Social Fabrics Matter. Design and the Third Sector promoting textile waste reuse and recycling practices

In recent years, the Italian scenario has been characterised by the proliferation of Third Sector initiatives aimed at fostering circular economy processes, supporting and promoting the reuse, preparation for reuse, and recycling of textile materials and products, through inclusive processes. This paper aims to understand how the Third Sector can contribute to promote the adoption of circular practices within textile production systems and how the combination of approaches, methods, and design tools could support the development of these enterprises engaged in the recovery of textile materials. Furthermore, the aim is to investigate how these two realities could be effectively integrated and what could be the contribution of design within these organisations. The added value of these realities, described and analysed in the current study, is manifested in their ability to trigger virtuous processes of circular economy of textile waste and scrap through cooperation and co-design between different actors. In this scenario, if the non-profit sector confirms itself as an area called upon to generate innovation - in particular in the research of new solutions both in the social field and in fashion and textiles - design acts as a powerful catalyst in the promotion of sustainability and social innovation.