Circular Apparel Innovation Factory

Intellecap, supported by the DOEN Foundation and Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd. (ABFRL) as its anchor partners, launched the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF) in 2018. CAIF is an initiative that brings together a variety of stakeholders in the apparel industry in India to shift the industry from its current ‘take-make-dispose’ approach, to one that is more circular across the lifecycle. At CAIF, we are building the industry’s innovation infrastructure by bringing together key stakeholders to collaborate and work together on achieving the five key circular goals:

As an industry-led platform, our mission is to build the ecosystem and strengthen capabilities to drive the transition to a circular economy in the apparel and textile industry. Since its inception in 2018, CAIF has been building the ecosystem to search, seed, support and scale circular textile and apparel innovations. Through CAIF, we leverage the Aavishkaar approach of creating impact at scale by providing access to capital, knowledge, and networks throughout an innovator’s journey. We do this in four distinct ways:  

• An innovation engine for brands and value chain stakeholders: We identify opportunities, discover and test new solutions, and broker high impact partnerships,
• Facilitators of implementation: We drive experimentation and action on the ground through pilots, prototypes, and collaborations between innovators & key stakeholders,
• Market builders: We remove existing scaling barriers and catalyze the creation of an enabling environment that enable circular innovations to scale, and finally as
• Conveners of the industry: We accelerate the speed of innovation, create opportunities for collaboration and shape the conversation around circular apparel and textile