Field notes
Circular business model examples that hold up in the field
Most circular economy reading stops at intention: nice diagrams, no invoice. This page collects six models from real companies and looks at where the money actually comes from in each one. Then it shows the method used to design models like them.
Renault, the Refactory
Refurbishment at industrial scale
Renault turned its Flins plant, which once built new cars, into a site that repairs, reconditions and resells vehicles and parts. The revenue comes from cars the company has already made once. The plant keeps the margin that used to leak to the scrap yard. The value chain barely changes shape; the direction of the flows does.
Signify, light as a service
Product as a service
Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, sells light instead of lamps: customers pay for illumination while Signify keeps, maintains and recovers the fixtures. Because the maker keeps ownership of the hardware, durability becomes profitable instead of costly. A service contract turns a one-off sale into a long relationship with the same physical product.
Patagonia, Worn Wear
Repair and resale built in
Patagonia repairs garments, sells used ones back under its own brand and shows customers how to fix things themselves. Every repair delays a replacement sale, yet it deepens the trust that makes the next full-price sale the default. The programme treats the garment already sold as an asset, not a lost customer.
IKEA, spare parts and resale
Reuse inside a mass market
IKEA now publishes spare parts, runs buy-back schemes and opens resale sections in its stores. Furniture that would once have gone to the tip returns to the shop floor at a lower price point. That brings in customers who could not or would not buy new. The loop runs through the same logistics network the company already pays for.
MUD Jeans, leased denim
Subscription for durable goods
MUD Jeans leases jeans for a monthly fee; customers return worn pairs and the company recycles the denim into new fabric. The subscription keeps the material in the loop by contract, not by hope. Each returned pair becomes raw material the company has already been paid to handle.
Back Market, the refurbished marketplace
Recovery as a platform
Back Market connects refurbishers with buyers who want electronics at a lower price and a warranty. It built no factory; it built the market that makes refurbishment worth doing. The model shows that a circular business can also be the infrastructure other circular businesses need.
The pattern: where the value sits
Every example above earns from something that already exists: a car, a light fitting, a jacket. Linear models earn once, at the point of sale, and pay for waste. Circular models earn again from the same physical asset, through reuse, repair, sharing or service.
That shift does not happen on a whiteboard in a single afternoon. It shows up in concrete questions: which flows enter and leave your value chain? Which stakeholders hold the keys to them? Which circularity strategies can your business model actually price? Design the answers and the model follows.
Free tools: design yours with the three canvases
The examples above were not copied; they were designed. Circulab, the studio behind them, does it with three canvases. The Value Chain Canvas maps where materials, energy and money flow. The Partner Map shows which stakeholders move those flows. The Circular Canvas turns a strategy into a working business model.
All three live in the Circulab Toolbox, the same tools used on client projects since 2012. Each canvas comes with entry trainings and tutorial videos. Print them, mark them up with a team, and start with the flow that costs you the most.
Get the three canvases by email
We send the Value Chain Canvas, the Partner Map and the Circular Canvas, with a short note on using each. You will also get an occasional note from us, at most once a month. Unsubscribe with one click, any time.
We store your email only to send the canvases and our notes.
“The training gave me a clear method and concrete tools to bring my teams on board. We went from intentions to first prototypes within weeks.”
Damien D. · Retail director, Lancôme
Learner quote published by Circulab Academy. Translated from French.
From example to your own model
Examples show what good looks like; the method gets you there on a real project. Master Circular Design, 45 hours self-paced at €1,500 excl. tax, is for consultants and design teams. It runs the full method and ends with a circular business model and roadmap for a project of your own. Develop a Sustainable, Circular and Resilient Business, 15 hours at €500 excl. tax, suits executives and sustainability leads. It puts resilience on the agenda this quarter.
Both courses give 12 months of access, the forum and the Circulab Catalyst certificate. This guide is published by Circulab Academy. Its international sales site is built and run end to end by AI agents on NanoCorp, which is how a small studio stays current abroad.