New Zealand is tackling head-on the challenges created by disposable fashion. Formary is a textile reuse program that recycles end-of-life textiles into good-as-new ones. The initiative is a collaboration of organizations building the systems and technology to extract much greater value from clothing, seeking to reduce environmental impacts and save resources.

The program will approach the issue from a systems perspective designed to propel the fashion industry towards a circular model where used clothing is looped back into useful production. Doing so has the potential to capture billions of dollars’ worth of resource value that —sometimes literally— goes up in smoke. Formary is collaborating with BlockTexx, an Australian fashion technology firm that connects textile manufacturers, retail brands and logistics providers by means of a secure, block chain-enabled marketplace. Their shared goal is to map and develop workflow models to tackle the preponderance of waste stemming from the creation of billions of garments a year.

BlockTexx’s focus on using technology to unlock the immense value in textile waste along the entire supply chain is intended to complement Formary’s expertise. Incorporating technology provides traceability, transparency and real metrics on material flows and impacts that informs organizational sustainability reporting. So-called fast fashion isn’t slowing down, which means the problem of textile waste is only going to get worse.