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A growing sensitivity to environmental issues has stimulated increased consumer recycling of post‐consumer product waste. Post‐consumer textile waste is a largely untapped commodity with strong reuse and recycling potential. This study explored consumer practices regarding textile waste disposal. Findings revealed the use of several textile disposal options with significant relationships between options used and attitudes toward recycling. This research is a necessary precursor to the establishment of organised textile recycling programmes.

Strategic Management, Business Ethics.

This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc level.

The case accentuates the challenges faced by Geetanjali Woollens in its mechanical recycling business which is proving detrimental to its African business expansion plans. The case is developed from the episodes of divergence in January 2018 when the buyers’ non-acceptance of mechanically recycled products initiated a managerial dilemma between “business sustenance” and “sustainable business” for Geetanjali Woollens. Being associated with the recycling business for more than 25 years, Madhukar Ghosh, the General Manager at Geetanjali Woollen recycling unit, was delving upon practical, supply-chain-wide solutions to generate standard acceptance norms for mechanically recycled textiles. For him, ethical purpose of business existence was equally important as the profit motive. Bringing operational clarity and standardized regulatory framework still seemed a big challenge for international policymakers and torchbearers of environmental responsibility, and Governments and NGOs popularizing green initiatives. Lack of policy guidelines for business behavior was exacerbating the business functioning. Madhukar knew that consistent buyer policies and standard regulatory framework could clear some mist and induce maturity in the concept of circular economy. Some formalizations were expected till the end of December 2018, if the deadlines did not get pushed further.

The objectives of this case are as follows:

• to highlight the limitations that recycled apparel and textile products have and the concerns that emerge for buyers, designers, and consumers, due to these limitations;

• to highlight the myopic business vision with which the recycling business is suffering due to the lack of a formalized regulatory framework, which in turn is creating various system barriers and making recycling business an unattractive proposition;

• to appreciate the contribution of mechanical recycling of post-consumer textile waste as a closed-loop manufacturing technique in recouping the eco-impacts of increased disposal of apparel and textile products; and

• to promote discussions for innovative solutions for limitations and concerns related to substances of concern in the recycling business and deliberations for a more effective tracking of such substances to facilitate buyer acceptance of mechanically recycled products.

to highlight the limitations that recycled apparel and textile products have and the concerns that emerge for buyers, designers, and consumers, due to these limitations;

to highlight the myopic business vision with which the recycling business is suffering due to the lack of a formalized regulatory framework, which in turn is creating various system barriers and making recycling business an unattractive proposition;

to appreciate the contribution of mechanical recycling of post-consumer textile waste as a closed-loop manufacturing technique in recouping the eco-impacts of increased disposal of apparel and textile products; and

to promote discussions for innovative solutions for limitations and concerns related to substances of concern in the recycling business and deliberations for a more effective tracking of such substances to facilitate buyer acceptance of mechanically recycled products.

The purpose of this paper is to study the reuse and recycling of garments from the fashion industry's perspective. Through multiple case studies the paper maps the emerging organizational field of post-retail responsibility of garments, describing how and why several fashion companies have engaged with reuse and recycling practices and which opportunities and challenges they face.

The study relies on the qualitative multiple explorative case study method. The data were collected from 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven fashion companies and documentation analyses of two companies. Data were analyzed using the thematic analyses approach. The main limitation of the study is the limited selection of cases and therefore a larger data set and further studies are required to extend the understanding of the phenomenon for more generalized statements and in-depth understanding.

The findings demonstrate that post-retail responsibility of fashion is an emerging field in the fashion industry that offers several business opportunities to fashion companies, but also requires rethinking of existing value propositions and engagement of a wider stakeholder group in order to find sustainable solutions for garments’ end of life. The field is still new with limited best practice, however, two main strategies of how fashion companies address post-retail responsibility of their products can be distinguished: second hand retailing and product take-back schemes.

This paper contributes to research by advancing understanding of fashion industry's role in the end-of-life of their products and the associated opportunities and challenges. This study belongs to the first round of research that directly addresses the post-consumer textile waste from the fashion industry's perspective.

