At first sight, circularity can seem like an abstract concept that’s difficult to translate into practical solutions. So, if you’re looking to implement a circular business model, it can be helpful to refer to tangible examples of successful initiatives. Check out the latest episode of the Beyond Threads podcast to hear from two fashion circularity experts and get the inside story on a recent garment renewal pilot we launched with Karl Lagerfeld.
Introducing Karl Lagerfeld’s Repair Atelier project
Global fashion brand Karl Lagerfeld wanted to address the issue of pre-consumer garment waste – items that have become damaged during transit or storage. And thanks to Bleckmann’s team of circular fashion experts, The Renewal Workshop, the brand was able to seamlessly renew these garments to like-new condition. This both prevented the damaged items from going to waste and created a brand-new revenue stream.
To find out more about the project, we spoke to Caroline Allard, Environmental and Sustainability Manager at Karl Lagerfeld, and Hans Robben, Programme Manager for The Renewal Workshop (TRW) at Bleckmann. Bleckmann had already been supporting Karl Lagerfeld with warehousing and global fulfilment. And this initiative, as part of the brand’s sustainability strategy, represents an exciting new stage in our partnership.
Supporting Karl Lagerfeld’s circularity mission
During the discussion, Hans Robben goes into detail about the operational requirements of the Repair Atelier. Garments are first sorted and graded, before undergoing a thorough and efficient cleaning process. Expert tailors then take care of any physical repairs, including loose seams or missing buttons and accessories. Finally, hang tags are added to each garment that explain the story behind the Repair Atelier line – giving customers a better understanding of the project and Karl Lagerfeld’s sustainability mission.
Working together for a circular fashion future
For Caroline, the Repair Atelier project demonstrates how collaboration across the supply chain can deliver impactful and sustainable projects. “Circularity is still a relatively new concept for the fashion industry, so being able to work together on this pilot project was a great experience,” she explains. “Tapping into the expertise and craftsmanship that exists in Hans’ team was both educational and inspirational – and it underlines the importance of cooperation in delivering successful circular solutions.”
Want to find out more about the Repair Atelier project? Check out the full episode now and discover how Bleckmann can make your circular fashion ambitions a reality!
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Transcript
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Hello and welcome to another Bleckmann Beyond Threads podcast. I'm your host, Erik Janssen Steenberg and together, we'll be taking the next deep dive into the trends, the developments in fashion and lifestyle logistics. Today, we will be talking about a project which Bleckmann has carried out together with the team of Karl Lagerfeld. And for that, we have two experts in the room today. Thank you for being here. It's on one hand Caroline from Karl Lagerfeld.
Caroline Allard: Thank you for having us.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Absolutely. It's definitely our pleasure. And the other guest is our very own Hans Robben Director of the Bleckmann Renewal workshop.
Hans Robben: Nice to be here, Erik.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Thank you, guys, for being here. Today, we will be covering circularity in the operations for Karl Lagerfeld. For that purpose, Hans, can you perhaps briefly introduce yourself and outline the project which we have carried out successfully with the team of Caroline?
Hans Robben: I'm Hans, Bleckmann Programme Manager for The Renewal Workshop. With The Renewal Workshop, we take care of all the operational aspects of renewing fashion items and preparing them for a second or third life and so on basically to be able to keep them in a continuous use. And for Karl specifically, we did a pilot on repairing items that were damaged and then also preparing them for a sale in their physical store in the Netherlands.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Right, and to be able to do that what were the specific process steps in those operations renewal, repair et cetera, that allowed us to be so successful?
Hans Robben: I think first of all, before we dive into the operations it was a question of capturing the question or the requirement of Karl very well. Because each brand has a different requirement wants to do things a little bit differently. So it's not just a standard process that we apply. But once we caught the request well and understood well what Karl wanted to do in our operational process, it was a combination of a quality control so looking at each item to see where it is damaged, what is damaged, can we repair it et cetera and after that also effectively doing the repair and the cleaning of the item to bring it back to the best quality possible and preparing it for resale by providing it with a specific hangtag that highlighted the fact that it was part of a separate collection.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: And working with you on identifying the right approach was of course Madame Caroline Allard. Sorry. I hope I pronounce it correctly.
