Systemic Circular Innovation: Barriers, Windows of Opportunity and An Analysis of Brazil’s Apparel Scenario

The textile industry has a significant role in the globalized market.However, this sector is responsible for extensive social and environmen-tal impacts, that comprise unhealthy work conditions, huge pollutionfootprint, and intensive throw-away practices. Aiming to promote solu-tions to these problems, this paper traces the barriers and windows ofopportunity for a transition to a circular economy, taking as an examplethe Brazilian textile and apparel industry. We examine the currentBrazilian textile scenario using the multi-level perspective through threem ethodological approaches: desk research, workshops, and interviews.
Our results indicate that, although the Brazilian textile industry stilloperates mainly in a linear way, focusing on competitiveness and short-term opportunities, there are great niche examples that are gaining trac-tion and inspiring larger organizations, promoting innovative and circu-lar ways to create and capture value. The socio-technical transition to acircular economy encompasses the identification and creation of condi-tions through windows of opportunity such as circular mindset, collab-oration among stakeholders, education, investment, market forces, andpublic policies, which support process and technological changes in thetextile and apparel industry. In summary, our research comprises themajor challenges faced by the Brazilian textile industry in its currentscenario and present enablers to endorse the shift towards a circu-lar economy.