Executive summary: an industry ripe for reinvention.
Antwerp, Belgium - January 18th, 2026
The fashion industry, typically characterized by the 'fast fashion' model, delivered decades of aggressive growth. However, its economic foundations are eroding.
Tightening EU regulations turn waste management into waste prevention, operational costs are rising, and consumer loyalty is shifting. Today's market dynamics are turning the linear "take-make-waste" model from fashion safe haven to risky business. At Made, we see an industry ripe for reinvention, but the path forward has always lacked data.
That’s why, over the last three years, Made has orchestrated the 'ReUse In Style' Living Lab; a system design thinking project that moves beyond theory and executes a rigorous stress test of circular business models in the real world.
Our findings reveal that lifecycle extension is not just an environmental love story. It's a value opportunity ready to be captured by the most forward-thinking fashion brands out there.
If you're in fashion, this is for you. Let's dive in!
EU textile regulations are tightening, with extended producer responsibility (EPR) making brands accountable for products throughout their entire lifecycle. Industry leaders should no longer question whether to transform their business towards a more circular model. The question is who will transform first to lead the industry in the decades ahead.
Fast fashion and the urgency to change.
Let’s kick off this insightful article with a number that should keep forward-thinking fashion executives awake at night: according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a truckload of textiles is dumped in landfills or burned every single second.
Not every day. Every second.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that consumers nowadays buy 60% more clothing than they did two decades ago, but wear each item for half as long.
That, in a nutshell, is the legacy of the fast fashion business model. Fast fashion is built on rapid production cycles, rock-bottom prices, and often disposable quality, designed to move high volumes of trend-driven clothing from factory to consumer at high speed.
For decades, the model worked brilliantly and built billion-dollar empires. Yes, it democratized fashion. Yes, it made style accessible. But is it infinite? Is it sustainable? No, it is not.
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Hence, industry leaders should no longer question whether to transform their business towards a more circular model. The question is who will transform first to lead the industry in the decades ahead.
At Made, we've spent the last three years embedded in this challenge through the 'ReUse In Style' Living Lab. What we discovered is a blueprint for competitive advantage in circular fashion.
Over the past three years, we collectively designed and executed 21 experiments across 5 interconnected projects. We tested which design choices, services, and communication strategies actually change how people relate to their clothing.
Inside the ReUse In Style Living Lab.
In 2022, Made joined forces with University of Antwerp's REuse Lab to lead a VLAIO-funded Living Lab with a premise to stop thinking about lifecycle extension and start testing it.
As the project’s orchestrator, we succeeded in bringing together partners who had real stakes in the outcome. Think French sporting goods retailer Decathlon. Think Belgian footwear retailer Torfs. Think fashion retailer JBC, and many others.
Real stores. Real customers. Real pressure coming from both commercial companies and non-profit organizations.
Over the past three years, we collectively designed and executed 21 experiments across 5 interconnected projects. We tested which design choices, services, and communication strategies actually change how people relate to their clothing.
We measured what works, what fails, and what surprises. And we discovered the foundations that are essential to turning the linear fashion industry into a circular economy.
Reframing the challenge.
Early in our research, a crucial insight emerged that reshaped our entire approach: durable clothing isn't primarily a question of how clothing is made. It's a question of how people value, use, maintain, and repair it.
This distinction matters. In recent history, the fashion industry has largely treated sustainability as a production problem, focusing on materials, manufacturing processes, and supply chain optimization. These matter, of course, but Living Lab research revealed that lifecycle extension is fundamentally a behavioural and systemic challenge.
This reframing opened up new territory. If lifespan is determined by the relationship between person and product, then brands have levers they've barely begun to pull.
Early in our research, a crucial insight emerged that reshaped our entire approach: durable clothing isn't primarily a question of how clothing is made. It's a question of how people value, use, maintain, and repair it.
The commercial opportunity behind it.
Findings of the ReUse In Style Living Lab reveal that lifecycle extension is a value capture opportunity as we identified three commercial levers that can stop value from leaking to landfills and even redirect it into new revenue streams.
When brands understand how their customers actually value clothing, and when they professionalise care, repair, and resale as core services rather than afterthoughts, they can build recurring revenue streams and customer loyalty that pure-play retailers cannot match.
Therefore, it seems like the transition from linear to circular fashion isn't primarily a supply chain problem or a materials problem. More than anything, we’re dealing with a relationship problem between brands and the people who wear their products.
Download the full review report.
Interested in more detailed findings from three years of Living Lab research? Download our full review now.
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