Caroline Allard: Perfect.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: The Environmental and Sustainability Manager at Karl Lagerfeld. Can you please do me the same favour? Briefly introduce yourself and what you saw as your role in the project.
Caroline Allard: With pleasure. Well, I'm the Sustainability Manager for the brand. I'm in charge of environmental topics as well as supporting the circular business model transition. At the brand, we always aim to be the best version of ourselves in our sustainability journey and we have been working with Bleckmann for several years on the warehousing and logistic front. They have been our partner globally and they still are. And when we were informed that they had acquired The Renewal Workshop we saw that as an amazing opportunity to support further our agenda in regards to the circular business model. And we have worked closely to develop a repair pilot that was aiming to rescue damaged inventory in our warehouse operated by Bleckmann here in the Netherlands to rescue these items and to bring them back to their original state and have them distributed under the name The Repair Atelier in echo of the beautiful craftsmanship, also, that the team did and have it distributed in our store in the Netherlands. So that has been basically a very close relationship that we had with the team from A to Z on this project.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Okay, thank you for that. And Hans, how did you see that what you and the team did helped Karl Lagerfeld adopt the circular fashion practices?
Hans Robben: I think at first it was a question of really understanding the question that Karl had. What was their requirement, the goal...
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Yes, their specific need.
Hans Robben: Exactly, because it's always a bit different from brand to brand so we have to understand very well what their concrete question is. And then, it was applying this question and seeing how we can adapt our process so it fits that specific question. And in the process, one of the first steps that we did, which is a standard step is a quality control of each damaged item coming in to know exactly: Where it is damaged? Where is it dirty? Can we repair it back to new state or can't we? After which, of course, we do the actual repair, the actual cleaning and we also prepare it for resale by applying a specific hangtag that highlights the fact that it is part of this Repair Atelier collection of Karl.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Right. And what I then love hearing is the fact that you've been instrumental.
Hans Robben: And not so much following the lead of the asking brand, so to speak. Yeah, instrumental in the sense that, of course, on the operational part we played the crucial role, let's say but it's also very much understanding the question of the brand and listening to their requirements. Because also for us it's very much learning from the different brands that we are working with to see what is important to them and what we need to change in our approach to become more relevant in the circularity programmes of brands.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: And were you then also part of the process to determine which products would be part of that pilot
Hans Robben: I think the selection of the products itself that came into the process was mainly done by Karl. We play the role, as of the moment that we did the quality control on each item to see what can be resold and what can't be resold.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: So when we look at the very successful outcome of this pilot, of this project. Caroline, what do you see as distinct signals towards other brands in the market that are looking to become more experienced in circular operations?
Caroline Allard: Well, I think the signal is actually that it is doable.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: A very important signal.
Caroline Allard: As simply as that through collaboration and partnership. It's much more challenging to do it on your own. And to have an expert team on your side makes it something that for us was seamless and indeed a success. There is one thing that Karl used to say a lot that has become our mantra as a brand, which is: Embrace the present and reinvent the future. And I think it's exactly what we were doing here with this collaboration. Circular business models are rather new. That was a first for us. It's important to remain curious and agile and evaluate what can be done as a brand and as a company, an organisation. And to have one of your strategic partners' support in that is precious.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: So when we tap into that mantra of Mr Lagerfeld himself so making sure that other brands don't need to reinvent the same wheel over and over again what would be the best practices that you would be keen on sharing with them to make sure that they, well, kind of take off where we stopped?
Caroline Allard: Well, yes, of course. Well, the first one, obviously, is to make sure that you have a partner that can deliver the quality that you aim to have as a brand. And of course, we're in very good hands with Hans's team for that. But beyond the craftsmanship and the Know how of how to repair damaged goods for us, we saw the marketing and the operations approach as equally important. The marketing one because for such projects you're managing, in your assortment, mostly single reference units meaning one item in one size and one colourway from multiple seasons, menswear, womenswear. So a diversity that is not the same approach that you have in your normal seasonal assortment that is thought through as a whole. Therefore, it requires a tailor-made strategy to support it, to support that launch which is why we have created The Repair Atelier and under that umbrella created a whole marketing experience for the end consumer as well, to identify that this was a different capsule, sort of. So it was branded differently in our store, the product was branded as well with the hangtag that was mentioned by Hans. It had, also, for the launch, specific content to explain where the repair was made and show the craftsmanship of the team. We even came, as well, to film it and document that approach. That is one. Because you also need to engage with your customer in that perspective, which is rather, as I mentioned, a new one. But the operational aspect is equally important. You're managing a set of single units and references. You don't want to have hiccups in the integration in your system. So having a partner that has the same language in terms of operation, is essential. You can't have interventions to manage all these single references. Which is why for us, having The Renewal Workshop as part of Bleckmann was an amazing opportunity.Ideal scenario.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: And when we then look at all the developments in the sector in logistics, but also in the fashion market so consumer, companies like yourself, companies like Bleckmann but also the government, we see a huge impact of new legislation coming... but we also see a push towards greener fashion coming from the consumer then how do you see that circularity is going to play a role in redefining the fashion of the future?
