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Primark has made a commitment to give its clothes a longer life. Its ambition is to drive forward innovation and, through collaboration within the industry, to make its clothes last longer and reduce clothing waste.
Primark clothes will be recyclable by design by 2027. There is currently no single industry-recognised definition of the word ‘recyclable’ for textiles and clothing. Primark is focused on expanding the number of products that are circular by design in certain categories, creating specific product guidelines and engaging and training colleagues and suppliers on circular design principles. In other product categories, it is focused on testing, trialing and learning to overcome significant and inherent challenges. Some types of products and materials are much harder than others to move to a circular design.
Primark has worked with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation since 2018 as part of its ‘Make Fashion Circular’ initiative. In 2021, Primark became a Network Partner of the Foundation and joined its Advisory Board for Fashion. Primark has used the Foundation’s design principles to create its Circular Product Standard (see more in circular product design). In 2024, Primark joined the Foundation’s The Fashion ReModel to help the industry unlock the barriers to scaling circular business models.
Cardboard hangers on Primark's baby clothes range
In 2023, Primark launched its first circular collection and it continues to train teams to enable the business to expand circular design into key product categories such as denim and jersey, which are more simple to move into recyclable by design. Primark continues to translate these principles into tangible and practical guidelines for different clothing types and categories, such as knitwear. Approximately 3% of all Primark’s clothing unit sales meet the criteria set out in its Circular Product Standard. Primark is now looking at circularity solutions for products made of blended fibres, recognised as one of the major inhibitors of textile-to-textile recycling.
Primark’s Circular Product Standard (CPS) is a framework for how it intends to design products now and in the future. The CPS was launched in 2023 after a two-year project with three partners; the non-governmental organisation WRAP, the circularity think tank Circle Economy and the non-profit sustainability educator Sustainable Fashion Academy. The framework is built on the vision of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, for a circular economy for fashion.
The CPS sets out that a circular product has three fundamental criteria:
A key focus in recyclable textiles and clothing is moving towards ‘mono-materiality’, which means using single fibre/fabric compositions instead of blends, and using the same composition where feasible for stitching threads, trims and pocketing. The other principle is based on eliminating or reducing ‘disruptors’, which are elements of an item of clothing that could ‘disrupt’ the recycling process, such as labels, hard trims and prints. There is no single industry level or legislative definition of ‘recyclable’ clothing.
Primark has a Circular Design training programme, co-developed by Circle Economy and the Sustainable Fashion Academy. Its foundation course is mandatory for all product teams. To date 529 colleagues (80% of eligible colleagues) have taken the foundation level of this training, which is designed to orient and familiarise colleagues with the basic concepts of a circular economy for fashion. In order to apply the learnings to different product categories, Primark has since partnered with the Circular Textiles Foundation (CTF) to evolve the programme to create expert-level training. These sessions involve smaller groups of colleagues and select suppliers. The goal of this programme is to co-create specific Circular Design Guidelines for each product category.
Primark works with key suppliers to support them in making the necessary changes to support its circularity aims. These include briefings, training sessions and webinars on specific product guidelines, technical and design standards, and the data they need to provide for its validation processes. Primark also uses some of these sessions to discuss design techniques and strategies that support its ambitions for more recyclable and durable clothing.
As part of its desire to raise the bar for circular design where practical and feasible, Primark intends to periodically refresh and update the CPS based on new and emerging recycling capabilities, and its reflections from scaling circular design to date. Future legislation is expected to challenge existing assumptions and parameters of circular design and guide the evolution of the CPS.
Primark is dedicated to strengthening the durability of its clothes by 2025. Primark published its Durability Framework in July 2024. The framework is a set of guidelines for durability testing that can be embedded into business and contributes to the development of best practices as no industry standard currently exists. Primark consulted with WRAP and its Textiles 2030 initiative to establish this framework. Within it sits two pillars of testing, ‘extended washing’ and ‘physical quality'.
Beneath each pillar and building on the minimum compliance levels that already existed, Primark has added three additional tiered levels: foundational, progressive and aspirational. Underpinning this framework is a set of continuous improvement principles that support the integration of durability at every step of product production from design through to manufacturing. Since January 2024, eligible clothing has been tested to the aspirational level of 45 washes. There are some exemptions, for example anything that needs hand washing or dry cleaning is not currently part of the extended wash framework.
Primark has been working in conjunction with third party testing labs to implement extended wash testing. This will help establish standardised data across all partners, allowing the business to set a clear baseline. Primark has now collected a full year’s durability data for denim, socks and jersey. This will enable it to build a full product performance baseline and truly understand how each product category is performing on durability. Since January 2024, 66% of clothing that was tested passed the aspirational level.
As part of its durability commitment, Primark has continued to roll out its repair workshops, supporting customers and colleagues to love and wear their clothes for longer. The free repair workshops are accessible and inclusive for all, and focused on quick, easy and practical skills that empower participants to complete their own repairs. Over the last year, these have been scaled further in the UK and ROI, and introduced in the Netherlands, France and Italy. Since 2021, Primark has run 393 workshops in total across the regions, with 7,157 free places to customers and colleagues1. To maximise the reach of the repair workshops, Primark has created an online customer hub with repair tutorials.
Chemistry enables the creation of a wide array of materials and colours used in Primark’s clothes. Chemistry can also improve the performance, safety and environmental impact of products, and plays a key part in raw material production. Most of the chemicals used are applied during the ‘wet processing’ phase, which includes dyeing, printing, bleaching, tanning or washing of materials.
