ThreadCircle: Building a circular platform for textile waste and upcycling
This project explores how we can reduce textile waste by creating a digital platform that connects waste generators, upcyclers, and eco-conscious consumers. Through research, interviews, and market analysis, we identified key challenges in sourcing, awareness, and accessibility — and designed a system that supports textile collection, a marketplace for recycled materials, and community-driven sustainability initiatives.
Industry
Textile
My role
UI UX Designer
Platform
Mobile
Timeline
April 2025 - Present
Problem statement
The fashion and textile industries generate massive waste each year, most of which ends up in landfills or incinerated. While interest in sustainable fashion is growing, recycling systems remain limited and unstructured.
Independent designers and conscious consumers want to work with upcycled materials but face inconsistent supply, poor access to waste textiles, and no central platform to source or sell. These gaps highlight the urgent need for a connected ecosystem that transforms textile waste into opportunity — driving ethical design and a circular fashion economy.
Massive waste generation - Over 92 million tons of textile waste are produced globally each year — most of it ends up in landfills or incinerated.
Lack of infrastructure - Recycling systems for textiles are limited or non-existent, making sustainable disposal difficult.
Access & supply issues - Upcyclers and designers struggle to find reliable sources of discarded materials; supply is scattered and unorganized.
No central platform - There’s no unified space to collect, buy, sell, or donate textile waste and upcycled products.
Low awareness & accessibility - Public awareness is still low, and sustainable fashion options remain hard to access for everyday consumers.
Goals & Objectives
Our goal is to reduce textile waste by building a circular ecosystem that supports recycling, upcycling, and sustainable reselling of textiles. We aim to collaborate with fashion brands, manufacturers, retailers, and local communities to improve textile collection and raise environmental awareness. By developing innovative technology and educational initiatives, we strive to make textile recycling more efficient, accessible, and impactful.
Reduce textile waste through recycling & upcycling - Enable effective recycling, upcycling, and reuse of discarded textiles to minimize landfill waste.
Build a tech-driven circular ecosystem - Develop technology to support textile collection, traceability, and the sale of upcycled products — connecting generators, makers, and buyers.
Raise awareness & drive collaboration - Educate the public on textile waste and partner with brands, manufacturers, and communities to promote sustainable practices.
Scope
Building a platform that connects textile waste generators with upcyclers, buyers, and donors. The focus is on three key areas: a system to collect textile waste, a marketplace to sell upcycled materials, and a donation feature to support awareness and community impact — all aimed at making textile recycling easier, accessible, and more effective
Textile waste collection system
A system that lets individuals, tailors, and factories easily donate or schedule pickups for textile waste — ensuring proper sorting and delivery to upcyclers, recyclers, or buyers.
Marketplace for recycled textiles
A platform marketplace where upcycled and recycled textiles can be sold directly to designers, artisans, and conscious buyers — bridging the gap between supply and demand.
Donation integration for awareness and impact
A donation feature that allows people to contribute textiles — supporting awareness campaigns, education, and community sustainability efforts.
Research & insights
To validate the problem and better understand the needs of people interacting with textile waste, we conducted primary research through surveys and interviews. We engaged with tailors, boutique owners, upcyclers, designers, and conscious consumers to explore how they manage textile waste, the challenges they face, and their views on sustainability.
Online survey
We designed a 3–5 minute survey to understand how different individuals — including tailors, boutique owners, upcyclers, students, and conscious consumers — interact with textile waste in their daily lives.
The survey explored 5 key areas:
Roles & demographics – Who the respondents are and their relationship with textile waste.
Interaction with waste – How they generate, reuse, donate, or dispose of textile waste.
Challenges faced – Barriers in sourcing, recycling, or upcycling textiles.
Motivations – What would encourage them to adopt sustainable textile practices.
Platform expectations – Their openness to a digital solution and features they’d find useful.
The responses gave us valuable insights into current gaps in awareness, infrastructure, and access — and also confirmed that there is clear interest in a platform that could streamline textile collection, reuse, and community engagement.
Survey insights by key focus areas
We grouped our survey findings into five key areas to better understand user behavior, challenges, and expectations around textile waste:
User roles
Respondents included upcyclers, boutique owners, students, and conscious consumers — giving us a diverse perspective across the ecosystem.
Waste interaction
Most respondents (70%) do not currently generate, collect, or use textile waste — but they are curious and open to learning more about it.
Key challenges
Lack of awareness and a dedicated platform is the biggest challenge for those working with textile waste, followed by low demand, logistical issues, and inconsistent material availability — highlighting the urgent need for a centralized, accessible system.
