Laura Vicaria : Rethink Fashion

Laura Vicaria: Transforming Circular Fashion with Rethink Fashion

Laura Vicaria, a circular fashion expert from the Netherlands, is the founder of Rethink Fashion, a consultancy dedicated solely to advancing circularity in the fashion industry. With her extensive expertise, Laura's mission is to bring a purposeful focus on circular fashion—a business model designed to increase and prolong the life cycle of clothing. Laura advocates for a world where clothing is mended, repaired, and cherished for a longer period of time for a better planet by addressing existing waste, reducing reliance on new resources, and creating a closed-loop system.

A Leader in Circular Innovation

Laura has played influential roles in the sustainable fashion landscape, including her tenure as Program Manager at Denim Deal, an initiative promoting circular solutions in denim production. She also previously worked at MUD Jeans, a leading brand known for its circular denim practices. At MUD Jeans, Laura contributed to creating sustainable denim for the next generation, making sure of durability, recyclability, and minimal environmental impact.

In the Circular Economy Show by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Laura Vicaria discusses tackling the fashion industry's waste problem through circular business. She stresses the well-known fact, without surprise, about the massive waste generated by the fashion industry and how MUD Jeans are preventing materials from ending up in landfills after the product's life cycle ends. 

Laura has constantly brought awareness to the production process of traditional jeans, their environmental impact, and the things we can do as individuals to make sure our next denim purchase is eco-friendly. That being said, the most sustainable jeans are the ones that already exist in your wardrobe. She also talks about the differences between recycled denim and new denim, in comparison to the carbon footprint and material use when it comes to sustainability.

Rethink Fashion: A Mindset Shift

At the core of Laura’s consultancy, Rethink Fashion, is a vision to guide brands, manufacturers, and value chain partners, such as recyclers and designers, towards a circular economy. 

Her eco-minded approach includes developing circularity strategies to support brands in scaling circular design and sourcing strategies, enabling them to create collections rooted in sustainability. In guiding circular transitions, she helps implement circular fashion practices at every stage, from design to recycling, transforming the traditional linear models. Laura shows the need to move away from the common linear 'take-make-dispose' model, which relies on raw materials, constant demand for new resources, and high energy use, and shift to circular thinking, which leans more towards on reusing and recycling materials to reduce waste, in order to rethink and create a big change in the fashion industry.

Educating Through Storytelling

In 2023, Laura had taken the role of an author too, using the circularity concept wisely by self-publishing a children’s book. Designed to create awareness about the value of materials among the young audience, the book highlights the importance of caring for and prolonging the life of items to avoid waste. The story aims to inspire younger generations to adopt sustainable practices and understand how materials can return to nature without harm. This book portrays Laura’s vision for instilling sustainable circularity principles in accessible and engaging ways.

Driving the Circular Movement

Laura’s work through Rethink Fashion represents an all-in-all approach to circularity. Her dedication to helping brands transition towards sustainable practices is matched by her belief in empowering individuals to rethink their consumption habits. From consulting with brands to advocating for systemic changes, Laura is a key figure in advancing circular fashion models. A denim expert with a broader vision with her deep expertise in circular denim, Laura has influenced iconic projects, circular denim collections and sustainable value chain development. 

Laura Vicaria’s approach is action-oriented. Through Rethink Fashion and her advocacy, she welcomes individuals and businesses to participate in the circular movement, making sustainability a cornerstone of the fashion industry, where circularity is presented as a slow and steady mindset shift.