Catalysing the textile industry toward a circular economy: An ecosystem approach

The principles of the circular economy (CE) have been adopted across various industries, primarily in response to environmental issues and to exploit business opportunities. Consequently, actors in the textile industry, forming an industrial ecosystem of business and institutional actors, have also attempted to engage in CE to provide sustainable solutions to decrease textile waste and transform it into raw materials. However, the move towards increased circularity in the industrial system causes challenges, since the changes associated with socio-technical transitions require not only technological and business development, but also regulations and the dedication of the involved actors. This chapter aims to examine the full variety of drivers needed to support the textile industry and its diverse actors to adopt circular processes. This study explores and conceptualizes catalysts driving the CE by drawing on a case in the Finnish textile industry that involves multiple actors. The study extends our knowledge of circular ecosystems, textile circulation, and various catalysts towards circularity, and its results show the structure of textile ecosystem actors in Finland contributing to textile recycling, reuse, and resale. The findings emphasize how catalysts such as technological competences, organisational and managerial practices, regulatory support, communication, and the ethical concerns of organisation managers may serve as catalysts to create favourable conditions for actors' ecosystem collaboration towards the CE. This research also highlights challenges in textile circularity management that ecosystem actors still need to address. The research findings provide conceptual interdisciplinary contributions to CE driver and catalyst research and CE ecosystem studies. Additionally, the study provides several managerial suggestions that may interest policymakers.