implementing a circular business model
  • Closing the loop on materials

Manufacturing with Jeanologia

Improving the manufacturing process
Jeanologia machine

Jeanologia is a world leader in more sustainable and efficient finishing technologies for textiles. Using Jeanologia technology enhances productivity, reduces water and energy usage, and reduces damaging chemicals and waste.

Compared to traditional finishing processes, the average denim jean created using Jeanologia technology uses:

71%

less water

33%

less energy

67%

less chemicals

In 2021, 63% of New Look jeans used Jeanologia finishing technology. This saved over 87 million litres of water, over 8 hundred thousand Kw/h of energy and over 174 tonnes of chemicals. That’s enough water to fill 30 Olympic swimming pools and enough energy to power a small business for 15 years!

Extending the life of our products

As part of our efforts to minimise waste in our business, we created a set of tests and minimum make standards for all fabrics and products, to ensure we’re producing quality clothing that lasts.  We require all our suppliers and manufacturers to meet these standards, to ensure that our products are durable, have an extended useable life, and have an increased chance of reuse and resale.  Both fabric testing and make standards are specific to product types and have been developed by our inhouse quality managers, with support from our testing labs and industry standards.

Physical testing of our products includes:

  • seam slippage and strength
  • tensile strength
  • pilling resistance
  • tear strength
Find out more