A new study from SDA Bocconi School of Management argues that circularity in fashion is decided upstream, at the moment brands choose what to make, how much, from which materials and on the basis of what data. The Circular Fashion Manifesto 2026, developed by the Monitor for Circular Fashion (M4CF), makes the point that handling surplus stock well is now a matter of regulatory compliance, but keeping it from building up in the first place is the better outcome for both businesses and the environment.

Monitor For Circular Fashion is the research observatory within SDA Bocconi’s Sustainability Lab, bringing together fashion companies from upstream and downstream segments of the supply chain and the providers of circular technologies.

The study shows that circular solutions for surplus materials are already within reach, and one of the cases it examines comes directly from Deda Stealth’s B/SAMPLY platform.

In SecondFlow, a project with YKK, unused zippers and buttons were made available on B/COMMUNITY, Deda Stealth’s B2B platform. Through it, these materials became accessible to educational institutions, nonprofit organizations and fashion associations, so that components that might otherwise have remained idle in stock can be put to new use.

It is a concrete example of the Manifesto’s central idea: when information is shared and the right tools connect the players in the supply chain, surplus materials can find a new purpose instead of becoming waste. B/SAMPLY was also built to support this kind of exchange, helping surplus find the right outlet.