Eileen Fisher has built a brand identity around sustainability and quality from the beginning. How has that foundation shaped your approach to circular design, and what does that look like in practice? 

EILEEN FISHER’s design principles of simplicity, quality, and a high use of natural fibers have been critical in shaping our approach to circular design. Many of our garments are well made, timeless, and mono-material and or natural fiber based; they are inherently better suited for circular pathways such as reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recycling. 

In practice, this comes to life through our EILEEN FISHER Renew take-back program, which launched in 2009. Since then, we have collected over 3 million garments, and as of 2025, approximately 2.3 million have been resold, donated, repurposed or recycled.  

Circularity for us is not one solution; it is a system, and our early design foundation has made it possible to build and scale these systems over time. 

More retailers are launching take-back schemes for customer garments. What's Eileen Fisher's experience been with this, and what has the response from customers been? 

We’ve had our take-back program since 2009 and have collected over 3 million garments. The success of the program is largely driven by customer trust. Without customers returning their garments, this system would not exist at the scale it does today. 

Interestingly, we don’t heavily promote the program. We’re not constantly asking customers to bring items back, yet we consistently collect around 25,000 units per month. That level of participation reflects a strong, long-term relationship with our customers and confidence in how we handle their garments. 

We are also one of the largest take-back programs in the U.S. focused solely on collecting our own brand. Customers receive a $5 reward per garment and can return items easily through our stores or by mail, with no condition requirements; removing friction is key. 

What reinforces that trust is what we do after collection. We’ve built a full portfolio of solutions: approximately 40% of garments are resold, 30% are donated through vetted partners, and the remaining 30% are directed into circular pathways such as mending, overdye, remanufacturing, and textile-to-textile recycling. 

We also work with global partners to transform some of these damaged garments into new yarns, bringing materials back into our product lines. By consistently demonstrating that we take responsibility for these garments and invest in their highest-value use, customers understand that their returns matter. 

For us, customers are not just participants; they are the starting point of the system, contributing to the raw material that enables circularity to happen. 

You work in circular design which suggests thinking about a garment's entire lifecycle from the start. How does that change the way you approach product development compared to traditional fashion design? 

Circular design expands product development beyond the first use. It requires us to consider how a garment will perform not only during wear, but also after it is returned, damaged, or reaches end of use.  

This means evaluating materials, construction, trims, and fiber composition through the lens of repairability, remanufacturing, and recyclability. At EILEEN FISHER, many of our existing design principles already support this approach, but circular design pushes us to be more intentional. 

We are currently working on how to integrate end-of-use considerations from the beginning of the design process beyond what our design and materials teams already address. The goal is to make products easier to recover and reintroduce into the system, reducing reliance on downstream processes. 

How important is accurate tracing and certification of recycled content What's your experience with supply chain transparency, and where are the biggest gaps? 

Accurate tracing and certification of recycled content are critical for credibility, accountability, and scaling circular systems. Without traceability, it becomes difficult to validate claims or understand true impact. 

Our experience is that transparency becomes more complex when working with post-consumer materials. Unlike traditional supply chains, circular systems involve collection, sorting, aggregation, pre-processing, and multiple global partners. 

The biggest gaps today are in pre-processing infrastructure, standardization, and feedstock alignment across partners. There is also a disconnect between what is technically recyclable and what is economically and operationally viable at scale. 

To move forward, we need more consistent systems, shared standards, and infrastructure that supports traceability beyond pilot programs. 

Can Eileen Fisher actually close the loop on its own products, or does that require industry-wide infrastructure and standards that don't exist yet? 

We are closing the loop on certain materials collected through our take-back program, including 100% wool, 100% linen, and some cotton streams. We work with partners such as Reverso in Italy, Hallotex in Spain and Morocco, and others to convert these materials into new yarns for our products. 

However, the industry is not yet fully equipped to scale this smoothly. There are still gaps in pre-processing, logistics, and cross-border systems that make textile-to-textile recycling complex and costly. 

Currently, we absorb much of the cost of collecting, sorting, aggregating, and shipping these materials. While we are demonstrating that closed-loop systems are possible, scaling them will require broader infrastructure, shared responsibility, and industry-wide alignment. 

Your panel is about how retailers’ roles in circular systems are evolving. What unique responsibility or opportunity do retailers & brands have in driving textile recycling compared to manufacturers, governments, or consumers? 

Retailers and brands have a unique opportunity because they are directly connected to both product creation and the customer. They can influence design decisions, enable take-back systems, and create demand for recycled materials. 

They also play a critical role in educating customers and making circular participation accessible. By showing that garments can have multiple lives and even become raw material for new products brands can shift consumer behaviour and expectations. 

While manufacturers, governments, and recyclers are essential, brands act as a bridge between all parts of the system and can help accelerate adoption at scale. 

You can't build a circular system alone. How is Eileen Fisher working with recyclers, other brands, and industry partners to make this work at scale? 

Circularity requires deep collaboration across both internal teams and external partners. 

Internally, teams across Renew, design, materials, sourcing, compliance, and logistics all play a role in moving garments through circular pathways from take-back to new product creation. 

Externally, we work closely with recyclers, mills, and innovators. These partnerships are critical, especially when we are working with our own post-consumer materials, which can create logistical and economic challenges. 

Long-term relationships allow us to test, learn, and scale solutions together. At the same time, broader industry collaboration is needed to address shared challenges such as infrastructure, cost, and policy.   

If you could change one thing about how the fashion industry approaches sustainability and recycling, what would it be? 

  I would shift the focus upstream toward design and material decisions made at the beginning. 

Many of the challenges we face in recycling are a direct result of early design choices, such as fiber blends, trims, and construction methods. If products are not designed with recovery in mind, recycling becomes significantly more difficult and expensive. 

Circular practices should be embedded into product development and business models from the start, not treated as a downstream solution. We also need to move beyond isolated pilots and invest in systems that can scale across the industry. 

What drew Eileen Fisher to participate in this expo, and what do you hope to take away from being here alongside recyclers, policymakers, and other brands?" 

We were drawn to this expo because advancing circularity requires collaboration across the entire ecosystem. Bringing together recyclers, policymakers, brands, and innovators creates the opportunity to address real challenges collectively. 

We hope to share practical insights from our work while also learning from others particularly around infrastructure, traceability, and policy. 

Our goal is to contribute to moving circular systems from concept to scalable implementation, and conversations like these are essential to making that happen.