Clothing brands make and sell clothes. Should they pay to deal with the old

In a northeast Calgary industrial park, nestled among storefronts selling flooring and grills, is the Gear Re-Store.

Inside are boxes of surplus zippers in every colour of the rainbow, industrial washers and dryers and a team of technicians skillfully stuffing puffer jackets with down filling and repairing rips and tears.

Each year, the store repairs about 10,000 jackets, sweaters and pairs of snowpants, said owner Russell McPherson. 

“I don’t like waste,” said McPherson, whose shop specializes in warranty repair for outdoor gear. “We’re trying to keep gear out of the landfill and keep it in circulation longer.”

The idea is gaining momentum in other corners of the fashion industry. While fast fashion is still plenty popular, more brands are trying to appeal to customers who want their clothes to last a lifetime — or at least not wind up in the garbage — with in-store repair services, used clothing trade-in programs and new forms of recycled textiles.

But some jurisdictions have decided it isn’t enough to let businesses take the lead on reducing waste.

They’re forcing retailers to pay up. 

A growing number of European countries — along with the state of California — have brought in legislation that makes brands responsible not just for making and selling clothes, but for collecting and processing them at the end of their lifespan.

The hope of these “extended producer responsibility” (EPR) schemes is to keep clothes out of the dump, and to push brands to make fabrics that last longer and are easier to recycle. 

Canadian advocates hope this country will take a similar approach — though some warn Canada’s size, and the complexity of its provincial recycling systems, could poses challenges.

How it works

This week, Black Friday kicks off the holiday season — and revives concern about what will happen with this year’s sequined tops and Christmas sweaters in a few years’ time.

Enter EPR. 

In the world of textiles, this would typically involve charging brands a fee based on the amount of clothing they sell, which would then go into a fund to pay for its collection and disposal, said Jordan Girling, head of EPR with the Waste and Resources Action Programme, a global non-governmental organization based in the U.K.

Policies can also be written such that brands get a discount for making clothes that are better quality or easier to recycle, he said.

For example, a brand might pay less for making a T-shirt of 100 per cent cotton compared to a blend of synthetics. 

“That’s where the incentive comes for producers and brands to make the products more recyclable in the first place — a cheaper fee,” said Girling, who spoke to CBC News on the sidelines of a…