Session Description

India's textile industry stands at an inflection point. While India is a global leader in fibre-to-fashion production, it also generates over 7,073 kilotonnes of textile waste annually, making the transition to a circular textile economy imperative.

Post-consumer textiles constitute the largest share of this waste stream, yet recovery remains constrained by inadequate source segregation, fragmented collection systems, limited sorting and recycling capacity, and weak integration of the informal sector.

Although India has a well-established network for collecting post-consumer goods, community-driven recovery systems remain constrained by gaps in infrastructure, institutional capacity and policy support. Building circular systems for fashion and textiles depends on effective take-back models, but most fail at the collection stage.

This session will explore how coordinated action across the value chain — bringing together brands, digital platforms, logistics providers, community collection networks and recyclers — can overcome three key barriers: low consumer participation, inconsistent product quality through collection-stage assessment, and uncertain recovery value by prioritising suitable product categories for reuse, repair, upcycling and recycling.

The session will share practical lessons on designing integrated take-back systems that are scalable, economically viable and capable of supporting financially sustainable closed-loop textile value chains.

Target Audience

Fashion brands, textile manufacturers, recyclers, collection and logistics providers, e-commerce platforms, policymakers, waste management organizations, and other circular-textile value chain stakeholders.