CIRCULAR.FASHION GMBH

Their core work

circular.fashion GmbH is a Berlin-based SME that develops circular design systems and methodologies for the fashion and textile industry. Their core work translates circular economy principles into practical garment and textile design tools — helping brands and manufacturers design products that can be recycled, repaired, or returned to biological cycles. In EU projects they contribute deep fashion-industry expertise to research consortia working on bio-based fibers, microfibre pollution reduction, and system-level textile recycling. They serve as a bridge between sustainability science and the commercial realities of textile production and product design.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 work (HEREWEAR, starting 2020) was grounded at the material and product level — bio-based fibers, biorefinery integration, microfibre pollution, and design-for-circularity techniques applied to individual garments. By their second project (SCIRT, starting 2021), the focus had broadened to the industry system: value chain cooperation and stakeholder involvement became the defining themes, suggesting they were asked to contribute not just design know-how but also capacity to convene actors across the textile supply chain. The trajectory is from product-level design specialist toward circular economy system architect for the wider textile sector.

circular.fashion is moving from hands-on design methodology toward industry-wide implementation — a signal they are positioning themselves as ecosystem coordinators for textile circularity, not just technical design advisors.

How they like to work

circular.fashion has participated exclusively as a consortium member — never as project coordinator — across both H2020 projects. They work in medium-to-large consortia (averaging roughly 16 partners per project) spanning multiple countries, suggesting they are sought as a domain specialist rather than a project manager. Their consistent focus on circular design across both projects indicates they bring a well-defined, replicable contribution rather than being a generalist partner.

circular.fashion has built connections with 32 unique consortium partners across 11 countries — a broad European network for a two-project SME. This suggests their circular design expertise is in demand across multiple national research ecosystems, particularly those intersecting fashion, environment, and bio-based materials.

What sets them apart

circular.fashion occupies a rare position: a fashion-industry-native SME that operates at the intersection of textile product design and EU-level sustainability research. Most circular economy research partners come from materials science or engineering — circular.fashion brings the designer and brand-facing perspective that is often missing from technical consortia. For any project needing to connect lab-level material innovation to real fashion industry adoption, they provide a credibility and translation layer that academic or engineering partners cannot.

Highlights from their portfolio

• HEREWEAR
  An Innovation Action linking biorefinery outputs directly to wearable bio-based textiles while addressing microfibre pollution — an unusually complete material-to-product-to-environment scope for a fashion SME.
• SCIRT
  The largest single grant received (EUR 323,540) and the project where circular.fashion expanded from design methodology into system-wide value chain coordination, marking a strategic evolution in their EU project role.