Rotterdam is building one of Europe’s most ambitious circular textile ecosystems, connecting cities across West Netherlands to tackle the full lifecycle of textiles. Laura Suijkerbuijk, co-founder of the Swap Shop, one of the initiative’s flagship circular retail concepts, explains why the textile industry’s linear model is broken and what a better system looks like.
A different kind of system
Rotterdam is tackling the textile waste crisis with an entire ecosystem. Through the Kansen for West programme, cities across West Netherlands have built a coherent circular textile infrastructure covering the full value chain: sorting and fibre recovery, processing and manufacturing, and urban applications including repair platforms, swap shops, rental concepts and circular retail. Rather than supporting isolated pilots, the programme connects SMEs (small and medium enterprises), municipalities, waste collectors, social enterprises, designers and policy actors to move from innovation to real implementation.
Laura is the co-founder of one of the ecosystem’s most visible examples, the Swap Shop. Laura and her business partner began the Swap Shop seven years ago out of frustration with fashion’s throwaway culture. The store gives clothes a second life through a simple but effective model. Customers donate clothing items in exchange for digital credits to be redeemed towards in-store purchases. What began as a small event in a park has grown into four stores across the Netherlands, with six more planned by 2030.
From trends to trash
The textile industry accounts for between five and ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the EU, private consumption of textiles is the fourth largest cause of environmental pressures, consuming around 1.3 tonnes of raw materials and more than 100 cubic metres of water per person annually. Nearly 85% of these impacts are felt in countries outside the EU.
It's local, it's part of the community, and it makes people think about the items they have in their wardrobe.
The scale of this crisis is hidden from public view. The fashion industry operates on a linear model designed to maximise profit, not sustainability.
“It’s all very linear: you buy, you sell, you throw away. The business model is meant to sell as much as possible at the highest margins possible,” says Laura. Clothing that does not sell is often destroyed.
“Clothing manufacturing is very complex and extremely opaque, and it’s only getting worse with fast fashion,” says Laura. “Even so-called sustainable brands often have little transparency on exactly who is making their clothing and in what conditions.”
The disposal of textiles offers little transparency either. Clothing containers on the street give the illusion of responsible disposal, but much of what is collected is exported to countries in the global south.
“The clothing we donate here in Europe often ends up polluting other countries,” says Laura. “There are mountains of clothing waste piling up on African shores and they are often unusable because the quality of clothes going into those containers is getting worse.”
“Do good, feel good”
“Swapping is nothing new,” explains Laura. “People have always swapped clothing between each other, but the model hasn’t made it into many high streets.”
Physical shops, she argues, are essential to driving genuine behaviour change. “It’s local, it’s part of the community, and it makes people think about the items they have in their wardrobe. Online resale platforms are part of the solution too, but they are missing the local element.” The Swap Shop also hosts repair pop-ups and upcycling workshops, rebuilding skills that previous generations took for granted. “Nowadays, people just buy more clothes instead of repairing them. We want to change that.”
Building a circular textile ecosystem requires more than infrastructure. It requires people to think differently about the clothes they own. “It makes you much more aware of the items that you have and makes you care more about what you have,” says Laura. “Usually, people just see clothing as something to consume, but we want people to think about true quality, about how something is made, who made it, the material.”
People want to be part of something bigger.
In the Swap Shop’s stores, this translates into weekly “gem drops”: curated racks of quality items with labels explaining the material and why it matters. The goal is not to shame people for owning fast fashion but to gently shift their relationship with clothing. “We don’t want to point fingers,” says Laura. “We want to stimulate people in an inspiring way.”
The response has been striking. A survey of nearly 300 customers found that the biggest motivation for visiting was sustainability: giving clothes a new life. “People want to be part of something bigger,” says Laura. “Do good, feel good.”
Putting the puzzle together
The Swap Shop is one piece of a much larger puzzle of the broader network of circular initiatives that is transforming every part of the textile lifecycle. Supported through Kansen for West, projects such as TEX MILES in the Rotterdam region develop automated textile sorting technologies, while Brightfiber Textiles, Textiles2Textiles and Wieland in Amsterdam work on fibre to fibre recycling and circular textile processing. Initiatives such as I did Factory in The Hague combine circular production with inclusive employment opportunities. Platforms such as This is Free Fashion, founded by Nina Reimert, strengthens the behavioural and cultural side of the transition through events, community programmes and public engagement around sustainable fashion, in cities including Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.
The ecosystem is built on the understanding that circular textiles are not only a technological challenge but a behavioural one. Lasting change depends on giving citizens the tools and spaces to transform how they buy, use, repair, exchange and value clothing in their daily lives.
New European legislation is adding further momentum. The extended producer responsibility regulation now requires companies to take responsibility for what happens to their clothes after use, opening new funding streams for circular initiatives and placing the cost of textile waste back with the producers.
We get emails from people all over Europe asking us how we’ve been able to do this. The concept travels.
Building beyond Rotterdam
Rotterdam’s circular textile ecosystem was designed from the outset as a regional model, connecting cities across West Netherlands through the Kansen for West programme rather than operating as an isolated urban pilot. Municipalities, innovators, waste operators and social enterprises collaborate across city boundaries, sharing knowledge on regulation, standards and scaling strategies. The initiative already spans Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden and The Hague, with each city contributing different strengths to the collective value chain.
That collaborative model is what makes it transferable. Rather than exporting a single technology or concept, Rotterdam has built a modular ecosystem that other cities can join at whichever stage of the textile value chain suits their local context. European co-financing through Kansen for West reduces investment risk and supports the kind of long-term system change that individual cities could not achieve alone. Lessons, governance models and tools developed within the programme are readily available to cities seeking to build their own circular textile solutions.
The response to the Swap Shop is evidence that cities are ready to make fashion local again. “We get emails from people all over Europe asking us how we’ve been able to do this,” says Laura. “The concept travels.”
Lessons, governance models and tools developed within the programme can be readily transferred to other cities seeking to scale circular textile solutions. For cities across Europe grappling with growing textile waste and the pressure to deliver just and inclusive climate action, Rotterdam’s example proves the solutions exist. They are tested and ready to share.
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Rotterdam’s Circular Textile Fibre Recycling Ecosystem is one of the shortlisted ‘City Initiatives’ at the Eurocities Awards 2026. You can view the full awards shortlist here.
The winners will be announced at the Eurocities Annual Conference in Utrecht, 8-10 June 2026. Register for the Annual Conference to join the ceremony.
Photo credits: City of Rotterdam
