The Circular Collection design: "We don't want to pseudo-recycle"

We live in times of fast fashion: quickly bought, but also quickly thrown away. In addition, most items of clothing are not so easy to dispose of, end up in hazardous waste and are incinerated. One solution to this huge problem: circular fashion. What's this new term again? Quite simply, it means keeping fashion in circulation to preserve the value of the materials processed. That's exactly what OTTO is now doing with its first Circular Collection. Ute Pfennig, Product Manager at OTTO, has various brands such as OTTO Products, as well as denim brands under her belt, creates designs and has worked significantly on the new collection. Jasmin Schuster is category manager and responsible for marketing OTTO Products. For her, sustainability is a topic close to her heart. "We are all still learning so incredibly much in this area and I find it very challenging," she says in conversation.

Manufacturing process: what does it take to make a recyclable dress?

The goal of a recyclable product is that the materials can be reprocessed to retain ecological as well as economic value. In other words, if a garment is no longer worn, textile waste should be avoided. Ute remembers the beginnings of OTTO's Circular Collection: "We had a workshop with the Berlin start-up Cicular Fashion. Here we learned what it takes to develop a circular product. It starts with the design." So Ute's team had to think carefully about what the garments should look like, so that longevity, efficient use of resources, harmlessness, but also recyclability are guaranteed. "For example, it is not possible to incorporate accessories made from other materials. That's why we designed basic items like shirts and the longer dress, so we don't have to use foreign materials."

It's a different story with the white dress. Here there is extraneous material. "We used wooden buttons here to avoid plastic. The whole dress is based on a chemical base material, cellulose," explains Ute. The highlight: the dress can be transformed into a blouse, a skirt and a dress in a flash. "So I can wear it in different ways."

Material selection: degradable and compostable materials

The whole circular fashion stands and falls with the choice of materials: To make clothes recyclable, it makes sense to make everything from one material and completely avoid mixed materials. "Nowadays, many products are made of mixed fabrics, that is, natural and synthetic materials," says Ute. The problem with this is obvious: these mixed fibers are difficult to separate again. So when it comes to recycling, it's an impossible task. But how do we usually dispose of worn-out clothing? Exactly, it ends up in the trash or in the incinerator. "And thus valuable resources disappear that could have been reused," Ute explains further. With Circular products, it is guaranteed that the materials are separable again. Says Ute, "We didn't want mixed fibers, and we don't want to do pseudo-recycling."

In the new collection, there are also pieces that are dyed. "A raw material without dyeing is very recyclable. If we create a black dress, there is still a burden from, for example, the chemicals in the dye and the increased water consumption from washing it out," Ute said. The blue shirt and turquoise dress, on the other hand, are ecologically dyed: "These were dyed with plant fibers. These are lavender and olive leaves. This is actually plant waste, which is used for dyeing. This is done by a company from Turkey and we went into exchange with them," smiles Ute and is proud to have found such companies.

Accepting and overcoming challenges

After the material selection, design and sourcing, the communication with the retailers is the biggest challenge: "It is much more extensive to implement such a circular collection than an ordinary one. Everything has to be documented by all the retailers, and we certify our textile OTTO Products at the highest level. There is no higher standard. It was challenging to explain it everywhere," says Jasmin.

The cross-functional team has succeeded: the collection is entering the test phase. In total, OTTO Products now has four circular items. In addition, OTTO subsidiary Lascana also offers ten items in the hoodies, lingerie and underwear section. Jasmin: "Of course, we all hope that the test phase will be well received and that the circular will also work. It's really great that cross-functional work has been done on this project. So of course I wish that it will be a success." And what does Ute wish for? "I would like to create more designs like this. Because after this project and the production, we know how to do it. I already have some new ideas." In the end, one thing is important to Jasmin and Ute: that circular fashion becomes the absolute norm.