Our Story

Retread Shop is a E-commerce powered by Assembled Threads, a social enterprise established in 2021, helping to tackle long-term unemployment for disadvantaged groups by providing training and employment in garment manufacturing at an ethical wage.

Assembled Threads creates local manufacturing hubs embedded in communities offering sustainable employment. It is a social enterprise where a social need (long-term unemployment amongst marginalised members of our community) is matched to a market need – the social procurement of uniforms.

With our Circular Solutions program propose a circular economy solution for hi-vis vests, using interventions at the materials selection, manufacturing, packaging and shipping and collection and re-purposing stages of the lifecycle.

Why is this important?

In 2022, people are buying 60% more clothing than 15 years ago, but each item is kept for only half as long. This results in nearly one rubbish truck of clothing going to landfill every second. With limited recycling options, almost 60% of all clothing is discarded within a year, ending up in landfills or being incinerated.

Ref: nature.com The price of fast fashion.

Fashion Industry Waste Statistics In 2023

As of 2023, the fashion industry produced a startling 97 million tons of waste annually, of which 18 million were leftover textiles, 2.5 million were chemical waste, and 3 million were packaging materials.


Ref: https://royalwaste.com/ How Much Waste Does The Fashion Industry Produce

What happens if we don’t move towards circularity?

By 2050, global waste is expected to increase by 70% if current practices continue Ref: (World Bank).

The extraction of natural resources has tripled in the last 50 years. Ref: (UN Environment Programme).

By 2050, there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish by weight if current trends continue Ref: (Ellen MacArthur Foundation).

Manufacturing new products from virgin materials requires up to 90% more energy than using recycled materials. Ref: (EPA).

IMPACT

Failing to adopt circularity will lead to increased landfill waste, resource depletion, higher greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity, ocean pollution, economic losses, excessive energy and water consumption, public health risks, and strained infrastructure, ultimately jeopardizing both environmental sustainability and long-term economic stability.

The Assembled Threads Solution

Assembled Threads’ Circular Uniforms Pilot aims to tackle uniform procurement waste by collaborating with governments and corporations. Together, we create circular pathways for uniforms, extending their lifespan and significantly reducing landfill waste.

How we do it?