Circular Fashion
Circular fashion is based on designing clothing in accordance with the principles of a circular economy. During the design phase, attention is paid to the durability of fabrics and their origins. Why is this so important? Firstly, good quality materials ensure that clothes will last longer for users, and we use the word “users” in the plural for a reason. One of the main goals of circular fashion is to close the loop – if we stop wearing a piece of clothing that is of good quality, we can pass it on, giving it a second life and preventing waste generation. Good materials are also easier to repair and repurpose in upcycling projects. All of this to keep clothing circulating for as long as possible, serving us for years, and when it no longer fulfills its purpose, to be used to create new items.
As part of the 4F Change program, we want to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of our clothes, from design, through production and delivery, to collecting unwanted clothing from customers and giving it a second life.
Clothing Collection
One of the most important steps we took was launching a circular program in January 2022, which we have been consistently implementing with our partner Ubrania do Oddania. Our customers can donate clothes from all brands, not just 4F, in three ways.
- Bring them to a 4F store and drop them into a special container for used clothes (these are available in all 4F stores in Poland).
- Order a free courier through the website 4fchange.com. This is an exceptionally convenient method because the courier will pick up the package at the specified time from the chosen location. All you need to do is pack the clothes in a box. There’s even no need to print a label! Additionally, by donating clothes this way, the customer has the option to support a charitable cause of their choice, for example the 4F Pomaga foundation.
- Drop the clothes into one of two special machines designed for clothing collection – one located in the Bonarka shopping center in Krakow and the other in the Olimpia Port housing estate in Wroclaw.
In the first two years of our operations, we collected respectively: over 6 tons of clothes in 2022 and over 12 tons in 2023. Detailed reports can be found on our website in the News section.
Closing the Loop
So what happens next with the collected clothes? They all go to our partner Ubrania do Oddania. The company cleans them, repairs – if necessary, and then together we introduce them into the second-hand market. We sell 4F clothes in our stores, while clothes from other brands are introduced to the market by UDO. You can find 4F clothing in our circular zones in selected stores (the list is available here) and at two special Fair Point stores. These clothes are marked with distinctive tags that indicate their origin:
RENEWED: Clothes marked with this tag have been sorted from the garments donated by our customers (both those donated in-store and those sent by courier), washed and cleaned. They were not damaged – they simply were no longer needed by their previous owner who decided to give them a second life.
REPAIRED: The Repaired category includes clothes sorted from those donated by our customers that, unlike Renewed items, had minor damages. They were repaired, thoroughly washed, and cleaned before being introduced into the second-hand market, ensuring they could fully serve their next owner.
A subcategory of clothes under REPAIRED is those marked with the additional label ” DON’T PICK HOLES IN IT!” These are garments that we have visibly repaired, for example, with a colorful patch, a badge, or even a sleeve in a different color, using elements from other damaged clothes. We believe that in this way, thanks to their uniqueness, used clothes are not only not worse but actually gain value and can serve as inspiration for DIY repairs and upcycling.
REVIVED: Clothes with the Revived tag are those that for some reason did not go on sale: they were dirty, showed signs of wear, or ended up in the warehouse as some of the last pieces. They have been washed, cleaned, and brought back to life.
UPCYCLED: These are clothes that have been made from materials sourced from other garments. This way, unnecessary clothes have been given a completely new life.
Fair Points
Fair Points are unique stores on the map of 4F shops, whose main goal is to promote circular fashion. We sell there clothes with minor defects from pre-sale complaints. Sometimes it’s a stain that occurred during transportation, sometimes a cut that happened in the warehouse while unpacking a package, and sometimes just a production defect. All defects are clearly marked with a TO BE REPAIRED sticker so that the customer knows what they are buying and where it needs to be fixed. You can also find there end-of-collection items and clothes from the second-hand market mentioned earlier (RENEWED, REVIVED, REPAIRED). Additionally, free material scraps from old clothes (small components such as zippers, cords, Velcro) are available at Fair Points – you can take them and use for DIY repairs. Visit us in Krakow, at ul. Wielicka 250 and in Warsaw, at ul. Konstruktorska 12a.
Repair Service
Circular fashion is not just about clothes from the second-hand market, but also about repairing those we already own. Since March 2023, you can commission repairs for 4F products in all 4F stores in Poland: both clothes and backpacks or bags. To have a damaged item repaired, simply bring it to one of our stores and approach the cashier with it. The salesperson will assess whether the repair is possible and accept the order, providing information about the cost and pickup date.
Upcycling
As part of promoting the idea of circular fashion and educating both our customers and employees, we organize various upcycling workshops.
The 4F CHANGE WORKSHOP is a workshop where our customers can create their own unique upcycling project. This involves selecting material from second-hand 4F clothes and designing their own unique phone case, cosmetics bag, or organizer, which will be sewn on-site by our tailors. This is a great opportunity not only to create unique projects but also to emphasize the importance of this practice. Upcycling gives us the opportunity to reuse existing resources, thereby reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and the use of new raw materials. It’s also a chance to understand how many valuable materials are in our old clothes and items.
The DO IT YOURSELF workshops, organized in collaboration with CARGO by OWEE, were aimed at our employees and involved sewing shopping bags from special DIY kits made from old 4F campaign banners.
4F x VIA MODA Circular Design Project
As part of educating the younger generations, in collaboration with the Viamoda School of Fashion and Design during the academic year 2022/2023, we implemented the Circular Design project. As part of this project, students specializing in Clothing Design and Management received clothes collected in the 4F CHANGE program as the starting material to create new products. Three project teams were formed – UPCYCLE, RECYCLE, and REPAIR – which covered the entire spectrum of creative activities based on the use of worn and damaged clothing. The guiding motto for all groups was CHANGE FOR THE FUTURE. The projects that emerged demonstrate the incredible potential of the second-hand market, as well as of repairing and repurposing clothes.
Education
Circular fashion on this scale is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past, used clothes were mainly purchased due to their affordability, but now, as awareness of environmental costs grows, we also buy them for ecological reasons. However, this awareness is still insufficient, and our task as a brand is to spread it. We want to educate our consumers, show changes both concerning our company and the global ones, at the level of European directives. We strive to make our Instagram profile @4f_change and the News section on 4fchange.com a source of information about innovations in circular fashion and inspiration for action because all the aforementioned initiatives will not be enough if they are not properly propagated and publicized.
To conclude, we leave you with a quote from the renowned British fashion designer Stella McCartney: “The future of fashion is circularity. It has to be.” This is the best summary of this article and, at the same time, a guidepost for the future!