Dive into our research on surplus materials in Australia.
Circular Sourcing is a digital platform for buying and selling Australian surplus textiles and designer deadstock fabrics. We started it as a response to the mounting surplus textiles in Australia and an increasing demand from designers and individuals to use what’s already there. Our goal is to keep materials in their highest use case, reducing pressure on virgin resources and lowering lifecycle impacts of materials long-term.
The Problem
1 – Unused pre-consumer textile waste is “hidden waste” amounting to at least 10 million kilograms of fabrics in Australia each year
2 – Materials lay dormant with no use pathway except for landfill due to limited incentives to utilise, sell or donate
3 – Businesses and individuals struggle to source sustainable materials locally in order quantities relevant to their size
4 – Textile based businesses lack the resources to sell/use surplus materials
5 – $500 million AUD un-tapped value from surplus fabric
6 – New textiles have heavy carbon and water footprints – key areas of reduction focus for Australia
The Survey
We conducted a survey with over 150 local TCF (textile, clothing, footwear) businesses to determine how much material is out there and how often it is accumulated.
Read our findings by downloading the Summary Report. If you’d like to access the full report, sign up to our newsletter and we’ll deliver it to your mailbox.
