Driving circularity in textile and fashion businesses during prototyping
Maselkowski, Sabine; Romero Montoya, Juliana (2024)
Avaa tiedosto
Lataukset:
2024
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024052817327
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024052817327
Tiivistelmä
The global textile and fashion industry poses significant social and environmental challenges due to its still largely linear, resource-intensive production system. The industry’s environmental impact only intensifies with decreasing clothing use-times at the consumer end and limited textile end-of-life knowledge and infrastructure. Not only these issues but also a changing regulatory environment in the European Union requires textile and fashion businesses to understand circularity and integrate circular solutions into their operations.
The research commissioner Baltic2Hand, an Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021-2027 project co-funded by the European Union, aims to transform the Central Baltic region's second-hand textile industry. Through adopting a co-creative service design approach, participating organisations identify, prototype and test circular opportunities. With a specific focus on the prototyping phase of the Baltic2Hand project in autumn 2024, the aim of this thesis was to explain how potential participants make sense of circularity and how they implement that understanding in the prototyping of circular solutions. The purpose was to provide Baltic2Hand with recommendations for their prototyping workshops, aimed at enhancing circularity among organisations in the fashion and textile sector.
As a theoretical knowledge base, systems thinking was explored alongside conceptualisations of circularity, a circular economy and sustainability, theory on circular business model innovation as well as value creation processes in a circular economy. Also, knowledge about prototyping circularity was studied.
This thesis used a research-based development work process based on grounded theory. Research methods included desk research, semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, an online focus group discussion and other data sources during participation at industry-related events.
The research findings differentiate three higher-level domains of organisational conditions, ecosystem catalysts and industry mindsets, that all drive the development of circularity and affect one another. Each domain contains several sub-categories. The research further showcases that the prototype format is less relevant than how much it is embedded into the organisational and ecosystem context.
As a concrete recommendation to Baltic2Hand, this thesis proposes an activity framework to help drive circularity at an organisational and a systemic level, as well as a circularity tool repository. The activity further supports organisations’ continuous reflection of planned circular solutions for larger impact. As a theoretical contribution, this thesis offers a multi-level perspective of organisational, ecosystem and industry circumstances that are needed for a change towards circularity.
The research commissioner Baltic2Hand, an Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021-2027 project co-funded by the European Union, aims to transform the Central Baltic region's second-hand textile industry. Through adopting a co-creative service design approach, participating organisations identify, prototype and test circular opportunities. With a specific focus on the prototyping phase of the Baltic2Hand project in autumn 2024, the aim of this thesis was to explain how potential participants make sense of circularity and how they implement that understanding in the prototyping of circular solutions. The purpose was to provide Baltic2Hand with recommendations for their prototyping workshops, aimed at enhancing circularity among organisations in the fashion and textile sector.
As a theoretical knowledge base, systems thinking was explored alongside conceptualisations of circularity, a circular economy and sustainability, theory on circular business model innovation as well as value creation processes in a circular economy. Also, knowledge about prototyping circularity was studied.
This thesis used a research-based development work process based on grounded theory. Research methods included desk research, semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, an online focus group discussion and other data sources during participation at industry-related events.
The research findings differentiate three higher-level domains of organisational conditions, ecosystem catalysts and industry mindsets, that all drive the development of circularity and affect one another. Each domain contains several sub-categories. The research further showcases that the prototype format is less relevant than how much it is embedded into the organisational and ecosystem context.
As a concrete recommendation to Baltic2Hand, this thesis proposes an activity framework to help drive circularity at an organisational and a systemic level, as well as a circularity tool repository. The activity further supports organisations’ continuous reflection of planned circular solutions for larger impact. As a theoretical contribution, this thesis offers a multi-level perspective of organisational, ecosystem and industry circumstances that are needed for a change towards circularity.