With 2026 fast approaching, FashionUnited asks six sustainability and circularity experts what fashion and retail should expect next.

Fashion in 2026: Sustainability and circular experts on what’s coming next

1. Tiina Nyman, founder at Circular Fashion News

Resale continues to drive the strongest momentum in circular fashion. The number of brands launching resale initiatives is steadily growing, and the pace of new entrants is expected to accelerate. Most initiatives are take-back (discount codes for returned products) or trade-in (store credit) models, which create clear commercial value by bringing customers back into the brand’s ecosystem. Growing acceptance of resale among luxury consumers is likely to lead more luxury brands to launch vintage and resale experiments.

Consolidation among recommerce players is likely as the market matures, with larger platforms partnering with or acquiring smaller firms across resale, rental, repair and reconditioning.

An area of growth will be textile-to-textile recycling. Progress remains pre-scale, but brand commitments, partnerships, and investment activity are on the rise. I expect more well-known brands to sign purchasing agreements and form strategic partnerships with textile-to-textile recyclers, supporting them in attracting further funding.

A parallel focus area, and a key challenge for brands, will be the development of data infrastructures as the industry prepares for the rollout of Digital Product Passports. In 2026, more brands are expected to pilot and implement these systems, often in partnership with third-party providers that supply the necessary data and technical infrastructure.

2. Dr. Natascha van der Velden, sustainable fashion researcher and consultant

What will become important in 2026 - or in the coming years - is reporting for requirements such as the CSRD mandate and the Digital Product Passport. Possessing comprehensive information about your product is becoming increasingly crucial, as it enables you to monitor what you have, what your operations entail - and where you can improve.

The objective of such regulations is to incentivize companies to take steps toward sustainability. However, simply documenting information does not automatically imply that improvement is occurring.

One insight I can offer is that conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for textiles - going through all those processes - generates significant awareness within organizations. And awareness, in my view, is the beginning of real change.

Furthermore, my hope is that the flow of information for consumers is addressed. Information needs to be more concise, better quality, and honest. It must be clear what a product is, how to use it, how to care for it, and how to eventually reuse or recycle it. My wish is that it is no longer just about the jacket, but truly about the substance within.

Read more in the article: ‘Changemakers in fashion: Dr. Natascha van der Velden’

3. Ann Claes, co-founder of Masjien, fashion, sustainability and technology agency

As a techno-optimist, I expect sustainability and circularity in fashion to accelerate through the intelligent integration of technology across the entire value chain. Digital Product Passports can shift beyond compliance checklists to creative engines: a digital layer that strengthens transparency, builds trust, and opens new possibilities to connect with customers throughout a product’s full lifecycle. This shift will unlock richer storytelling, new service-based business models, and data-driven circularity that feels intuitive rather than imposed.

At the same time, digital product creation will continue to mature. From design and sampling to production and communication, digital workflows will not only reduce sampling and waste but also expand creative freedom. The rise of virtual try-on will reshape brand experience and enable more conscious consumption, from producing closer to demand to lowering return rates through better fit and expectations.

The rise of preloved is opening new business opportunities for brands, creating ways to engage with fresh audiences while extending the value of every product across multiple lifetimes. It’s not only about shifting consumer perception, it’s about recognising the cultural and economic potential of longevity. With emerging technological solutions, brands can even offer in-house peer-to-peer resale, strengthening community, deepening loyalty, and adding a real circular business offering.

Looking ahead, I believe the most exciting momentum lies in immersive digital experiences. I expect to see the continued rise of brand engagement in gamified environments, AR/VR/XR layers, and holographic showcases such as Future Front Row, all offering new stages to celebrate craftsmanship, creativity and culture. These formats don’t replace physical fashion; they elevate it. At a time when sustainable communication is declining, these tools offer fresh ways to tell meaningful stories and allow people to reconnect with fashion as an expression of who they are - not just what they buy. If we embrace this technological optimism with purpose, 2026 can be the year where innovation and impact move in tandem, making circularity not only scalable but genuinely desirable.

4. Gauri Sharma, director of strategy & engagement, Fashion Producer Collective

For much of the past decade, fashion gravitated toward consumer-facing sustainability—circularity pilots and material innovation. In the past couple of years, funders, foundations, and brands have begun shifting their focus toward supply-chain decarbonization, where most emissions lie. While necessary, this pivot still relies on the same top-down playbook. When manufacturers are treated as implementers rather than co-creators in defining the problem, ambitious climate targets end up transferring disproportionate risk and cost onto businesses already operating on thin margins in volatile trade environments.

