In 2020, we received funding from Migros Pioneer Fund—a major Swiss sustainability initiative that rarely accepts textile companies. Not for The Blue Suit's commercial growth, but for something bigger: sharing what we'd learned.

Co-founders Karen Rauschenbach and Yvonne Vermeulen launched Circular Clothing in January 2020, a non-profit helping small Swiss brands in fashion, homewear, and accessories operate according to circular economy principles.

Why non-profit? Because the research required to develop truly circular products—testing fabrics, certifications, supply chains, production methods—is expensive and time-intensive. Most small brands can't afford to start from scratch.

We'd already done the work. Every innovation, every certification, every production method was tested on The Blue Suit first. We used ourselves as the proof-of-concept, then built tools, assessments, and frameworks so other brands could skip years of trial and error.

The vision: a zero-waste textile industry where resources stay in closed loops. Right now, only 1% of textiles achieve this. The rest? "73% end up in landfills or burned, 12% get recycled or downcycled, and 14% is lost during production and processing."

The Migros funding went toward building that knowledge infrastructure—toolboxes, assessment frameworks, circular design principles. Not profit. That was the condition, and exactly what the industry needed.