Thread Talks: From Rag Trade to Circular Systems

From Rag Trade to Circular Systems

In this episode of Thread Talks, part of the Circular Soundbites podcast from Reconomy, host Aimee Campanella, Development Director for Textiles EPR, travels to Glasgow to meet Owen Ritchie, Managing Director of Clyde Recycling, as the family business marks its 40th anniversary.

Owen traces a remarkable history, from his great-grandmother collecting clothing door to door across Glasgow’s East End to a modern operation processing 100 tonnes of textiles every week, the equivalent of seven or eight 40-foot containers. He walks through how it works in practice: collections from charity shops, textile banks, schools and retailers across Scotland, hundreds of constantly shifting grades on the sorting lines, and the export markets in West Africa, Eastern Europe and Pakistan where reusable clothing finds a second life.

The conversation does not shy away from the pressures facing the sector. Owen and Aimee discuss the impact of ultra-fast fashion on quality and margins, the steady decline of UK sorting infrastructure, the ethics of shipping waste abroad, and why the UK should take more responsibility for its own textile waste. They explore what would help the industry survive and thrive, from business rate relief to an import tax on ultra-fast fashion, and how textile Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), already moving across Europe, could become a vital stabiliser if it arrives in the UK.