Exiled has closed the doors on Root Cause, a showcase of garments, accessories and homeware handcrafted from discarded materials, which took over Fabrica X at The Mills Fabrica in King's Cross during London Fashion Week 2026, 17–20 September.
The material behind the pieces on show – recovered stock, factory offcuts and overlooked natural fibres – comes from a waste stream the UK is finding harder and more expensive to handle each year. That was the subject of the panel discussion held alongside the exhibition on 18 September.
The panel featured key voices in the textile, recycling and upcycling sectors, moderated by Megan Doyle, sustainable fashion journalist and consultant, and with panellists including: Mark Sumner, programme lead for textiles at WRAP; Jess O'Riley, founder of upcycling brand J.O. Studio; Becky O'Leary, textiles manager at Exiled; and Savannah Coombe, editor of waste sector news site letsrecycle.com.
Approaching the issue from various perspectives, the group shared stories from tackling textile waste on the ground to the broader systemic factors at play, including regulation, overproduction and more. Below are some key takeaways from the session to help inspire greater action to tackle textile waste from the top down, and embrace waste as a valuable resource.
Fashion's textile waste is putting pressure on the UK's waste systems and charity sector
‘Two years ago, WRAP estimated that there's going to be a cost to the United Kingdom of around an extra £200 million pounds per year to deal with textile waste,’ said Mark Sumner from WRAP. ‘Stuff that doesn't get reused goes into incineration and other waste streams. That estimate is two years old, and it doesn't include the vast increase that we see in stuff being placed into the market. Since then, there's been a 21% increase in the consumption of textiles.’
‘We have charities and commercial operators that are collecting textile waste, doing all the sorting and making sure that it gets as much reuse, as much recycled, because the market is flooded. And this is not a UK issue; this is a global issue. All of the reuse markets are flooded. Those businesses can't make as much money from that process, and they are going bust. That means there's even more textiles going onto the market, but there are fewer people collecting it. Where does that textile waste go?’
Storytelling is a crucial tool for instilling value into upcycled products, and DPPs can enable this
‘Telling people and displaying to them the provenance of these materials actually encourages them to buy into my brand and purchase my items because every piece has this story,’ said Jess O'Riley, who upcycles discarded festival tents into accessories. ‘It has clear visual imagery behind it that everyone's seen of those festival fields. Although the process and the work take time, telling that story is one of the best bits about the material, and I think the same goes with any waste material.’
Becky O'Leary from Exiled shared how the brand is embracing Digital Product Passports (see a mock-up of Exiled’s DPP in development) to advance storytelling for consumers. ‘We welcome DPP as an opportunity to shout about the supply chain, and we see that as an opportunity to educate consumers,’ she said. ‘I love the thought that our DPP is a useful tool that people engage with over the lifetime of this product. So as part of our work there, we've uploaded repair videos, videos about what happens to it at the end of life — how we recycle it through anaerobic digestion and composting. So we educate the consumer in that way. Bringing our artisans, our makers, to the forefront of the story is key.’
Regulation is set to reshape the textile waste economy
‘In a couple of years we're going to have something called the Emissions Trading Scheme, which places, in its simplest form, a tax on waste that is sent to incineration, particularly plastic waste. A lot of clothing contains plastic, so we have this big problem coming down the track where the waste that is already so expensive to deal with is going to end up in incineration, and it's going to cost a lot more than it used to,’ said Savannah Coombes from letsrecycle.com.
When asked what fashion can learn from other sectors on the regulation front, she signals to the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. ‘The packaging sector is busy rolling out an EPR system where producers have to report how much packaging they place on the market and what material it is made up of,’ she explained. ‘They are then charged a fee based on that, and that is then redistributed to local authorities with the intention for them to use it to improve their recycling services. I believe that it is essential that this happens to the textile sector.’
The panel and event are over. The work isn't. Browse the collection, read more about how we work, or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for what comes next.
Every material is made for more.
