This includes embedding circular design principles into how products are designed and made, and expanding access to reuse and repair options for customers. While there is no single solution, these efforts reflect our ambition to help give clothes a longer life.
74%Δ of our clothing units sold this year contained recycled or more sustainably sourced materials, up from 66% in 2023/24.
This figure includes all clothes sold that contained any of the fibres listed in our online Fibres Glossary and that met our minimum fibre content protocols set out in the glossary. There is still no recognised industry-wide minimum recycled content standard that covers all material types. Our minimum fibre content protocols vary by material type and have been set, where relevant, to align with industry recognised standards such as the Organic Content Standard, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) and Global Recycled Standard.
We are members of Textile Exchange and use its preferred materials matrix to guide our decision-making for our minimum fibre content protocols for our recycled or more sustainably sourced materials. We trained 190 suppliers and 90 colleagues on our buying teams on these protocols this year.
39%1 of clothing units sold this year contained recycled fibres, up from 32% in 2023/24.
Part of this growth is owed to our deepening partnership with Recover™, which specialises in turning textile waste into high-quality recycled cotton fibre and cotton fibre blends. We have significantly increased the use of these fibres in our supply chain, scaling our use of Recover™'s RCotton2 range across 33% of our jersey, denim and casual trousers categories.
It can be challenging to find spinning facilities that can process post-industrial recycled cotton, because many are still new to working with this type of material. That’s why we're working closely with our supply chain partners to develop these capabilities. This year, as part of our partnership with Recover™ we've focused on scaling yarn production in India. A bonded warehouse set up by Recover™ has supported distribution as their plans for a local recycling facility progress.
1 The 39% clothing units sold containing recycled fibres is a subset of the 74%Δ of clothing units sold containing recycled or more sustainably sourced materials.
2 RCotton is 100% pure and unblended recycled cotton fibre, suitable for overdyeing. More information can be found here.
Our suppliers use wood pulp for a range of fibres like viscose and lyocell, known as man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCFs).
Our Wood and Wood-Derived Fibre Policy sets out our approach to responsibly sourcing these materials. Since 2022, we have been a partner of Canopy, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting the world’s forests. Alongside other fashion brands, we are signatories of the CanopyStyle initiative which aims to move fashion supply chains away from using resources from ancient and endangered forests. All our suppliers that use MMCFs are required to source these fibres only from producers that are 'Green Shirt' rated by Canopy’s Hot Button Report.
Our goal is to build a system that enables real-time visibility and traceability of the fibres in our products all the way through our supply chain. We are working with TrusTrace, a market-leading platform, to work towards this ambition. This work began in 2022, with a focus on cotton, as it is our most used fibre, and has since expanded to include more suppliers, fibres and products.
Using the TrusTrace platform, we record the journey of our products from raw material to finished product. Over 230 of our tier one suppliers are now using the TrusTrace mapping module to share detailed supply chain information. This includes all our tier one clothing, textile and footwear suppliers, meaning we now have full oversight of these supply chains, from raw material to finished product. Of those 230 suppliers, 100 have progressed to real-time traceability of purchase orders. Work is ongoing to onboard our remaining suppliers outside of clothing, textiles and footwear.
1 This includes suppliers up to Autumn/Winter 2025.
We continue to train and support cotton farmers enrolled in the Primark Cotton Project in agricultural methods that aim to increase cotton yields, reduce farmer input costs and therefore boost farmer profits. We have built traceability into the programme to enable the tracing of cotton from farm through the various stages of our supply chain including ginning and spinning. This is done using CottonConnect’s digital traceability platform, TraceBale.
We have a longstanding partnership with Oritain, a specialist verification firm that uses forensic science techniques to conduct selective testing throughout the year to confirm the cotton’s source, thereby providing additional checks over the traceability of cotton from the Primark Cotton Project.
We know there’s always more to be done to drive greater supply chain transparency, including adapting new technologies as they emerge. We also continue to advocate for mandatory standards across the industry.
