Unlike recycling, where the original value of material and much of its resources are lost, upcycling presents an opportunity to recapture the value of these materials that are about to be thrown away by repairing, reusing, repurposing, refurbishing, upgrading and remanufacturing. It means that it’s a process that can prolong the lifespan of materials and products and encourage sustainable use and consumption. Although research on upcycling is more prominent in fashion and textile than across other industries, there hasn’t been much progress in scaling up upcycling technologies. This means that any improvements and advancements regarding reducing the production of new clothes made from virgin materials through upcycling is still shy and not able to offset the levels of waste generated by the industry every year. The research analysed upcycling value chains in the UK and the role that each stakeholder plays. The second step consisted in then mapping the main challenges and opportunities for scaling up upcycling businesses and conducting semi-structured interviews to validate or contradict the evidence found throughout the literature review. The systematic analysis resulted in a pragmatic guideline for upcycling processes in which all actors play their part in this transition, including governments, local councils, suppliers, consumers and retailers.

-Fragmented academic literature of the topic.

-Upcycling, like most topics related to circular textiles, remains a manual small-scale operation and presents a huge stumbling block for industrial-scale upcycling.

-The difficulty of sourcing sufficient and appropriate quality of used materials, making it hard to secure a predictable flow of materials of similar quality and that would undergo the same processes.

-It is especially hard to develop profitable business models for upcycled goods with a low cost as it’s expensive to upcycle them and the profit margin is low.

-Another barrier is access to specific tools, skills and equipment.

-Lack of motivation or incentive to expand businesses.

-Consumers perceive most upcycled products as having lower quality than a new product and being too expensive.

-Favourable consumer attitudes toward upcycled products and upcycling businesses in general, and understanding the importance of upcycling in the transition towards a sustainable society. It’s understood that this has to be done by retailers and brands alike.

-The second success factor is, unsurprisingly, financial and business management support to upcycling businesses, such as incentives and grants given by the Government and other public authorities

-Quality assurance of sourced materials becomes an important factor for the success of upcycling operations.

- Securing work facilities and the possibility to borrow, rent or lease professional tools are also important factors for the prosperity of upcycling businesses 

-Establishing ‘Guilds’ to provide the technical knowledge, tools and skills required to scale up upcycling businesses. This should be done through the support of the British Government and would allow SMEs to access this kind of knowledge, thus helping businesses of different sizes to do the right thing.

-Collaborations between the private and public sectors alongside educational institutions could help educate future professionals and especially designers on upcycling, circularity and resource efficiency.

-Investment in knowledge exchange through guilds and universities could help accelerate a transition to circularity by training designers, artisans and business people. It would also allow businesses of different sizes and with different revenues to

-Educating consumers through marketing campaigns and actions to increase demand for upcycled garments.

-New legislation to redefine waste could encourage donations of material to material suppliers, thus increasing the availability and quality of materials.