Motivations
Most respondents are motivated by environmental impact, reducing waste, and creative interest. Income generation and supporting artisans also play a strong role, while fewer see better platforms/resources as a motivator — showing that passion and purpose are key drivers in this space.
Platform Interest
80% of respondents are open to using a platform that connects waste generators, designers, and buyers. The most desired features include pickup/delivery help (90%), e-commerce for buying/selling (80%), and impact tracking and community-building tools (60%). This reflects strong demand for convenience, transparency, and meaningful engagement.
Real stories behind the data
To complement our survey findings, we conducted one-on-one interviews with select participants to explore their personal experiences with textile waste, upcycling, and sustainable fashion. These interviews helped us move beyond surface-level responses and understand the deeper motivations, challenges, and expectations of people working across the ecosystem.
We focused our conversations around 7 key areas:
Background & role – Understanding their work and relationship with textiles
Textile waste handling – How they manage or dispose of textile waste
Experience with upcycling – Whether they’ve reused or bought upcycled products
Problems & gaps – Identifying pain points in the system
Platform reactions – Gauging interest in a digital platform and desired features
Motivations & vision – What drives them toward sustainability
Final thoughts – Suggestions, expectations, and openness to further involvement
These conversations offered rich, practical insights that helped shape our direction. Below are some key takeaways from the interviews.
Interview insights
These two audio clips are from interviews we conducted — moments that truly caught our attention.
Below them are the overall insights we gathered from all the interviews combined.
People want to reduce waste—but don’t always know how.
Most participants are aware of the environmental impact of textile waste but feel helpless about proper disposal.
Some resort to giving clothes to staff or relatives, while others hold on to waste due to lack of better options.
Strong personal values shape what people keep, give, or buy
One interviewee avoids buying used clothes due to beliefs around energy transfer.
Another sees no problem buying thrifted/upcycled clothes if they suit their style.
The decision to donate vs. sell often depends on emotional or monetary value.
First-hand exposure to fashion industry waste left a lasting impact.
Fashion professionals who have seen factory-level waste (like Zara/H&M) express deep concern and a desire for change.
There's interest in rethinking waste through crafts, quilts, or practical household items—not just clothes.
DIY and upcycling is common—but limited to personal circles.
People are upcycling old materials into bags, cleaning cloths, or decor—but aren’t always willing to buy upcycled goods unless quality and transparency are ensured.
There’s openness to a platform—but it must be ethical, accessible, and user-aligned.
Participants showed strong interest in the idea of a platform for donating, upcycling, and accessing second-life materials—especially if it includes donation tracking, quality filters, or transparency in usage.
From real people to user personas
After talking to tailors, designers, boutique owners, and conscious consumers, we gathered many insights about how people deal with textile waste. To make these insights easier to use in our design process, we created a few user personas. These personas represent the common types of people we spoke to — their goals, struggles, and what they need. This helps us design a platform that truly works for them.
Aarushi
Conscious consumer & hobby
Age: 29
Location: Bangalore, India
Goals
Reduce her fashion waste footprint.
Support ethical brands and upcycled products.
Learn more about sustainable fashion.
Pain points
Hard to find reliable sources of upcycled products.
Not sure where to donate clothes responsibly.
Concerned about hygiene or quality in second hand goods.
Motivators
Environmental consciousness.
Personal creativity.
Convenience and transparency in platforms.
Ravi
Tailor & boutique owner
Age: 42
Location: Kochi, India
Goals
Dispose of waste responsibly without added hassle.
Find alternatives to just throwing it away.
Support local artisans and recycling initiatives.
Pain points
No pickup systems for waste cloth.
Doesn't know what happens to donated scraps.
No time to manage complex disposal processes.
Motivators
Community upliftment.
Ease of use (pickup, tracking).
Social recognition for being eco-friendly.
Meera
Upcycling designer
Age: 34
Location: Delhi, India
Goals
Get consistent, quality material for upcycling.
Educate her buyers about sustainability.
Sell her work through eco-conscious platforms.
Pain points
Unreliable sources for discarded textiles.
Difficult to sort or trace origins of fabric.
Limited customer trust in upcycled goods.
Motivators
Artistic expression.
Supporting the circular economy.
Visibility and support from like-minded platforms.
User journey map
This journey captures how each user persona—consumer, tailor, and upcycler—moves through the stages of Discovery, Learn, Use, Decide, and Goals. It helped us identify pain points and opportunities to build a solution that’s practical, accessible, and impact-driven.
Aarushi
Conscious consumer & hobby
Goal: Buy upcycled clothes, reduce waste, and donate responsibly.