We know that sustainability claims are complex and can be confusing for customers. We believe it’s our role to educate our customers about the fibres in our products so they can make informed decisions. That’s why we have an online Fibres Glossary where you can learn about the fibres we use in our clothing and the terms we use when talking about our sustainability strategy. The glossary defines what we mean by recycled or more sustainably sourced materials, and we use the Textile Exchange Preferred Fibre Matrix to guide our decision making in this space.
All the products we sell that contain recycled or more sustainably sourced materials are clearly identifiable with details of the minimum fibre content included on each product label. For example, where recycled polyester is used to make a product, the label will clearly state that it was made using a minimum of 50% recycled polyester.
We describe clothing as ‘durable’ if it remains functional and wearable without requiring too much maintenance or repair when faced with normal wash and wear over its lifetime.
We put our clothes through four levels of testing, Minimum, Foundational, Progressive and Aspirational, to check how well they perform. The extent of testing depends on the product, but every item has to meet at least the Minimum level.
Eligible machine washable items are tested in two ways:
This testing process is carried out by accredited third-party testing laboratories, following each product's care label instructions. The results help us gather valuable insights as we look to make our clothes even longer lasting.
We have now collected our first full year of durability results for denim, socks, and jersey, measured against our Durability Framework. We put these through the four levels of testing as outlined in our testing process, based on 17 core criteria. The highest level, ‘Aspirational’, assesses their durability and appearance after 45 washes.
1 Percentages are based on wash reports that went through our automated solution.
In conjunction with our accredited third-party testing partner laboratories, we continue to mandate that our eligible (machine-washable) clothing is tested to our Durability Framework. We are actively scaling up our data management capabilities, including the implementation of an automation tool to support the efficiency of the data-gathering process at scale, which will support future requirements on reporting. The Durability Framework has provided us with a good foundation to build from as we move forward now into this next phase.
There is currently no agreed industry standard for physical durability, despite the EU’s ambition for businesses to extend product lifespan and reduce textile waste. In the absence of an aligned approach, we continue to work to our Primark Durability Framework. We also monitor and engage with policy developments to ensure that our Framework can evolve to meet future requirements.
As we move towards our end of 2025 durability target, we recognise the importance of ongoing development and adaptation. As we transition into this next phase, we’re committed to continuous improvement in the durability of our products.
Simple Approach has been a committed partner of Primark for over two decades and sustainability is ingrained in our DNA. This is why we were pleased to implement the Primark Durability Framework as it supports us to understand the life cycle of our products. We have implemented the durability framework on all our different product areas for Primark and have been pleased with the results. We were happy to learn that most of our products were already achieving the requirements of the Durability Framework. We look forward to working with Primark on future developments in the area of Durability.
Rachel Frankin, Director of ESG,
Simple Approach and Primark Supplier
Recent research we commissioned found that that nearly half of customers (47%) want to make more sustainable choices but don't know how to do it1.
We want our customers and colleagues to learn and understand more about how to extend the life of their clothes through hands-on help rather than just advice. We responded in three ways this year.
Learning how to care for our clothes is one of the simplest but most effective ways we can reduce waste and extend the lifetime of what we buy. Partnering with Primark this year and seeing the impact of our work together has been really exciting! There is so little out there to teach customers how to enhance the lifetime of affordable garments, so it has been an honour to be part of one of the first teams making this knowledge accessible to everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing other retailers joining us!
Laura de Barra, Clothing care influencer and author of the Garment Goddess
Total number of repair workshop sessions since 2021
increase in total sessions offered this year vs last year
Total number of places offered since 2021
During the third year of our Love it for Longer repair workshop programme, we launched the first sessions in Spain, the US, Belgium and Germany. We also completed our goal to host events in every store in our Italian and Dutch markets. We expanded the variety of events that we offer to include sessions on upcycling, visible mending, knitwear, denim and homeware, as well as small alterations like hems.
For the third year running, we hosted Love it For Longer repair events in our stores in celebration of Repair Week in the UK.
I was amazed at how motivated everyone was, and how keen people are to learn something new, and above all learn something where they have to be hands-on. I am firmly convinced that we don’t wear our clothes long enough and that’s why it’s important that we learn how to repair clothes so that we can give them a longer life. If we also repair clothes, then they become more a part of us.
