How to Strengthen Textile Reuse in Québec?
On March 20, 2025, the lunch break will be an opportunity to discuss the challenges of textile reuse in Québec.
Textile reuse is a key solution for a more circular economy, but what challenges are preventing it from reaching its full potential in Québec? The lack of data, surplus management, sorting complexity, and export constraints create significant obstacles for stakeholders in the sector, whether they are community-based, social, or commercial organizations.
How can we optimize these operations to make textile reuse more efficient and competitive? This webinar will explore concrete strategies such as resource pooling, sorting automation, inventory centralization, and process standardization. By simplifying the management of second-hand goods and reducing costs, these approaches can enhance market accessibility and strengthen the reuse sector.
What solutions already exist? What opportunities remain untapped? Join us to discuss these challenges and explore how we can drive textile reuse forward in Québec!
About the speakers
Abby Marino holds a college degree in fashion marketing and a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She is also a research professional at the Centre for Research in Accounting and Sustainable Development (CeRCeDD) at Université Laval while pursuing her master’s in accounting. From 2019 to 2022, she founded and managed Détour, an online store specializing in second-hand clothing sales. In 2022, she conducted a research project under the Mitacs program in collaboration with Université Laval, focusing on the profitability analysis of inventory management automation for an online second-hand business. Driven by her passion for fashion and deep interest in research, Abby broadened her vision, leading to the co-founding of Collective Détour, a consulting agency specializing in sustainable development for textiles and apparel.
Marianne-C. Mercier began her career in the fashion industry in Montréal, where she witnessed firsthand the challenges of overconsumption and textile waste. Holding a bachelor’s degree in industrial design, she specialized in circular economy for textiles, leading projects on recycled fiber valorization and completing a master’s in Design & Complexity at Université de Montréal. She later worked as Head of R&D and Circular Economy Project Manager at Vestechpro before co-authoring the MUTREC report on textile circularity in Québec. Since 2017, she has been teaching Introduction to Textile Materials at Université de Montréal. With her expertise, she founded CHROMA Conseil in 2020, a consulting firm dedicated to circular economy transitions in the textile industry. She is currently a Project Manager at CERIEC, where she leads the development of the Lab textiles initiative.