Stage
Description
Discovery
Sees an Instagram post about eco-conscious fashion. Hears about the platform through friends or influencers
Learn
Explores the website/app – reads about impact tracking, how clothes are sourced, and sustainability values.
Use
Browses upcycled products, filters by designer/location, reads product stories. Tries donation feature.
Decide
Makes a purchase after reading user reviews and checking impact report. Donates old clothes via pickup.
Goals
- Build trust in upcycled goods
- Offer easy, guided donation process
- Showcase transparency & impact
Ravi
Tailor & boutique owner
Goal: Dispose textile scraps responsibly, without hassle.
Stage
Description
Discovery
Learns from a local WhatsApp group or flyer at a tailoring supply store.
Learn
Visits site/app to check how pickup works, what happens to the waste, and who uses it.
Use
Schedules a pickup, chooses waste type/quantity, tracks collection through SMS/app updates.
Decide
Feels confident due to positive testimonials, tracking, and social recognition for contributing.
Goals
- Simplify pickup process
- Build trust about use of waste
- Reward frequent donors
Meera
Upcycling designer
Goal: Access consistent, quality textile waste and sell products via a trusted platform.
Stage
Description
Discovery
Finds platform through a sustainable fashion community or LinkedIn post
Learn
Reviews how materials are sourced, how to receive sorted fabric, and terms for selling
Use
Signs up as a verified designer, requests materials, lists products on marketplace
Decide
Gets satisfied seeing other designers using the platform, understands sourcing process is reliable.
Goals
- Ensure steady, quality material supply
- Offer visibility via platform
- Build consumer trust
Market landscape & opportunities
After understanding user needs through surveys, interviews, and journey mapping, we explored the broader market to see how existing players address textile waste and upcycling. This helped us identify gaps, trends, and opportunities where ThreadCircle can stand out — from building trust and ensuring material quality to creating a unified platform that connects waste generators, makers, and conscious consumers in a seamless, transparent ecosystem.
Fabscrap
Focus area
Textile waste collection & resale of fabrics
Strengths
Strong B2B textile waste collection network, volunteer programs, sells deadstock fabrics online
Weaknesses / Gaps
Primarily US-focused, limited marketplace features for finished upcycled products
ThredUp
Focus area
Online thrift & consignment
Strengths
Large inventory, polished resale platform, strong brand trust
Weaknesses / Gaps
Focused on apparel resale, no textile waste collection or supply for upcyclers
Poshmark
Focus area
Peer-to-peer resale
Strengths
Community-driven, easy to list & sell
Weaknesses / Gaps
No textile waste focus, limited environmental impact tracking
Patagonia Worn Wear
Focus area
Brand-led repair & resale
Strengths
Strong sustainability brand narrative, repair programs
Weaknesses / Gaps
Brand-specific, not open to independent upcyclers
Upcycle That
Focus area
Upcycling inspiration & DIY ideas
Strengths
Educational focus, creative project
Weaknesses / Gaps
No transactional platform, no waste collection
SwagCycle
Focus area
Corporate swag recycling
Strengths
Corporate partnerships, redistribution & recycling of branded items
Weaknesses / Gaps
Niche focus, not consumer-oriented
Key takeaways for ThreadCircle
Centralized platform gap
No single platform combines waste collection + upcycled materials marketplace + community awareness.
Opportunity: ThreadCircle can own this space by integrating all three pillars.
Transparency & trust as differentiators
Most platforms lack impact tracking (showing where waste goes, how it’s used).
Opportunity: Add clear traceability for every collected textile.
B2B + B2C hybrid model
Competitors often cater only to businesses (Fabscrap) or only to consumers (ThredUp).
Opportunity: Serve waste generators, upcyclers, and end consumers in one ecosystem.
Localized collection + Global reach
None of the platforms have localized waste collection networks with scalable logistics.
Opportunity: Build city-based pickup networks that connect to a national marketplace.
Community-driven growth
Only a few (like Poshmark) leverage strong community interaction.
Opportunity: Use social features (impact badges, designer stories, challenges) to grow adoption
Information architecture
To ensure ThreadCircle addresses the needs of donors, buyers, and upcyclers, we mapped a clear Information Architecture that organizes the platform into intuitive sections. Each section directly supports user goals uncovered in our research—whether it’s scheduling waste pickups, browsing sustainable products, tracking impact, or learning about textile waste. This structure allows for a smooth user flow, keeps core actions easily accessible, and is scalable to add future features as the platform grows.
Thanks for reading!
This is a work-in-progress, and I’ll be sharing more updates as the research and design evolve. Let’s build better solutions together.