A team of early-career sustainability innovators have been named the winner of CIWM’s first academic hackathon, taking the top spot with a proposal for a circular Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for Clothing – a model the judging panel called ‘smart’, ‘practical’, and ‘perfectly aligned with future policy’.
The event, Hack the Loop: Problem-Solving Fast Fashion for a Circular Approach to Textiles, brought together students and early-career professionals from universities across the UK.
Organised by CIWM in partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University, the Circular Economy Institute (CEI), CEIC Wales, the University of Leeds, the University of Exeter’s Centre for Circular Economy, and the University of Edinburgh, the hackathon challenged participants to design scalable solutions to reduce textile waste and accelerate circularity in the fashion sector.
The session was hosted by Dr Katarina Rimarcikova, a circular fashion designer, consultant, and Senior Lecturer in Fashion, Design, Media and Management for postgraduate courses at London College of Fashion, who guided the event from first briefing to final decision.
Teams were asked to create a concept addressing one or more of five areas: upcycling and longevity, material innovation, value-chain optimisation, end-of-life solutions, or consumer behaviour change.
The judging panel – Dr Rimarcikova, John Twitchen (Founder, Stuff4Life), and Michael Cusack (Chief Sustainability Officer, ACS Clothing) – assessed proposals based on collaboration, innovation, feasibility, and impact.
A wide range of ideas
Five teams presented solutions reflecting the breadth of challenges within the textile system:
Group 1 proposed Local Threads, a digital marketplace linking consumers with artisans and repair specialists, with garment passports to track origins and encourage reuse.
Group 2 outlined a sustainability-linked taxation and certification system for fashion brands, designed to reward transparent and responsible operations.
Group 3 introduced EcoStar, a five-star sustainability label for garments inspired by repairability ratings in the electronics sector.
Group 4 presented an international reuse model aimed at diverting unsold clothing from export and landfill by directing it to workers’ associations in the Dominican Republic for safe repair and resale.
Judges praised each group’s approach, noting the strong emphasis on transparency, community impact, and policy-level thinking.
Winning concept: Circular Deposit Return Scheme
Group 5 – comprised of Sammy Smithson, Bhavna Palli, and Lily Dunkley – was named the overall winner for its Circular DRS for Clothing, a brand-level model that financially rewards consumers for returning worn-out garments.
Under the proposal, shoppers would pay a deposit at purchase (for example, a £100 t-shirt might include a £50 refundable credit). When the item reaches end-of-life, it is returned to the brand, the consumer receives their deposit back as store credit, and the garment enters a fully closed recycling loop.
Returned textiles would be sorted and processed in onshore facilities and remanufactured into new fibres for new clothing, reflecting changing trends and demand.
Judges described the solution as practical, scalable, and aligned with emerging policy. Dr Rimarcikova called it ‘a smart, service-based form of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) that strengthens brand loyalty while keeping materials in circulation’.
John Twitchen said it was ‘a fantastic and practical model that connects sustainability with real business incentives’.
Michael Cusack highlighted its emissions-saving potential, saying it “treats textiles as a resource, not waste”.
The winning team will also receive a one-to-one mentoring session with a CIWM industry expert.
All five proposals will also be submitted to the UK Government’s Circular Economy Taskforce, which is examining practical interventions to support a more circular textiles system — ensuring student and early-career ideas feed directly into national discussions on textile waste and system transformation.
Dr Rimarcikova closed the event by reflecting on the importance of new voices in solving entrenched sustainability challenges:
“Fast fashion isn’t just about speed – it’s about how quickly we consume, discard and forget. What we’ve seen today shows that the next generation doesn’t just want to slow that down. They want to redesign the system.”