For the first time, circular textiles are being considered in federal legislation in the United States. With over $14 billion allocated for federal tax incentives and grants, the bill aims to revive the U.S. textile industry by supporting domestic brands and solution providers engaged in recycling, resale, repair, and rental of apparel and textiles.

Up to this point, the private sector and not-for-profit organizations have been leading the charge towards textile sustainability. Debrand is honored to have contributed to the drafting of the Americas Act as members of the American Circular Textiles Group (ACT) by providing our own industry expertise in how we see the private sector taking a big leap forward with federal grants and support.

From our perspective, we’ve seen (and experienced) the many challenges solution providers and apparel brands have faced when attempting to grow sustainability initiatives and offer more extensive services. The textile waste problem that we currently face is vast and ever-growing, and scalable solutions can only go so far with private funding. This bill will provide the support and incentive domestic brands and solution providers currently need to advance large-scale solutions, both to tackle the problem we already face and mitigate any further harm to our planet.

What does this mean for brands?

The overarching topic of textile circularity is inherently complex, but the framework of this bill can serve as helpful building blocks for companies to achieve lasting impact and infrastructure. While private and not-for-profit organizations have done incredible legwork to reach sustainability achievements so far as an industry, there’s still much more work to be done to reach truly circular practices. The Americas Act has the potential to bring circularity much sooner than we could have ever envisioned. It’s a crucial step for our industry’s success and development of circular systems with our current business models. 

While this is only the beginning of many milestones to come, this bill is a historic moment. Stay tuned as Debrand team members continue their lobbying efforts in Washington, DC this April.