A.BCH a Circular Fashion Label

All A.BCH designs are made for biological circularity. This includes our threads, elastics, interlinings, dyes, fibres, buttons and anything else that forms part of a garment/accessory. Most raw materials available to small and even large businesses are created from un-recyclable, synthetic materials which are often combined with "natural" materials, making recycling a nightmare and degradability impossible. Our challenge is to divert textiles from landfill by making garments in pure material streams, simplifying life-extension, recycling and compostability for our customers. Limitations aside, this challenge has seen our aesthetic flourish as a desirable and elegant wardrobe centred on timeless, naturally luxurious materials.

Our solution begins with design strategy and then continues with sourcing, pre and post consumer waste diversion, sharing and education. These areas frequently overlap, such as when we designed for, sourced and shared our biodegradable elastic, which was only available in high quantities. We created a facebook page to crowd-source the elastic and have grown the group, sharing our research with other designers so they might access group orders and shift closer to circularity themselves. Another example is how we educate our customers around garment care, offer lifetime repairs plus an incentivised take-back program to recycle worn-out A.BCH garments.

Since launching A.BCH in 2017, we have: - launched 26 products with less than a quarter impact on carbon emissions than conventional comparisons - supported traceable, organic farming for 100% of our linen based products and 99.9% of our cotton based products - launched innovative materials and processes in our garments such as formaldehyde free interlinings, Lenzing Tencel sewing threads, bio-degradable C2C elastics and zero waste whole garment knitting - Hosted over 20 workshops for customers, topics include repairing, up-cycling and building a sustainable wardrobe - Included over 100 designers in our group sourcing page - Publicly advocated for design circularity at more than 30 events

Our design focus is on circularity, as such, we also have a part to play in ensuring the entire industry shifts to models of circularity. A key area for marked acceleration is that of small businesses being able to access circular raw materials in reasonable quantities. We are breaking this barrier down, encouraging collaboration and sharing across businesses that might otherwise be competitors. We have spent time building a loyal A.BCH customer base and will continue to serve our primary customer with beautiful, purpose-led design. However, considering the dire need to act now on moving to new models, we are also committed to working with other brands in transformative way, opening up our sourcing books and allowing designers across the industry to share in our findings. This idea will only continue to snowball into useful sharing systems as we pioneer better solutions in manufacturing and recycling innovation for ourselves and the world.