YANG Taiwan
Far Eastern SOGO Department Store: Retail-Driven Circular Economy Transformation
As one of Taiwan’s leading department store retailers, Far Eastern SOGO Department Store is taking concrete action to advance textile sustainability and circularity. By harnessing the strength of its retail network, SOGO has successfully brought together shopping districts, social enterprises, recyclers, and charitable organizations to build a complete and effective clothing recycling and reuse system.
In practice, Far Eastern SOGO operates a precise garment-sorting mechanism that channels collected clothing based on quality: items suitable for charitable donation, resale in the second-hand market, or remanufacturing into bags, dolls, and other charity sale items. Leveraging advanced intelligent sorting technologies, lower-value textiles are further transformed into recycled fabrics or reprocessed into new materials for use in promotional gifts and in-store supplies—allowing consumers to directly share in the benefits of sustainability. This end-to-end recycling process highlights Far Eastern SOGO’s indispensable role as a retailer in advancing the urban circular economy.
Beyond recycling, Far Eastern SOGO also works closely with upstream and downstream textile enterprises, local governments, and non-profit organizations to create an efficient collaborative ecosystem. This model not only offers the industry a replicable framework for circular economy practices but also demonstrates how retail channels can serve as a powerful driver of sustainable development.
Cheng-Hsien
Oct. 22 (Wed)
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3:10pm
4:30pm
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With its various recycled materials technologies, along with diverse recycling systems and sorting technologies, Taiwan has the capacity to develop circular business models, moving from "Bottle to Clothes" to "Clothes to Clothes".
B-S4
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