Effective chemical management protects both consumers and workers in Primark’s supply chains. It increases resource efficiency, contributes to cleaner air and water and can reduce impacts on biodiversity.
Primark has developed a 2030 Chemistry Strategy with continued focus on compliance and developing more sustainable chemistry. Capacity building and innovation are key priorities to equip the business and suppliers with the skills necessary and focus on meeting upcoming challenges.
Primark rolled out CleanChain’s Compass Dashboard this year to improve data analytics of supply chain chemical information, such as chemical inventories and wastewater testing results, to improve monitoring, data-driven management and decision-making.
Primark has a Restricted Substance List (RSL) which is aligned with the Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management (AFIRM) Group. It is also a board member of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Foundation. Primark's Chemical Management Guidance assists wet processors in complying with ZDHC guidelines. Primark is dedicated to supporting its suppliers with the tools and guidance needed to use chemicals safely. It has regional environmental teams across strategic sourcing countries, which engage directly with suppliers’ factories to provide awareness and training in relation to chemical management. This includes requirements for factories to compile and submit chemical inventories so that Primark can evaluate its usage of chemicals in reference to the ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL). In 2023, 251 key wet processors submitted their chemical inventories through ZDHC InCheck reports.
Primark delivers regular training on its chemical management requirements to suppliers and wet processors in the supply chain. With Primark’s support, 198 factories in the supply chain completed ZDHC’s Supplier to Zero programme, focused on improving chemical management systems. ZDHC Chemical Management System Technical Industry Guide training was delivered to 59 factories, working with a third party to implement improvement actions on the ground.
Primark launched a wastewater testing due diligence programme in 2023/24 targeted at 20 factories that had not recently tested to the ZDHC guidelines. Alongside working with the factories to improve the quality of their waste water and chemical management, the results have helped to refine its testing approach and analysis. In 2023, 241 key wet processors tested their wastewater to the ZDHC guidelines. Through the Brands Hardlines Collaboration, Primark has contributed to the foundation's work for the recently announced expansion of the ZDHC MRSL to broaden the approach to supply chain chemical management to further product categories. As part of this commitment, Primark completes an annual assessment of its chemical management programme. In 2023/24, its performance was rated in the second highest category ‘Accelerator’ by the ZDHC Foundation, which refers to organisations with the influence to increase the use of ZDHC tools in the industry2.
Driving the use of more sustainable chemistry is essential to the Primark Cares strategy. Three wet processors are continuing to pilot Aii’s Clean by Design Chemistry and Wastewater programme, with some promising improvements indicated through the mid-term reports. The final outcomes will help to guide future decisions on site-based efficiency improvements linked to Primark’s broader Resource Efficiency Programme.
As one of its main sources of non-clothing waste, product packaging is a priority focus area for Primark. The business has committed to removing all single-use plastic by 2027, and has developed short, medium and long-term packaging roadmaps to achieve this objective.
Primark has an in-house team of packaging technologists, who provide expertise on omnichannel packaging design, material selection and commercial considerations.
Primark has established a baseline of all of its packaging to enable it to accurately measure its footprint and future reductions. To create this baseline, it collected packaging data from 470 global suppliers between January 2022 and January 2023. Compliance with this data collection is a part of the supplier scorecard requirements from August 2024.
Plastic represents 19% of its total packaging tonnage. Any future packaging improvements will be tracked against this baseline and reported on, in line with the Primark Cares objective. Clothes hangers are estimated to account for around two thirds of total single-use plastic volumes used within Primark. The business is aiming to move to recycled materials for all hangers over time.
In 2023/24, hangers made from a minimum of 90% Certified Recycled Polypropylene were introduced for tops, bottoms, jackets and footwear. These are being rolled out on a phased basis, with completion expected in 2027. Lingerie and swim items are being converted to cardboard hangers by the end of 2025.
While Primark has always reused hangers in its stores wherever possible, it is now starting to collect un-reusable hangers to be recycled and made into new hangers in partnership with its recycling partner Mainetti. In July 2024, a pilot began in three UK stores to collect un-reusable plastic garment hangers, size markers and hanging accessories to be sent to a processing facility.
1. These include sessions held with the Fashion School.
2. ZDHC Knowledge Base: ‘Accelerator’ Definition. https://knowledge-base.roadmaptozero.com/hc/en-gb/sections/360002796277-Glossary#15337053980701
3. Only machine washable clothing is included. There are some products that are exempt such as underwear which should be handwashed.
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A T-shirt from the Primark Cares Collection made with cotton from the Primark Cotton Project
Beyond scaling circular design via t-shirts and denim, Primark has been using key collections to test and trial new approaches.
Previously, almost all of the leisure products produced by Primark, such as hoodies and joggers, were made from a polyester/cotton blend. This is currently a blend that is hard to recycle except under certain conditions that are not industrially scaled.
Through its Rita Ora collection, Primark is testing and trialling a small collection of leisure products made from 100% cotton, which is much easier to recycle. This includes its Rita stretch vest. Typically, stretch qualities in fabrics and products are achieved via the use of a percentage of elastane. However, elastane is widely regarded by most commercial recyclers as one of the most challenging disruptors to the recycling process.
A rib vest and tee collection was developed that uses no elastane, using a specific ‘rib’ construction to achieve a level of stretch. Through this pilot, Primark is now working to scale up similar fabrications, using cotton instead of cotton/elastane where feasible to achieve stretch. It is using this pilot to build more robust and concrete circular design guidelines and principles for leisure products, and will be working with its product teams to further test, trial, scale and embed these principles over the coming years.
