Enschede and Prato are both established European textile cities with a strong industrial identity, a dense ecosystem of textile businesses and SMEs, and a genuine policy commitment to circular economy transition. Both cities joined the CCRI Twinning Programme to advance reuse and repair systems as components of a broader territorial strategy for circular textiles.  

                                                     Prato - credits Fernando Guerra

                                                  Enschede - credits Emiel Muijderman 

Their matching reflects the CCRI Twinning Programme's approach to pairing cities and regions at a similar stage of circular ambition, where peer learning is most productive: each Twin brings enough hands-on experience to contribute meaningfully, while facing sufficiently similar challenges to make comparison relevant. Despite their different industrial histories and policy contexts, Enschede and Prato are grappling with the same questions: 

• how to build multi-actor repair ecosystems 

• how to engage the private sector 

• how to position

Peer exchange is particularly powerful in the circular textiles space because there is no single best-practice playbook. Each city's works within its specific industrial base, governance structures, and actor landscape.  

Enschede’s learnings of building a formal repair network from an existing informal ecosystem of tailors are directly instructive for Prato’s development of governance models to mobilise its textile district around reuse, and vice versa.  

Step by step, the exchange turns insight into practical direction. 

The exchange between Enschede and Prato centres on the practical and systemic dimensions of building reuse and repair infrastructure at city level.  

The exchange is guided by an adapted system map designed for the city and regional scale. 

The map helps cities: 

• identify active and missing actors 

• visualise flows of reuse and repair 

• pinpoint key leverage points (policy, finance, collaboration, data) 

By using a shared framework, Enschede and Prato can compare their systems side by side and ground their discussions in concrete evidence.

The first use of the system map revealed insights neither city would have reached alone.  Mapping their ecosystems together, the cities were able to identify shared gaps in the governance and funding structures needed to sustain repair infrastructure, as well as complementary strengths. 

The session confirmed the value of having an analytical tool explicitly designed for the city and regional scale: one that helps practitioners move beyond general circular economy principles to map their own actors, flows and leverage points with specificity. Combined with the structured peer exchange, it helps cities engage with systemic complexity without being overwhelmed. 

By the end of the Twinning programme, both cities aim to have:  

• a clearer, evidence-informed picture of their local textile ecosystem and the leverage points available to them 

• a stronger understanding of the actors they need to engage and the partnerships, policies, or investments that could unlock reuse and repair at scale 

• a set of practical insights, grounded in peer learning and validated through facilitated exchange, that can inform their next steps as textile circularity demonstrators in the European context.  

The system map, developed through the Climate-KIC and H&M Foundation collaboration, is designed to remain a working tool beyond the exchange. Cities can continue to use it as their ecosystems evolve and as new policy opportunities, from the EU's Extended Producer Responsibility framework to the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, create new levers for action.  

The Twinning Programme brings together a pair of cities or regions to exchange experiences and tackle circular challenges together. Each pairing is based on thematic alignment and a similar level of circular experience. Over a period of 6 to 9 months, Twins meet 5 to 7 times in structured sessions to learn from each other and address concrete challenges through practical solutions. Each exchange is guided and supported by a dedicated expert facilitator, ensuring focus, continuity and tangible outcomes.