Next-life Logistics: The Circular Way to Find the Worth in Waste
The textile industry has a serious waste problem: 85 percent of used clothes and textiles in the United States head straight to the landfill or are incinerated. While we’ve worked with apparel and footwear brands committed to sustainability, the overall system to support our ideals is outdated and insufficient.
The good news is, together we can fix it.
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First, we must rethink how we talk about products and their lifespan. Consider the term “reverse logistics.” The concept of moving a product backward through a supply chain focuses on one product pathway—a return to some form of a “past life.” This linear form of thinking often centers on cutting costs rather than on sustainability.
Instead, when we apply “next-life logistics” into our business models, we strengthen the entire supply chain to prevent waste problems before they happen. This is a concept that can help the industry get the most value from textile waste. And it will help us make strides toward sustainability and circularity, as well as create a net positive impact on consumers, companies, and our planet. Companies with net positive business practices put more back into the economy and environment than they take out.
What’s your product’s next life?
Put simply, next-life logistics helps brands extend the life of their products—and the precious resources used to make them—in as many times and ways as possible. It offers the most mutually beneficial path for a company and the planet, whether that’s resale, donation, repair, recycling, or responsible disposal.
For example, most brands overlook the value of returned and damaged goods. Next-life logistics unlocks the potential in the products that come back—or never went anywhere to begin with. It helps recapture value and give products a second—or third—lease on life. What was a hoodie six seasons ago could be upcycled to a pair of sweatpants two seasons from now. Old sneakers could be transformed into a beautiful modern chandelier, rather than being shipped to a landfill.
Next-life logistics >> circularity
Next-life logistics naturally aligns with the principles of a circular economy, such as eliminating waste and pollution, and circulating materials and products at their highest value. This means next-life logistics helps determine how to get the greatest economic worth and use from damaged or recycled goods. In its 2022 impact report, apparel brand Everlane put it this way: “78% of our damaged returns, though slightly blemished or off-spec, still have a lot of life left in them. Our goal is to extend that life cycle as long as possible through resale and donation channels. Whenever a product is too damaged to be reused or reworn, we must find alternatives to landfill and disposal.”
When sorting products to determine their best “next life,” there are several factors to consider:
Can the item be resold, donated, or repaired?
Is it economically viable to resell the item?
If not, is donation the best option for its next life, or can the product be recycled?
What type of recycling might this specific item be best suited for? Chemical, mechanical, other?
What transportation or logistics need to be considered for this item to reach its next best life?
Unfortunately, not all apparel and footwear products are recyclable. Some products contain irritants such as zippers and buttons that must be removed before recycling. And sometimes the cost to remove contaminants from textiles is too high. Some products have security risks that require unique solutions, such as the recycling of police uniforms and corporate workwear.
Through next-life logistics, we quickly learn what keeps a product from being recyclable. By sharing this feedback with designers, they can create products that are designed for circularity.
Next-life logistics, infinite possibilities
Brands are already using intelligence from recyclers to create circular textiles. For example, sustainability pioneer Lululemon and Australian enviro-tech startup Samsara Eco recently partnered to create what they describe as the “world’s first infinitely recycled nylon 6,6 and polyester from apparel waste.” Together, the two companies will create new recycled nylon and polyester made from apparel waste, bringing to life lower-impact alternatives to important materials in the performance apparel industry.
Yogendra Dandapure, vice president of raw materials innovation at Lululemon, says, “Through this enzymatic process, we’re advancing transforming apparel waste into high-quality nylon and polyester, which will help us live into our end-to-end vision of circularity.”
For next-life logistics to work, we must collaborate. By working together, we open ourselves up to infinite possibilities of a more sustainable future.
Amelia Eleiter is the co-founder and CEO of Debrand Services, a provider of reverse logistics solutions for apparel and footwear brands. Along with co-founder Wes Baker, she launched Debrand to help companies extend the life of their products—and the precious resources used to make them—as many times and ways possible. Debrand’s tech-enabled sortation process and comprehensive network of re-commerce, recycling and responsible disposal partners offer unique and innovative reverse logistics solutions, helping many of North America’s top apparel and footwear brands unlock the highest-value of their products by extending the life of the products and strengthening their whole supply chain to prevent waste problems before they happen.