Ylenia, a fashion designer and leader of our German workshops
1 5,000 people across Spain, UK, France, Germany and Italy were surveyed in August 2024. Research carried out by Freemavens and commissioned by Primark.
For the past three years, we’ve partnered with The Fashion School in Manchester, UK, to sponsor a series of free creative clothing workshops for young people.
Supported by qualified tutors, they were encouraged to unleash their creativity and enjoy a mindful activity while also learning mathematical and manual skills such as pattern cutting and threading a machine.
I learnt new skills – to use a sewing machine and make a dress, it made me think about other things I would like to make and increased my confidence in sewing.
Repair workshop Participant
In September 2025, we launched our first in-store repair pilot with The Seam, an independent alterations service at our Manchester Market Street store. The same-day repair service pilot will run for 12 weeks, offering local customers the chance to have their clothes repaired quickly and at an affordable price. We want to make simple clothing repairs and alterations easier to access and more affordable for our customers. Our ambition is to encourage people to shift their mindset around clothing repair and we will use the learnings from the pilot this year to determine next steps.
The Seam exists to make repair accessible for all, and it’s exciting to see a major high street retailer like Primark bring our service in-store. By subsidising repairs, they’re making it possible for everyday shoppers to access what has too often been seen as a luxury - having clothes tailored to fit and extending the life of the pieces they love. I’m especially excited that Primark has chosen to bring The Seam’s service into their Manchester store. With the city’s rich fashion and textile heritage, it feels like the perfect place to show how repair and alterations can be part of the everyday shopping experience.
Layla Sargent, CEO of The Seam
Circular design is our foundational step towards becoming a more circular business.
Our approach is rooted in our Circular Product Standard – a circular design framework, inspired by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation vision for a circular economy for fashion, with the aim of designing our products with the end in mind.
It contains three key criteria:
To embed the Circular Product Standard in our product design, we have a phased approach to help us turn theory into practice:
Our product teams and suppliers are critical to the implementation of circular design. When launching the Circular Product Standard, we worked with Circle Economy and the Sustainable Fashion Academy to create a Foundational Circularity Training programme. This was made available to all colleagues and is mandatory for everyone in our Product Teams. This training lives on our internal digital learning platform, where colleagues can access it at any time.
In 2024, we advanced our circularity training programme to an 'Expert' level in collaboration with the Circular Textiles Foundation. The programme supports teams across buying, design and quality, as well as key suppliers, to expand circular design principles to more clothing categories such as knitwear and shirts. The ultimate output of these training sessions is to establish and learn to implement specific circular design guidelines for each product category. Over the past 18 months, we have created product-specific cohorts to develop these guidelines, comprising a small group of specialists (around 20 colleagues per cohort) and selected suppliers. So far, they have completed guidelines for denim, jersey, knitwear, nightwear, shirts and leisure categories.
In 2024, we joined the Fashion ReModel Project, an Ellen MacArthur Foundation project involving leading brands to help the industry unlock the barriers to scaling circular business models. Together with other participating brands, we're exploring how to scale revenue streams across resale, rental, repair and remaking.
Our boyswear baggy fit jeans are now made from 100% cotton fabric sourced from the Primark Cotton Project. At the end of its life, the garment can be recycled once the polyester thread, care label and any functional trims have been removed at the point of recycling (which is done by a recycler as standard).
|
23/24 |
24/25 |
| Total clothing1 | 3% | 5%Δ |
| Denim1 | 5% | 8% |
| Jersey1 | 11% | 20% |
1 % relate to units sales of circular by design products as a % of total sales units in those categories.
As of July this year, 5%Δ of all of our clothing units sold were circular by design, meeting the ‘Foundational’ level criteria set out in our Circular Product Standard. Within our focus categories, 20% of all jersey and 8% of all denim units of sales sold were circular by design.
We have a small team dedicated to upskilling and supporting our Product teams as they look to redesign products to be circular by design. We also work to validate and check that all circular by design products meet the criteria we have laid out.
