Measuring impact, digitising supply chains: A Material Impact Tool for the circular textiles economy by RoundRack and The Royal College of Art

到2030年，全球时装业的温室气体排放量将达到保持1.5度变暖所需水平的近两倍（麦肯锡，2020）。由于70%来自上游活动，特别是能源密集型原材料生产（麦肯锡，2020年），纺织品的生产方式需要发生根本性转变。从废物和生物工程中设计的替代“下一代”材料市场刚刚兴起，但增长迅速。这些材料减少了对能源密集型农业的依赖，专为建立和支持循环纺织经济而设计。然而，这类材料在行业中的采用率仍然很低（麦肯锡，2019），障碍包括成本、缺乏材料信息和整合新供应商的运营挑战。作为回应，Roundrack开发了一个创新的协作平台，解决了这些障碍，并为整个供应链的所有利益相关者创造了一个“真相来源”，从采购到制造，简化和激励下一代材料的整合。该项目是Roundrack与皇家艺术学院、选定的试点合作伙伴和潜在的未来客户之间的合作，旨在了解采用圆形下一代材料的商业案例，并验证额外的平台功能，为市场进入做准备。

GHGs from the global fashion industry will be nearly double the level required to stay within 1.5 degrees of warming by 2030 (McKinsey,2020). With 70% coming from upstream activities, particularly energy-intensive raw material production (McKinsey, 2020), a fundamental shift is required in how textiles are produced.The market of alternative, 'next-generation' materials designed from waste and bio-engineering is nascent but growing rapidly. These materials reduce reliance on energy-intensive agriculture and are designed specifically to build and support a circular textiles economy. However, the adoption of such materials in the industry remains low (McKinsey,2019) with barriers including cost, lack of material information and operational challenges of integrating new suppliers.In response, Roundrack has developed an innovative, collaborative platform that addresses these barriers and creates one 'source of truth' for all stakeholders across the supply chain, from sourcing through to manufacture, streamlining and incentivising the integration of next-generation materials.This project is a collaboration between Roundrack and The Royal College of Art, alongside selected pilot trial partners and potential future customers, to develop understanding of the commercial case for adoption of circular, next-generation materials, and validate additional platform capabilities in preparation for market-entry.