The recent push for accelerated coal phase-out illustrates this. Some brands adopted aggressive timelines, leading manufacturers to invest millions in biomass systems—raising operating costs and, in some regions, contributing to air-quality concerns. These mandates also divert attention and resources away from contextual solutions and urgent adaptation needs, such as heat stress, infrastructure vulnerability, and the factory disruptions highlighted by the devastating floods in Sri Lanka days ago. Manufacturers worry that expectations around “just transition” and adaptation will mirror coal phase-out: ambitious on paper, inequitable in practice.

In 2026, I hope to see sustainability strategies and sector roadmaps built with producers at the centre of problem-framing—and a rise in manufacturer-led initiatives, research, and blueprints. A just transition cannot be delivered if the people expected to implement it are not also empowered to design it.

5. Dr. Kim Poldner, endowed professor, circular economic and regional development, University of Groningen

In 2026, I expect the fashion and retail industry to move decisively beyond sustainability and circularity toward a regenerative paradigm. After two decades of working in sustainable fashion, I’m seeing a clear shift: brands are no longer satisfied with merely reducing harm or closing loops—they are beginning to ask how their activities can restore, revitalize and enable the social and ecological systems they depend on.

Regenerative fashion will therefore become a leading theme: materials sourced from biodiverse and soil-building farming systems; supply chain relationships built on reciprocity rather than extraction; and design processes that focus on longevity, care and repair. This shift is supported by the rise of regenerative agriculture investments, the growing legitimacy of indigenous knowledge, and the increasing demand among customers—especially younger generations—for brands that contribute positively to people and planet.

At the same time, 2026 will present clear challenges. The industry must learn to measure regeneration in meaningful ways, avoid ‘regen-washing’, and build the deep collaborations required to transform entire value chains. Retailers will face the task of rethinking business models: from volume-driven to value-driven, from seasonal push to service-based approaches centered on stewardship and community engagement.

Yet within these challenges lie major opportunities. Brands that dare to pioneer regenerative practices—ecosystem partnerships, fair value distribution, and circular–regenerative hybrids like repair rituals and take-back schemes that feed into local bio-based cycles—will not only future-proof their business but also help shape a more resilient and human-centered fashion system. Regeneration is no longer a niche concept; it is becoming an essential strategic lens for the next era of fashion.

6. Lydia Brearley, founder of Enkel Consulting and Sustainable Fashion School

As we move into 2026, the fashion industry is confronting the growing business risk of material and resource scarcity.

This pressure is accelerating the need to commercialise next-gen materials at scale, pushing circular innovators to scale what is typically a decade-long path to maturity, into just a few years. While industry collaborations – from Circ x H&M to Circulose x Marks & Spencer and Syre x Nike – are showing signals of real momentum, the landscape remains deeply polarised. Many innovators are still struggling to secure the capital, infrastructure and predictable demand required to cross the “valley of scale”.

The brands that lean in with long-term commitments and partnerships, rather than pilot-stage initiatives, will be the ones shaping the next era of material innovation.

At the same time, transparency is shifting from ambition to operational necessity. Digital Product Passports, EPR schemes and tightening chemical regulations will require granular, verifiable supply-chain data and force brands to rethink how products are designed, manufactured and recovered. Designing for disassembly and longevity, whilst securing recycled feedstocks and tackling overproduction at source will become core operational decisions - not side projects which sit within sustainability teams.

Despite claims that sustainability is losing industry momentum, it is in fact becoming the strategic imperative for competitiveness. It's the most important challenge for brands right now, but most difficult to implement. In a landscape defined by resource constraints, rising regulatory expectations and fast-evolving consumer behaviour, the brands that act now will not only remain compliant - they will be the ones positioned to survive and thrive in the decade ahead.

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• Poetcore, opera aesthetic and brooches: Key style predictions from Pinterest for 2026
• Why creator-led trust will define fashion marketing in 2026
• Hyper-local, hyper-physical, hyper-engaging: Retail’s next chapter
• From gold to gatekeeping: WGSN’s top fashion, tech and consumer trends for 2026
• How resilient supply chains will define fashion’s winners in 2026
• Kantar report: AI, retail media and 'treatonomics' to reshape fashion in 2026
• The State of Fashion 2026: Turbulence is the new normal
• Euromonitor: Key consumer trends for 2026
• Retail 2026: A year defined by division, authenticity and the suburban shift

Sources:
- The information of Tiina Nyman, Ann Claes, Gauri Sharma, Dr. Kim Poldner and Lydia Brearley was provided in writing.
- Interview Natascha van der Velden, 19 november 2025.