2. Consumer Empowerment

Recommendations

• Shifting consumer practices: Brands to lead a multi- stakeholder initiative on how brands, retailers and logistics providers can encourage consumer practices that maximise the use and enjoyment of clothes. The initiative should include:

1. 1. discussions on extending consumer use of clothing;
   2. encouraging consumers to see clothes as an investment;
   3. helping consumers to use a larger proportion of the existing items in their wardrobes;
   4. helping consumers to pass on their clothes through reuse and recycling channels; and
   5. working with logistics providers to improve the convenience of reverse logistics for consumers.

• Educating for circularity: Institutions, industry bodies and third sector to work with government to educate citizens on sustainability, regeneration, and circular economy principles in order to empower consumers to make informed choices. This work is key to raise the profile of environmental issues amongst consumers and deliver the mindset change needed. Developing educational resources and workshops that are suitable for all ages and levels of expertise is central to this. Such efforts could include, for example, the development
  of campaigns that advise citizens on how to best care for their clothes, including through use of repair and maintenance services. 
• Digitising garments: Digital innovators to work with brands, retailers, and academia to continue researching and implementing technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to expand their use within the industry. These technologies allow consumers to ‘wear’ or try out products virtually through innovations such as biometrically-specific avatars and ‘digital skins’. This research should also include the ethical/privacy implications of such technologies and their role in the reselling of products.
• Formalising skills: Institutions, industry bodies and third sector to convene a multi-stakeholder government- funded initiative which aims to formalise the skills of high street seamsters, dry cleaners, and repairers, among others, e.g. through the creation of educational courses within BTECs and NVQs. This should form part of a concerted effort to grow the economy for clothing repair and maintenance. As part of this, the government should be responsible for quality assurance, accreditation and the reintroduction of teaching on repair and maintenance in secondary and tertiary education.