Everything Australian fashion brands need to know about the Seamless initiative

It’s no secret the Australian clothing industry is harbouring an inventory and sustainability problem, with manufacturers importing over 1.4 billion units of new clothing each year and more than half ending up in landfill.

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That’s 200,000 tonnes per year. 

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With fast fashion, marketing influence, and social media-inspired buying trends, the average Australian buys 56 clothing items annually, most of which are made from non-renewable and environmentally problematic materials.

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The carbon footprint of clothing in Australia is estimated to be as much as 13 million.

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Systematic and transformational change is needed — change that is only possible across the whole industry, and the whole clothing lifecycle.

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Enter, the Seamless initiative, a national clothing product stewardship scheme to enable the transformation of how clothing is made, used, reused and recycled in Australia.

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Here’s everything you need to know about how the scheme works and how you can become part of the change. 

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What does Seamless aim to achieve?

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The scheme’s main goal is to revolutionize the clothing industry in Australia, encompassing the entire process from production to usage and recycling, to achieve clothing circularity by 2030.

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How will Seamless achieve this?

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Seamless will invest in four priority areas:

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1. Circular Design: incentivizing clothing design that is more durable, repairable, sustainable and recyclable;

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2. Circular business models: fostering new circular business models for the Australian clothing sector including reuse, repair, remanufacturing and rental;

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3. Closing the materials loop: expanding clothing collection and sorting for effective re-use and to ensure non-wearable clothes are recycled into new high

value products and materials; and.

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4. Citizen behaviour change: encouraging customer behaviour change for clothing acquisition, use, care and disposal.

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How is Seamless funded?

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Seamless will be funded by a garment levy with a proposed model of 4 cents per garment. This will be paid by clothing brands and retailers who become members of the scheme. 

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What does the funding model mean for retailers and brands?

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This model will allocate 75% of total funding to collecting, sorting and recycling including research and development into new recycling technology to develop a national system at scale, in partnership with the recycling industry.

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There are no plans to charge the levy to consumers, however, if brands or retailers chose to pass the levy on to their customers, the average Australian consumer who buys 56 items of clothing a year would pay just $2.24 more (half a small coffee). 

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Who is already involved?

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The first Seamless Foundation Members are BIG W, Cotton On, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R.M. Williams, Sussan Group and THE ICONIC.

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Each organization will play an important part in the 12-month transition phase while Seamless is established.

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Seamless is not mandatory for brands and retailers to join, however, industry feedback suggests that as the scheme grows there would be a case for the introduction of co-regulation.

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What’s next?

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The scheme is currently being established to commence from July 2024. Minister of the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, will also decide by July whether the industry has sufficiently bought in to the industry-led green levy. 

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Seamless aims to have 60% of the industry sign up in order to divert 120,000 tonnes of end-of-life clothing from landfill by 2027.

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If 60% of the market by volume sign up to the scheme, a funding pool of around $36 million will be raised per year to transform the industry. 

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You can find out more about becoming part of the initiative here. 

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