4.3 Case Alpha 57
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manufacturing partner uses discarded sweaters which are shredded into usable
fiber and used by the organization to manufacture a new product.
The category resource recovery also contains the use of recycled material. Theorganization together with its supplier produces apparel made out of 100 percent
post-consumer recycled plastic bottles and minimum 50 percent recycled content.
There is a plan to create a fabric out of 95 percent post-consumer waste (clear plastic
water bottles) and 5 percent fabric cut waste.
Circular economy approach number three is remanufacturing where the companyputs effort into repurposing used and returned products. In this case, down jackets
are repurposed and turned into new products. Damaged or used down is usually
very difficult to clean which often makes it economically unprofitable for people or
organizations to do so. The result is that these kinds of products often get disposed
and end up in landfills. However, the organization in case Alpha partnered with
a designer and artisan in a project to find uses for these jackets which have been
collected in the regular recycling program of the organization. The results of this
collaboration are handmade scarves which are only available as limited editions as
they rely on certain amount of down jackets being returned. Through this project
the organization was able to turn waste into new products and to gain additional
economic value out of it.
Circular supplies on process level describes the commitment of the organiza-tion to use renewable energy sources in their production process. The company
produces approximately 5 percent of their energy consumption on site. The main
site of the organization which is in California has 498 solar panels installed which
reduce the overall demand of electricity from the grid.
The last circular economy approach is product life extension. This describes theefforts of organization Alpha to extend the lifecycle of their products by offering a
repair service for worn clothes, reselling used clothes in good condition and pub-
lishing easy online tutorials for repairing minor holes in clothes and maintenance
guides. The organization offers a repair service for which it employs 45 full-time
repair technicians and has pursued initiatives to further promote this service. In
2014, the organization started a ‘repair truck’ which tours several locations in the
US carrying out free repairs and demonstrating to customers how to repair their
clothes by themselves. Prior to this, in 2012, the organization introduced the re-
selling of used products in good condition in its stores. Customers can bring their
used apparel to the store and in return receive a gift card for half the value their
item has. The used items are professionally cleaned and sold in a specific section
of the store. The online tutorials created by the organization are sorted by product
(outerwear, bottoms, tops, etc.). They allow customers to learn how to fix minor