Scaling circular design remains challenging. Many of our key clothing categories are reliant on the use of fabric made from blended fibres, or on synthetic fibres like elastane, in order to perform and function as our customers expect. Equally, forms of decorative embellishments like prints are more challenging to recycle. Simplicity is one of the core principles of circular design, but we realise that not every item of clothing can be inherently ‘plain and simple’.
Although to date we have focused our efforts on scaling circular design on denim and jersey, we continue to explore, test and trial circular design in other categories, such as knitwear and shirts. This is supported by our ongoing partnership with Circular Textiles Foundation (CTF). We are working to shift and change our product design in a pragmatic and iterative way, which involves finding the right solutions for each product area and creating space for our Product teams to test, trial and innovate via training with the CTF.
In tandem, we are in the process of evolving our Circular Product Standard. We recognise that both innovation in fibre-to-fibre recycling and incoming regulations are changing how circular design is understood and defined by the industry. We expect to share this updated Circular Product Standard within the coming year, which will reflect what we have learned to date and our evolution in this space.
In addition to embedding and scaling circular design, we recognise the importance of ‘downstream’ circularity by giving our customers options to keep their clothing in use for as long as possible and ultimately allowing clothing and textiles to be given another life.
Through our Textile Takeback boxes in our stores and head offices, we offer customers and colleagues a convenient way to drop off unwanted clothing or textiles in order to give these items a second life. Our recycling partner, Yellow Octopus Circular Solutions, sorts through these items and earmarks each one for resale, repurposing or recycling. Any profits from the programme (where items can be resold) are donated to our global charity partner, UNICEF, to provide life-saving assistance to children and families in humanitarian emergencies.
Our Textile Takeback programme began in 2020 and now covers 87% of our total store footprint. The below figures are since the beginning of the programme:
Textile Takeback boxes are available in all stores in 10 markets (UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and Czech Republic). The next markets to launch in 2026 are USA and Romania. Due to local regulation issues, we have paused further expansion beyond this currently.
Most of the time, textile waste in our supply chain happens when fibres are produced and fabric is cut into pieces for making clothes, so we’re working with suppliers to understand this issue better. We've also been working to expand our Textile Takeback Programme to offer customers a solution to drop off their unwanted clothes and textiles in our stores to give them a second life.
To advance our efforts, Primark is partnering with Reverse Resources to map and trace textile waste in our supply chain. To date, we have proposed 59 tier one factories we work with to be part of the Reverse Resources network across Bangladesh, China, and Cambodia, among others. This work provides critical data insights into the volume and composition of recyclable feedstocks, helping us better understand the full scale of waste and unlock new opportunities for improved, data-driven waste management.
In Pakistan, Primark is participating in the Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution Circularity Project, which focuses on improving post-industrial textile waste management and exploring recycling opportunities. We have nominated seven supplier factories to participate and provide regular data via the Reverse Resources platform, enabling better visibility and traceability of waste streams.
To date, three of our supplier factories have started recycling initiatives, and ongoing communication between Reverse Resources, the factories, and local waste collectors is helping to build awareness of improved practices and potential solutions.
For the last two years, Primark has been partnering with factories, brands and global industry specialists in Cambodia to address textile waste.
The Circular Fashion Partnership collaboration is spearheaded by the Global Fashion Agenda and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and other brands, including Primark. Together, we have trialled new ways to manage post-industrial waste and turn textiles that would once have gone to landfill or incineration into valuable new resources. Having engaged six of our suppliers’ factories in the initial pilot, we have since encouraged four additional factories to join the partnership and work with a recycling firm.
In just six months, data collected from these factories shows that over 1,600 tonnes of post-industrial textile waste have been diverted from landfill and incineration. These factories are shared with other retailers, but the results highlight that this initiative goes beyond capacity building. It is fostering a broader system that connects manufacturers, recyclers, and waste collectors, enabling the scaling of more sustainable waste solutions within Cambodia’s textile industry.
We recognise that there is always more that we can do as a business to mitigate and reduce clothing waste. There are several limitations and challenges that the industry faces today around reusing and recycling/upcycling fashion waste more effectively. We never want clothes or textiles to end up where they shouldn’t. We’re continuously assessing strategies and partnerships that support this ambition.
