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This study aims to show how a massive open online course (MOOC) can be used as an educational tool to diffuse specialised corporate sustainability research globally to a broad range of learners.

This study is based on insights from the design and implementation of a sustainable fashion MOOC. The MOOC was launched in late 2019 on a global learning platform and has recently passed 40,000 enrolments (February 2022). The presentation of the MOOC draws on quantitative and qualitative data available to instructors on the global learning platform.

Based on the data about the learners and their use of the MOOC, this study demonstrates how MOOC can be a powerful tool to diffuse sustainability research to new groups of learners, who differ significantly from the typical students at business schools and universities in the West. Moreover, the findings also demonstrate how the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the MOOC’s popularity.

This study provides new empirical evidence on how sustainability research can be translated into online education material of relevance for a broad range of learners from around the world. Moreover, the study also points to the number of practical and structural challenges linked to the future mainstreaming of MOOCs and other types of online education material.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how organisational complexities influence the design of circular business models, which have recently been introduced as a new panacea for aligning the interests of business with the needs of the environment.

The Service Shirt, a new garment concept, is used as an illustrative case example for demonstrating some of the organisational complexities of making circular business models operable. The shirt was developed through a series of design workshops for the fashion brand Fashion Alpha.

The analysis highlights multiple challenges emerging when a fashion product with a significantly extended lifecycle passes through different users, organisations and business models. It is concluded that it is difficult to talk about a circular business model (singular) as circular economy solutions depend on the contributions of multiple stakeholders with business models.

The findings illustrate how fashion companies interested in the circular economy fundamentally have to rethink conventional approaches to value, organisational boundaries and temporality.

Drawing on a case example from the fashion industry, the paper demonstrates the organisational complexities linked to the design of new business models based on circular economy thinking, as these require the coordination of actions between autonomous actors driven by different logics regarding value creation, value delivery and value capture.

The purpose of this paper is to explore current barriers and opportunities for sustainability in the fashion industry.

The paper is based on a study among 36 fashion experts from academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations, who took part in an online study on sustainable fashion.

The results from the study indicates that the fashion industry faces immense social and environmental challenges and that the scale and scope of current approaches to sustainability are limited and fail to address more fundamental challenges linked to the dominant business models and consumption behaviors.

As the study is based on the knowledge, values, attitudes, and cultural stances of the participating experts it cannot claim to provide a picture of the “real world.” Nonetheless it contributes with a nuanced understanding of current challenges and opportunities within the industry, as experienced by key stakeholders in the field.

The expert study approach moves beyond “good practice” case studies and allow a broader discussion of micro- and macro challenges for sustainability within the fashion industry. The learnings gained through such an approach could inspire future system level research as well as business model innovation in the industry.