Your questions answered

Seamless is Australia’s first clothing product stewardship scheme and the world’s first circular product stewardship scheme.

What’s a product stewardship scheme? It’s a scheme that recognises that the businesses who place products on the market are responsible for the entire life of that product - from design, through to reuse, recycling and end of life. We already have many stewardship schemes in Australia including ‘Mobile Muster’ which addresses mobile phone waste, ‘Cartridges for Planet Ark’, which is a national scheme for printer cartridges and many other schemes from plastics, containers and mattresses through to tyres, batteries and oil.

Seamless works with clothing brands and industry stakeholders to help people choose, enjoy and recirculate their clothes more responsibly. To make that happen we need to build a national clothing system by 2030 that is easy to understand, convenient and free for every Australian, as Seamless is for everyone.

In 2024, the Australian clothing industry manufactured and imported over 1.5 billion units of new clothing. That's equivalent to 55 items of clothing for every Australian, and most is made from non-renewable and environmentally problematic materials.

More than half of this clothing ends up in landfill in Australia, which amounts to 220,000 tonnes per year. The carbon footprint of clothing in Australia in 2024 is estimated to be 14.3 million tonnes per year. It’s also costing charities millions of dollars to sort through donations and dispose of unsaleable and unwearable items.

Systematic and transformational change is needed and this can only be achieved through industry collaboration across the entire clothing lifecycle.

Seamless takes a stewardship approach, which recognises that the clothing brands who place clothes on the market are responsible for the entire life of that garment, from design through to recycling or sustainable disposal.

Seamless is funded by a 4 cent per garment levy paid by ‘stewards’ who are the clothing brands who become members of the scheme. This contribution is reduced to 3 cents for every garment that meets the eco-modulation criteria. These funds are invested in four priority areas:  

1. Circular design: incentivising clothing design that is more durable, repairable, sustainable and recyclable
2. Circular business models: fostering new models for reuse, repair, rental, and services that prolong clothing life
3. Closing the materials loop: expanding clothing collection and and sorting practices for effective reuse and recycling
4. Citizen behaviour change: encouraging changed practices around clothing acquisition, use, care, and disposal

The recommendation is to allocate 75% of total funds raised to collecting, sorting and recycling clothing. This includes research and development into new recycling technology to develop a national system at scale, in partnership with the recycling industry. 

No. Seamless, is an independent, not for profit organisation registered as Clothing Stewardship Australia Ltd.

While the Seamless scheme design was created by a consortium led by the Australian Fashion Council with Charitable Recycling Australia, Queensland University of Technology, Sustainable Resource Use and WRAP UK, Seamless is not operated by the Australian Fashion Council.

The Seamless Scheme Design and Roadmap to Clothing Circularity were launched in June 2023 at an event attended by the Minister of Environment and Water at that time, the Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP. Seamless commenced operations on 1 July 2024.

Clothing Stewardship Australia Ltd is known as Seamless. It was established by the Transition Advisory Group (TAG) with support and guidance from the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence.

Members of the TAG included Seamless foundation members BIG W, David Jones, Cotton On, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R.M. Williams, the Sussan Group and THE ICONIC. Members also include the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and clothing industry representatives A.BCH, bassike, the Future Fashion Agency and the Australian Fashion Council, as well as supply chain specialists, Charitable Recycling Australia and the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association.

The work of the TAG was funded by the Seamless foundation members and the NSW EPA.

The Seamless Board of Directors has up to 13 Directors. This includes up to seven Elected Directors who are nominated representatives from Seamless member organisations, and up to six Appointed Directors which includes three Independent Directors including the Independent Chair, a representative from the Australian Fashion Council, a representative from a Seamless supporter and one other Appointed Director which may be a Guardian of Nature, or another Seamless supporter or Independent Director. The current Directors are:

Appointed Directors:

• Kylie Hargreaves, Independent Chair
• Marianne Perkovic, Australian Fashion Council Chair (Australian Fashion Council representative)
• Matt Davis, Independent Director
• Rosanna Iacono, Independent Director

Elected Directors:

• Frances Blundell, KMD Brands Limited
• Peri-Jane Crosbie, Internet Services Australia 1 Pty Ltd trading as THE ICONIC
• Anna Fowler, Lorna Jane Pty Ltd
• Rebecca Hard, ARJ Group Holdings Pty Ltd trading as The Sussan Group
• Angela Winkle, R.M. Williams Pty Ltd

Seamless has been designed as a voluntary scheme, which was the condition of the government funding that the Consortium received to design the scheme. However, Seamless is actively advocating for a level playing field with responsibility shared by all brands, large and small, Australian and international.