The term luxury and sustainability, within the fashion and textile industries are seldom seen as natural bedfellows. Recently however, the perception of luxury has begun to include a definition left behind in the twentieth century; beautifully hand crafted artefacts valued for the time, skill and design invested in them. It is possible though, for the concept of luxury textiles to embrace this definition and that of the sustainable credentials of a “Cradle to Cradle” (McDonough and Braungart, 2002) mindset (that of a life beyond original creation) and be fashionable. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Utilising a variety of methodologies including case studies, reflective practice and a practice-based approach; this paper examines the use of pre-consumer waste in the creation of new luxury textiles. Several projects are cited, offering examples of collaboration between textile mills and designers in the creation of new fabrics made from luxury by-products. This luxury waste is routinely shredded for automobile seat filling or landfill, however current sustainable thinking encourages a more creative solution to this circumstance. Designers have a crucial role to play in converting an unwanted by-product to one that is highly desirable.

Traditional values of what constitutes a luxury item include the concept of time invested in making a unique handmade artefact. More recently, this premise has been overlooked in favour of branded goods. The slow fashion movement advocates the inherent value of craftsmanship coupled with the ethical use of sustainable and or local materials and processes. The traditional techniques of felting, weave and stitch are utilised to create beautiful, original textiles from discarded waste. By collaborating with local mills, designers provide solutions to something that could be perceived as a problem.

The embedded narrative within these layered textiles provides an original quality and added value, building on their Scottish heritage. The resulting textiles reflect their provenance; the landscape they come from and the people who created them. As a result of purchase, the story continues with the new custodian, adding to the ongoing history of the textile. The design work and collaboration that this paper outlines embodies a transferable model for sustainable upcycled luxury textiles.

Production and consumption of textile garments contribute significantly to environment problems. The purpose of this paper is to perform the evaluation of textile waste generated at Lithuanian clothing enterprises based on statistical data analysis and business cases studies.

For the evaluation of real situation of waste generation in companies, an original methodology was developed and used during investigation. In order to get an overall view, statistical data of waste generation and management in Lithuania were also analysed. Waste accounting covered data such as wastes from unprocessed textile fibres and wastes from processed textile fibres and textiles (not otherwise specified).

The investigation showed that the amount of cutting waste reaches 20-25 per cent of the total quantity of materials used for production. It was found that the waste is not sorted in Lithuanian clothing enterprises and is disposed in landfills in most cases, notwithstanding the positive tendencies of recycling of waste that were observed during past year. However, a practical recycling strategy and broader perception of developing products with greater added value from waste are missing in Lithuania.

In this research, a simple methodology was developed for determining the quantity of the textile waste generated by enterprises, the introduction of which would allow us to expect better results in waste accounting and management. The results of investigation are useful to gain in-depth understanding of waste generation in various countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges and solutions emerging when fashion brands develop and test circular economy solutions within their existing business models.

The paper is based on a 34-month case study in a global fashion brand, which launched a new in-store product take-back initiative.

The results indicate that fashion brands need to cope with multiple challenges in the process of developing circular business models in the organization, including: diverging perspectives of value and unclear success criteria, poor alignment with existing strategy, limited internal skills and competences, and limited consumer interest.

The results of this paper are grounded in a single case study and thus limitations associated with broad generalizations apply. In addition, the paper only investigated one aspect of circularity, namely, product take-back and did not investigate design for circularity, product reuse, recycle and other circularity related issues.

The findings derive from practical experiences of a fashion brand implementing an in-store product take-back system in the existing business model. The study reveals new insights into the actual process of making circular fashion operable.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the drivers, inhibitors and enablers of creating a textile-to-textile recycling system in the Scandinavian fashion industry. It investigates the technology, innovation and systemic changes required to enable circular supply chains.

The research study uses a qualitative, interpretivist approach, drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the Scandinavian fashion industry.

The main inhibitors to textile-to-textile recycling systems in the Scandinavian fashion industry are: limited technology which creates a challenge for separating materials; high costs of research and development and building the supporting logistics; complexity of supply chains including the multitude of stakeholders involved in product development. The enablers are design and use of new materials, increased garment collection and collaboration. This research suggests that sorting and recycling technology can be enhanced with the use of digital technologies, as this would create transparency, traceability and automatisation.

