CISUTAC will tackle current bottlenecks in the transition to circular textiles and clothing. For scale and significance, we focus on polyester, cotton & cellulosic fibres (together ca. 90% of textile materials) and products from 3 sub-sectors: garments, active goods and workwear. In this way, we will have a representative view on the challenges the textile sector is facing for circular transition. CISUTAC follows a holistic approach covering the technical, sectoral and socio-economic levels. We will provide systemic innovations at these levels and perform 3 pilots to demonstrate their feasibility and value: (i) Repair and disassembly; (ii) Sorting for reuse and recycling; (iii) Circular garments through fibre to fibre recycling and design for circularity. To realise these pilots, we will develop semi-automated workstations, analyse infrastructure and material flow, digitally enhance sorting operations and setup interventions with consumers. After the piloting phase, attention will be on the uptake of the results, by the sector, by the wider stakeholder group as well by the consumers. With (worldwide) leading brands and companies, CSOs, RTOs and EU associations, CISUTAC is truly EU-wide and covers the full novel circular value chain. Through the consortium, and further supported by the Transition Support Group with zz members, CISUTAC is strongly linked to ongoing initiatives allowing synergies and joint activities. This is essential for our implementation but also for leveraging the impact and enabling the shift towards a sustainable EU textiles & clothing, underpinned by circular material flows and supported by the wider stakeholders. CISUTAC will bring significant impact of scale via its innovations on repair, dismantling, sorting and fibre-to-fibre recycling. Realising this impact will lead to a reduction of ca. 975ktonCO2eq yearly and to new business activities and markets that together have a value of ca. €250mio and lead to ca. 1300 FTE, also social economy.

WISESHIFT aims to provide evidence-based and theoretically sound rationales, actionable strategies, and multi-level policy architecture to Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), national federations, European networks, and policymakers. The goal is to enable them to become dynamic agents of inclusive and sustainable transitions within their respective ecosystems. To achieve this, WISESHIFT will develop a scientific conceptualization at the crossroads of social economy studies, sustainable transition studies, and multi-level governance policy analysis. The project will start with a comprehensive analysis of the landscape of WISEs and their implementation of work integration pathways for vulnerable workers across the 27 EU Member States and Serbia. Next, WISESHIFT will conduct an in-depth analysis of 24 WISEs and their contributions to inclusive and sustainable transitions within their respective ecosystems, focusing on three domains: repair, reuse, and recycling; agrifood; and community/home care for the elderly. The third objective of WISESHIFT is to perform a comprehensive cross-cutting analysis using the Multi-Level Perspective to identify the organizational factors specific to WISEs that make them potentially "inclusive and sustainable by design." The fourth objective is to develop a comparative and multi-level framework of analysis to address challenges posed by policies and regulations to the WISEs and, through their lenses, to the social economy. Overall, the ambition of WISESHIFT – is to contribute to strengthening the tangible role of social economy organisations as catalysts for transformative and systemic change towards more inclusive and sustainable practices within their ecosystems as envisioned by the EU social economy strategy.