How can the circular economy model lead to a more sustainable fashion supply chain?

Details

Supervisors

De Ronge, Yves

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to answer to the research question: “How can the circular economy model lead to a more sustainable fashion supply chain?”. The literature review reveals that the linear model of production and consumption results in terrible consequences for both the environment and society. Fast fashion giants such as Zara and H&M prone overconsumption through their business models, therefore stimulating customers to buy, wear, throw away, and then buy again. People all over the world are starting to take heed of the crisis the planet is undergoing, and wish for more sustainable goods and services. Governments are slowly addressing those issues, but their impact is too small. The change must be achieved by companies themselves, as those are the ones producing and selling to the customer. Some businesses such as Puma, the Kering Group and Patagonia, have already responded to the wish for sustainability, each to their own extent, some brands being more engaged than others. The circular economy model, contrary to the linear one, aims at reusing end-of-life products to create new ones, therefore creating a loop that the resources would follow, in order to reduce both the use of new resources and the waste of old ones. The circular economy applied to the fashion industry has the potential to truly reduce the environmental and social negative externalities it produces. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, among others, provides guidelines on how to implement circularity in clothing. After having reviewed the literature, it was concluded that it provides a rather theoretical answer to the research question. It was therefore decided to answer this question in a more tangible way, by analyzing four companies which have built their business model around circularity, namely My Einfühlung, Isatiò, Hopaal and Loom. Information was gathered by means of interviews with the founders and some additional research on the five main steps of the supply chain: raw material sourcing, design, production, packaging and transportation. These insights enabled to draw a (non-exhaustive) list of circular initiatives. Finally, an analysis of their impacts on the environment and society along with a summary table was provided, therefore answering to the research question “How can the circular economy model lead to a more sustainable fashion supply chain?”.