From Simplistic to Systemic Sustainability in the Textile and Fashion Industry

Olli Sahimaa*, Elizabeth Miller, Minna Halme, Kirsi Niinimäki, Hannu Tanner, Mikko Mäkelä, Marja Rissanen, Anna Härri, Michael Hummel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
65 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The fast fashion industry is notorious for wicked environmental and social problems, such as exploitative resource use, high amounts of waste, excessive pollution, below living wages and unsafe working conditions. Addressing these problems calls for a systemic view on the industry with the goal of minimising the intake of natural resources into the system as well as the output of waste. However, thus far most solution attempts have turned out simplistic and insufficient to nudge the industry to more sustainable practices at scale. We examine the textile and fashion system at the three different levels – the product, industry and socio-ecological system levels – and show the inadequacy of the current sustainability-driven practices in the field. As an alternative, we propose systemic solutions, geared toward long material and product
lifetimes, that have the potential to trigger adaptive responses throughout different actors in the system and across all three levels. These systemic solutions operationalise a circular value retention hierarchy coupled with a sufficiency-based consumption philosophy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1115-1131
Number of pages17
JournalCircular Economy and Sustainability
Volume4
Issue number2
Early online date15 Dec 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2024
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Textile and fashion industry
  • Fast fashion
  • Systemic sustainability
  • Suffciency-based circular economy
  • Circular transition
  • Circular value retention

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