Waste reduction and circulareconomy : A multi-level perspective on the clothing industry

The fashion industry is a tremendous threat to our global environment and the massive creation of waste is linked to the current linear economical system, which can be explained as take-make-waste. A step away from this traditional model has gained a lot of attention in the clothing industry, where the concept of circular economy has emerged as a vital solution. Circular economy has many definitions but it is focused on closing the loop of resources, minimize the total amount of waste, and retain the value of a product for as long as possible. The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities of waste reduction as a part of the transitions towards a more circular economy within the fashion industry. This has been done throughout qualitative research in the form of semi-structured interviews and collection of documents on the Swedish fashion industry. Because transitions and long-term changes seldom happen due to one particular reason, the gathered empirical data has been analyzed from a holistic view, using the framework of multi-level perspective to understand the dynamics between different factors, levels, and dimensions in the transition to a more circular economy. The findings showed that the clothing companies have, to different degrees, strategies of how to reduce more waste in their organization. These strategies are more linked to incremental changes and there are at the moment barriers making it difficult for the industry to find more radical system solutions. However, as new technologies emerge, together with new regulations and support from governance, the clothing industry could be one step closer to reaching circularity. In the transition toward a more circular economy, pressure from different levels could steer the industry into a new direction and change the very heart of our consumption