The research is limited by a small sample size and lack of representation of all key stakeholder groups, which limits the ability to generalise these findings. However, as an exploratory study, the findings provide insights that can be further tested in other contexts.

Understanding of textile-to-textile recycling is emerging both theoretically and practically, however, there is still much that is not understood. This research contributes to furthering understanding of how technology, collaboration and systemic change in the fashion industry can support opportunities for textile-to-textile recycling, thereby aligning with circular economy principles.

Unsustainable fashion consumption and wasteful practices have recently garnered attention in practice and academia; however, research in this field is limited. This study is based upon an extensive review of the literature and aims to fill this gap by providing an in-depth understanding of various drivers and actors operating in the closed-loop fashion value chain. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework of transformation from the linear economy (LE) to the circular economy (CE) for the fashion industry based on “transition theory.”

This study is conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, a bibliographic compilation on the given subject is done. In Phase 2, data about the case company is collected through trade media and semi-structured interviews with the founder and the designers.

The study found that key drivers for the closed-loop fashion value chain are collaboration with partners, innovation, waste management system, customer connect and changing utilization patterns. Based on the extensive literature review and analysis of the case study, it can be concluded that to incorporate CE principles, namely, reduce, repair, reuse and recycle into current business models, redefining existing value propositions and transforming various business model elements is essential.

A three-level (discrete level, aggregator level and the peripheral level) framework is developed that can help the fashion industry in transition from LE to CE. This study will help fashion houses to understand how they can work in tandem with various stakeholders to develop sustainable business models.

This paper contributes to research by advancing the understanding of how to further develop and redesign an innovative business model framework for the circular fashion value chain. A three-level framework is developed that can be used for transition from LE to CE, especially in the fashion industry. This study is one of the first research that has tried to analyze the Indian case company for CE practices in fashion.

The circular economy has become a significant policy in many countries around the world. In order to achieve a circular economy, wasteful use of resources must be reduced and waste products from manufacturing must be reintroduced into production systems. It is, however, impossible to totally avoid scraps from the production of most goods. This chapter describes an investigation of current practices of 108 small-and-medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) regarding their use of solid wastes or scraps. Of particular interest are the scraps generated by SMEs because they comprise 98.5% of all manufacturers in Thailand. Despite concern regarding the growing volume of scraps from production lines, this study collected data from both factory visits and from manufacturers and found that waste reclamation policies among SMEs are rare. Most factory owners resort to selling off-cuts to formal and informal recyclers as well as dumping scraps in the city’s bins. Despite the general recognition of the growing creative industry in Thailand, the use of design has not been considered as a potential solution to this problem by manufacturers. Since failures in scrap reclamation schemes for product designs also hinge on market prospects and opportunities perceived by manufacturers, market strategies in the green economy must be devised. Only then can Thailand achieve circular material flow in its industrial sector.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the business model of second-hand fashion stores and explore their challenges/opportunities and suggest potential strategies for second-hand fashion retail stores.

A qualitative research method using in-depth interviews of convenience sample of owners/store managers from within the USA was employed.

Contrasting the traditional retail stores, customers are the primary partners and suppliers of second-hand fashion stores. These stores retain minimal profits given a business model that typically involves sharing profits with customers. Cheaper price, thrill of finding great deals, value for brands and variety are the primary reasons mentioned by respondents for shopping at second-hand stores.

Limitations include the use of a convenience sample of store owners/managers as well as the research is limited to women and children’s stores. Respondents of the study were from the same geographical region and the characteristics of the redistribution markets may vary in a different region.

As a means to foster textile waste reduction through second-hand clothing business, these stores could adopt innovative revenue streams, additional partnerships, and improved fashion and store appeal that may be effective in increasing profits and the number of customers.

This study is one of the early attempts to examine the business model of second-hand fashion stores, a form of collaborative consumption in the fashion context. The study contributes in promoting second-hand fashion stores as a sustainable business model in the fashion industry.