On August 6, 2026, the Ministry of the Environment announced the establishment of the “Sustainable Fashion Partner Programme” and the opening of membership applications. The programme was created in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) as part of broader efforts to promote sustainable fashion—reducing the environmental burden generated at every stage of textile products’ lifecycle and making Japan’s fashion industry more sustainable.
The Ministry has previously run campaigns, including calls for logo designs and catchphrases, aimed at spreading sustainable fashion as a new everyday habit. This new programme goes a step further: rather than relying on individual companies acting alone, it establishes a formal partnership framework involving government, industry and academia to drive coordinated progress.
The Ministry of the Environment has identified the need to encourage consumers to choose high-quality clothing and wear it for longer, to enjoy fashion through reuse, and to bring unwanted garments to collection points so they can be recovered as a resource. To build momentum around these behaviours, the Ministry will run a “Sustainable Fashion Campaign” using seasonal wardrobe changeovers as a key opportunity to embed sustainable fashion as a new everyday habit. The campaign concept is: “Start the circular economy from your closet—with a wardrobe changeover.” The Partner Programme was established to go beyond individual company efforts, fostering collaboration among a wide range of organisations and linking initiatives across reuse, repair and recycling in an integrated, cross-sector approach.
The secretariat will be staffed by the Ministry of the Environment and parties commissioned by it, with cooperation from METI and the CAA. The secretariat’s planned activities cover three areas:
- Facilitating information exchange among companies and other members at each stage of the clothing lifecycle—planning, production, sales, use, collection and disposal—promoting collaboration among member organisations, and holding regular general assemblies
- Planning and implementing events, campaigns and marketing and promotional activities to raise consumer awareness of sustainable fashion
- Producing and publishing articles on sustainable fashion
Membership is open to companies, NPOs and other organisations, local governments, and educational institutions; individual membership is not envisaged. Applicants should complete the “Sustainable Fashion Partner New Registration Application Form,” fill in the required details, and submit it together with the necessary documents to the designated application email address. Three items are required: an overview of the applicant’s sustainable fashion initiatives at each stage of the clothing lifecycle (planning, production, sales, use, collection and disposal); a plan for communicating and publicising those initiatives; and a profile of the applying organisation (date of establishment, legal name, address, name and contact details of the applicant, and description of business activities). Members will also be required to submit a brief annual progress report to the secretariat.
The Ministry of the Environment will accept the required documents until Thursday, September 3, 2026. Where submissions are complete, the secretariat will send an invitation to the “Sustainable Fashion Campaign” general assembly. Organisations joining the Partner Programme will also be eligible to join the “Deco-Katsu Supporters” network (a government initiative encouraging eco-friendly lifestyle actions). Membership recruitment is expected to continue on a rolling basis.
Corporate-level sustainable fashion initiatives are already widespread. This new Partner Programme is positioned to connect those individual efforts within a unified government-industry-academia framework.
【Press Release】Recruiting Sustainable Fashion Partners!
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【Related Article】Towards Responsible Production and Consumption and Reliable Collection and Circulation Systems: Exploring the Implementation of Sustainable Fashion Across Industry, Government and Academia
