How do clothing companies implement the circular economy in their business model to enhance the sustainability of the global fashion industry?

Details

Supervisors

Constantin Blome

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

The fast-fashion industry is one of the most polluting industry on earth together with the oil and the transportation industry. This worldwide industry operates in a largely linear way. Based on a « take-use-dispose » model, it is causing a lot of environmental and social damage that needs to be transformed. In fact, we are over-consuming the natural resources and this way of doing generates a huge amount of waste This thesis reviews the impact of this massive industry on the human and natural resources of our planet. In recent years, the « sustainability » movement has generated an increase in awareness and in concern amongst consumers. After special attention was given to the food industry, this concern began to be extended to other sectors such as clothing manufacturing and consumption. Nowadays, even if small improvements are made by designers and garment retailers with new « sustainable collection » or « conscious trends », it only represents a low percentage of the total amount of clothes sold over the world every second. The big manufacturers are still denying their social responsibilities by exploiting the planet with its human and natural resources in order to offer the lowest-priced collections with the most frequent restocking on the shelves. A new trend has gained plenty of attention recently: the Circular Economy. Circular economy is based on the idea of closing resource loops and, since the need of ethical and sustainable practices is becoming urgent in this sector, this economic model may be a contrasting choice to the actual linear economy. Through the prism of circularity, this thesis will investigate the question of how the circular economy can challenge and reduce the impacts of the clothing industry and make it a more sustainable business?