Final Seminar of BALTIC2HAND: Cross-Border Collaboration Driving Circular Textile Innovation

The final seminar of the BALTIC2HAND project, held on 8 October in Helsinki, brought together partners, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners from across the Central Baltic region to share the project’s results and discuss the future of circular textiles. Participants also celebrated 10 years of the Finnish Telaketju network, which continues to serve as a platform for cooperation among industry, academia, and policymakers.

BALTIC2HAND, led by Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Finland), has focused on promoting textile reuse and creating knowledge-based solutions for extending product lifecycles. Through its activities, the project has explored consumer attitudes, business models, and regulatory frameworks influencing the circular economy for textiles.

The event highlighted achievements from nearly three years of collaboration aimed at boosting reuse and second-hand textile markets in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia.

As the Central Baltic National Contact Point (Finland), I was pleased to participate and witness how cross-border cooperation continues to drive progress toward a more sustainable textile ecosystem.

Highlights from the Final Seminar: Policy, Practice, and People

The seminar programme featured a range of inspiring speakers and opportunities for further networking. The event was opened by Pinja Perholehto, a Member of the Finnish Parliament, who offered current insights of the policy developments shaping the future of textile circularity in the EU and Central Baltic area. Salla Kuuluvainen, BALTIC2HAND Project Leader from Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Finland), presented the main outcomes of the project, including pilot activities and recommendations for reuse business models.

Policy Insights: Building a Circular Future

Pinja Perholehto, who is also the Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee, emphasized the role of all of us in building a lasting change and moving – step-by-step – towards a more sustainable future.

Pinja Perholehto, a Member of the Finnish Parliament. Photo: Baltic2Hand / Sami Siilin.

“I am very proud of the Finnish textile industry, which is moving towards circularity by extending product lifecycles using both new and recycled materials, improving material and resource efficiency, and creating smarter recycling systems,” said Perholehto.

She also reminded us of the challenges we all need to overcome in order to keep circular economy thriving:

“There are still cultural and mindset barriers that exists. When something breaks, it is still often thrown away or replaced rather than repaired. We have learned to consume more than is needed.”

According to Perholehto, circular innovations do not always attract consumers easily. People may demand sustainability, but in tough times price often matters more. She underlined the need to rethink taxation, funding models, and incentives for circular businesses.

“If a circular product costs more, it must also feel desirable, accessible, well-designed, and be a real choice for customers. We need new design methods, new business models, and the ability to handle textile waste in ways that create value rather than destroy it. This won’t happen by chance – it requires e.g., targeted investments, new business models, and political courage to ensure that skills, research, and industrial capacity grow hand in hand with innovation,” she concluded.

From Research to Real-World Pilots

Salla Kuuluvainen, the BALTIC2HAND project leader from Finland, presented the main outcomes of the project which includes e.g., research, piloting, testing and recommendations for reuse business models. She reminded participants that the textile industry is one of the most polluting globally – and that overconsumption remains a major challenge.

“The BALTIC2HAND project set out to solve this problem in the Central Baltic region. We have been supporting companies and organizations in creating more circular business models, services and solutions. The global second-hand market is also expected to grow, which offers increasing opportunities for businesses”, said Kuuluvainen.

During the project, the team studied customer behavior, created customer personas and investigated company challenges in becoming more circular. They also while piloted practical solutions such as:

A repair service for the Estonian brand Alpaka
A local textile ecosystem for Finland’s Kierrätyskeskus
A second-hand webshop for Finnish children’s clothing brand Reima
Cat furniture from recycled textiles for the Latvian company 0design
A map highlighting second-hand and circular textile companies in Stockholm for the Swedish RE-MAP

Altogether, the partners co-created circular textile solutions with more than 50 companies in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Sweden, prototyped and tested 11 solutions, and piloted 10. A wide range of articles and materials on circular textile transformation were also published during the project.

“Companies are often interested in joining these processes and creating sustainable solutions. Often the problem lies in lack of resources or time, so a small push or support is needed to create these solutions,” says Kuuluvainen.

She also highlighted the importance of engaging diverse actors:

“Collaboration is key to circular transformation. But we also need to involve players who are not traditionally seen as circularity operators. Sometimes the key to a solution might be someone outside the textile industry – for example, a logistics company. It is important to include different types of operators in the co-creation process.”

Salla Kuuluvainen, project manager, Baltic2Hand. Photo: Baltic2Hand / Sami Siilin.

Several clear messages emerged from the Final Seminar presentations:

Collaboration is essential. Regional cooperation enables sharing of expertise and infrastructure for textile reuse.
Policy coherence matters. Harmonized regulations and incentives are needed to support reuse and prevent textiles from ending up as waste.
Innovation and data are enablers. Digital tracking, consumer awareness tools, and lifecycle analyses can support smarter reuse systems.

Looking Ahead: Continuing the Circular Journey

The atmosphere throughout the event was both reflective and forward-looking – acknowledging how much progress has been made, while also recognizing the challenges that remain in scaling circular practices across borders.

For the Central Baltic Programme, BALTIC2HAND stands as an excellent example of how cross-border cooperation can generate practical impact – combining research, innovation, and stakeholder engagement to drive systemic change. The project is still ongoing until the beginning of 2026.