ACTIVATE - ENGAGE - EVOLVE
Systemic problems need systemic solutions. That’s where we come in.
TOGETHER WE CAN GO FURTHER
Businesses tend to approach sustainability challenges individually and miss out on the benefits of cooperation. By facilitating cross-sector cooperation within the apparel industry, we help businesses maintain their competitive edge, become industry leaders, save and make money all while amplifying their potential to create meaningful change.
The TLC is a joint venture between the non-profit charity SPEC and the BCorp, Leverage Lab, with support from Vancouver Foundation.
Leverage Points for Change
Now, it’s time to build on our emergent objectives in order to build back better.
Increase industry collaboration in collection, sorting, recycling, and design for environment.
Invest in circular fibres development, recycling technology and collection infrastructure.
Educate consumers, designers and brands about their role in a zero-waste fashion future.
Set a level playing field that supports the reduction of apparel waste.
Make circular fashion business models mainstream.
THE PROBLEM
THE SOLUTION
Textile Lab for Circularity (TLC)
The TLC is a social innovation lab* connecting unlikely allies across the textile reuse, recovery and waste diversion industry. Using the proven Leverage Lab™ Process, we break open innovation for the circular economy.
*Social innovation labs are a global movement. They tackle complex societal challenges requiring deep systems change by working cross- and inter-sector in new and disruptive ways, for groundbreaking results.
What we do together
This two year LAB connects 25 different industry competitors, government, academic institutions and the like. Facilitated LAB SESSIONS occur quarterly (four total/year). These facilitated deep dives move through structured decision making processes to uncover and act on what’s possible for the local circular textiles economy. The TLC Team works with participants between sessions to take action on shared solutions. All this adds up to:
68h Collaborative Facilitation hours
1000h Project Management + R&D at 1/25th the cost
25 Key Connections + Relationships
$160,000 of RFP funding
$200,000 Leveraged Grant funding
0 Silos
We bust silos and tackle shared challenges in the proven Leverage Lab process.
“The Leverage Lab is a great resource for sharing industry perspectives and promoting future collaborative change through key partnerships, these sessions have the potential to create large-scale change through an effective platform of open discussion.”
Our History
We partnered in 2017-19 with Vancity, The City of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver and the Vancouver Economic Commission to convene 16 businesses and organizations from textiles-related sectors to work together on getting textile waste out of the landfill by preventing it getting there in the first place.
We mapped the regional textile management system through participant and network interviews, and secondary data sources such as Stats Canada. We produced the white paper ‘Unraveling Apparel Waste in the Greater Vancouver Region’. This study revealed a systems map of apparel waste flows in the Lower Mainland, establishing critical baseline data. Now, we are better prepared to identify new business opportunities that disrupt the conventional take-make-waste process embodied in the modern apparel lifecycle.
Building a Green Economy
Together, we built towards a greener economy with five key vectors for change emerging from our previous work.
New Association. Formation of a new association of all sorter-grader facilities.
New Business Venture. FabCycle now provides textile waste collection service.
New Cross-Sector Partnerships. One example: a participating business and academic partner forged a new relationship of collaboration.
New Direction. Reshifting focus to developing new markets for post-consumer textiles.
New Platform. Leverage Lab formed a partnership with SPEC to host the next lab and build future Labs.
past participants
“The Leverage Lab allowed me to collaborate in ways rarely found within my industry. With the guidance of Sara and her team, I discovered the areas in our business making the biggest environmental impact – sparking our initiative to address them as part of our corporate sustainability plan. Now, we are working towards a greener business.”