Caroline Allard: You're completely correct on that point. There is a transition that's taking place and circularity has an impact on the future or is impacting the industry for sure. And that, I would say, simply by the fact that, if you look at, I mean, from a sustainability aspect beyond the industry, the fashion industry if you take all the industry into consideration if we were to double circularity globally we would be in line with the Paris Agreement. Our societies would be in line with the Paris Agreement. So it's a huge enabler to minimise your footprint as a brand and as an organisation. So thanks to that, or because of that there is a lot of regulation coming from the European Commission. And this is because if you look from a sustainability standpoint if we take into consideration all sectors and industries if we were to double circularity globally we would be in line with the Paris Agreement. So it's a huge enabler for us as a brand to also minimise our environmental impact. And this is the reason, that enabler is the reason why the European Commission is also developing so many regulations to support that transition. I have in mind, of course, the Circularity Directive but it's also infused in many other regulations and directives coming our way. You have the ESPR one with eco-design. Even CSRD, in its own way, is supporting that transition. And for us as a company and as a brand we accept the challenge that this regulation can bring by the fact that they also have different lead times and implementation in different ways, based on member states. But we see it more as an opportunity to lean on and to bring forward our strategy to minimise our impact through circularity. And that also opened for us another door which is making sure that we open, I mentioned it earlier our curiosity and our creativity. Circularity is a different approach. It can also be a different approach to develop your product or to even manage your operations and your business like the example of the pilot that we did, The Repair Atelier. And for us, that ultimately is an opportunity to connect in a different way with our customers as well. There is an appetite, we mentioned it earlier. The market is evolving very quickly. Brands are... We as a brand also want to remain agile on that. But it's also an opportunity for us as a brand to connect further with our end consumer. We mentioned it earlier, the demand is growing so we also want to connect with them under that aspect.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: So allow me to conclude that the brands are actually, well nearing the point of no return. They need to get involved, they need to want to be part of the solution. Because the demand is changing, legislation is changing and the world as a whole is requesting that from them. Do you agree?
Caroline Allard: Yes, brands definitely play a role here. But it's beyond brands, it's the whole sector. So of course, the brand is an important actor but I think the example that we are discussing today is a good example of the fact that it's actually beyond simply the brand. It's an industry transition and shift that needs to take place that we can't do on our own.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: No, we should not have to do it on our own. But we also should not be waiting for the other party to reach out the hand. So maybe our main message is: Make sure that you are the one reaching out to the other partner and simply start similar projects, similar activities to become a part of the solution and not the problem. So thank you very much for you very valuable insights, Hans, Caroline. I'm more than certain that there are many listeners that still have a lot of questions. Hopefully questions about how they can start. How can these parties, people, reach out to the two of you if they have questions or if they want to simply discuss?
Caroline Allard: Well, on our side, if they are for Karl Lagerfeld if there is any question about sustainability or other topics we have an email address, info@karl.com, that everybody can use and it will take its way through to the right person. But not hesitate, please share your thoughts and questions. We are more than happy to answer them.
Hans Robben: Parfait. Yes, likewise. If brands have questions on what we can do for them please reach out to our website and leave a message and we will definitely contact them again.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Well, thanks again for being here today, guys. And I'm more than certain that many, well, companies and people will reach out. Thank you very much for being with us today. This was another very insightful Beyond Threads podcast.Make sure to subscribe to them so that you're part of the next one and follow us on the socials. Thank you very much, see you soon.