The foundation members of Seamless are some of Australia’s largest and most iconic clothing brands and retailers. They are BIG W, Cotton On, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R.M. Williams, the Sussan Group and THE ICONIC.

More than 55 clothing brands and retailers are members of Seamless, see the full list of members here.

Also, more than 130 industry leaders are supporters including industry associations, academic institutions, technology suppliers, industry associations and reuse and recycling operators, as well as federal, state and local government agencies. See the full list of supporters here.

Seamless is funded by a levy on every item of clothing placed on the market in Australia, which is paid by clothing brands and retailers who become members of the scheme. From 1 July 2024, this levy is 4 cents per garment, and 3 cents for every garment that meets the eco-modulation criteria.

There are currently no plans to pass the levy on to consumers. Even if all participants did so, the number of garments placed on the Australian market each year is equivalent to 55 items for every Australian. So based on this figure, every Australian would pay just $2.20 in total in one year.

If your organisation is a clothing brand or retailer, we encourage you to register your interest to become a member of Seamless here.

We'll add you to our mailing list to ensure you receive the latest Seamless news and we’ll also get in touch with you directly with an update on your application.

Industry stakeholders including recyclers, reuse operators, technology suppliers, government agencies, professional services organisations and academics, are also encouraged to register to become supporters here.

Currently,the majority of the clothing industry in Australia follows a linear model, of take, make and dispose. Clothing circularity will be achieved when we start to value the investment in our clothes through how we choose, wear, share and care for our clothes. The clothing lifecycle then becomes circular, and follows a reduce, reuse, recycle model.

Our mission is to work collaboratively with every clothing brand and retailer, as well as government and the wider industry on the transformation towards a circular clothing economy in Australia by 2030. This will not only create exciting new business and employment opportunities, but it will prioritise nature by ensuring we significantly reduce the 888 million items of clothes (222,000 tonnes) of clothing we send to landfill in Australia each year – that’s the equivalent of 44,400 adult African elephants!

As part of the design process for the Australian scheme, the consortium drew insights from the approaches taken by twelve clothing stewardship schemes around the world.

The European Union is leading the charge through pushing for mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies for member states, as well as additional policy levers such as stricter regulation on sustainability communications and waste. There is one mandatory clothing product scheme in operation in France since 2007, and many in development at national or regional levels across Europe.

The United Kingdom has an industry and government co-led voluntary agreement in place, and both the United States of America and New Zealand have industry-led voluntary clothing stewardship schemes.

Many other countries including Hong Kong, Ghana, South Africa, India and the Netherlands provide diverse examples of how mechanisms of clothing product stewardship are being used to harness industry power and agitate for change.

A product stewardship scheme recognises that the businesses who place products on the market are responsible for the entire life of that product - from design, through to reuse, recycling and end of life. We already have many stewardship schemes in Australia including ‘Mobile Muster’ which addresses mobile phone waste, ‘Cartridges for Planet Ark’, which is a national scheme for printer cartridges and many other schemes from plastics, containers and mattresses through to tyres, batteries and oil.

Responsible clothing brands and retailers that join Seamless pay a contribution on every garment placed on the Australian market. The scheme has commenced with a contribution of 4 cents for every new garment and 3 cents for each garment that meets the initial eco-modulation criteria.

Garments that meet the eco-modulation criteria are able to be more easily sorted and recycled under a single fibre stream.

From 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026, garments that meet the eco-modulation criteria are those which have a primary material made from a mono-material or single fibre at a rate of at least 95%. For example, a 100% cotton shirt would meet the eco-modulation threshold even if the tag or thread was not cotton, if these elements made up less than 5% of the total garment. Similarly, an activewear garment made from 95% polyester with 5% elastane would also meet the criteria.

While still more readily recyclable, a garment made of a mix of cellulosic fibre (cotton, viscose), or synthetic fibre (polyester, nylon) would not meet the threshold, if one material did not make up 95% of the fibre. 

You can access the Constitution of Clothing Stewardship Australia Limited here.

This amended constitution was adopted on 27 November 2025 by written agreement of members of the Company pursuant to sections 136 and 137 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).