Tuesday, June 24, 2025
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
Environmental Magazine
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Study challenges circular fashion’s economic and environmental claims

March 5, 2025
in News
A A

Hands rifling through hangars of clothing, as if engaged in shopping

A new study suggests that circular fashion (CF) – the practice of recycling, reselling, and renting clothing to reduce waste – might not be the green solution it claims to be.

While the concept sounds promising, the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainability, seems to uncover major flaws in how circular fashion is being implemented and discussed.

Despite widespread claims that CF can recover over $500 billion in lost value annually through resale, rental, and recycling, the research reveals a $460 billion miscalculation that casts doubt on these projections.

The study evaluated 20 key reports from grey literature – non-academic industry publications – such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy (2017).

It found that CF concepts are poorly defined, disconnected from academic economic theory, and ultimately serve the interests of dominant fashion brands rather than consumers or workers.

Lead author Dr Talia Hussain, of Loughborough University London, said: “The fashion industry faces many sustainability challenges which it is, unfortunately, not tackling successfully.

“At every stage and every scale, we observe problems. From water and land use, to chemicals, fossil fibres, labour abuse, overproduction and ultimately textile waste.

“We can see water overexploitation from space. Polyester microfibres pollute the deepest ocean water and our bodies too.

“Our paper shows that that the circular fashion solution, which has been embraced by governments and industry, does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny.

“The authors of a flagship circular fashion report have added $460 billion dollars they should have subtracted.

“Overproduction, which anyone can see in the never-ending sales on the high street, is not addressed.”

Key Findings:

  • Flawed Economic Assumptions: Circular business models (CBMs) such as resale and rental generate lower profit margins than new product sales. If CBMs successfully reduce new production, fashion revenues will shrink, contradicting CF’s economic promises. If they merely supplement new production, environmental benefits will be negligible.
  • Overproduction Ignored: CF literature focuses on consumer behaviour but overlooks the fashion industry’s routine disposal of unsold stock. This omission weakens CF’s ability to address the root causes of waste.
  • Misguided Policy Recommendations: Reports rely on business jargon and inconsistent definitions of ‘value chain,’ leading to superficial policy prescriptions that fail to address systemic issues.
  • Labor Concerns Overlooked: The shift to lower-margin circular models is unlikely to improve wages or working conditions for garment workers. Instead, it may lead to even more precarious employment in second-hand clothing sorting and recycling.
  • Industry-Controlled Sustainability Discourse: Consulting firms like McKinsey & Co and global leadership (GL) organizations shape CF policy without rigorous scrutiny, reinforcing the power of dominant fashion brands while sidelining alternative models such as degrowth and sufficiency.

The research warns that CF, in its current form, is built on unrealistic projections and industry rhetoric rather than substantive economic and environmental solutions.

By prioritizing corporate interests and maintaining the status quo, CF risks creating new problems instead of solving existing ones.

The study urges academics, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to critically reassess CF narratives and explore alternative approaches that prioritize systemic change over profitability.

Future sustainability efforts must be grounded in robust empirical research rather than unexamined advocacy.

Dr Hussian said: “Circular fashion seems to rely on the same ideals of image-oriented high-frequency consumption that create the problems we observe now. Social media hashtags, as recommended in the EU’s sustainable textile strategy, cannot solve these problems.

“Unfortunately, circular fashion has absorbed the majority of policy-making attention and resources for research. After circular fashion fails, and it will, we will be left with a load of old problems and no new ideas. We need to invest in research, development and testing of new ideas now.”

ShareTweetSharePinSendShare

Related Articles

News

Liquid-hydrogen fuelled concept car unveiled at Le Mans

June 20, 2025
News

New SuDS National Standards aim to support the government’s housebuilding aspirations

June 19, 2025
News

Fast-tracking circularity would build resilience and add £25bn to UK economy, say MPs

June 18, 2025
News

Shrinking saltmarshes threaten climate progress, but recovery is possible

June 18, 2025
News

Industrialised nations frontrunners and stragglers profiled in the Global Waste Index 2025

June 17, 2025
News

Water sector needs “root and branch reform” says parliamentary committee

June 16, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Spring statement suggests security supplanting climate as government priority

March 28, 2025

Companies Tell Congressional Committee That Renewable Energy Is Needed to Keep Up With Demand

March 5, 2025

Don't miss it

Fossil Fuels

As GOP Tries to Pass Tax Bill, Senate Includes Billions in Benefits for Oil Industry

June 23, 2025
Energy

Figuring Out a Battery Storage System to Fit New York’s Wind and Solar Ambitions Has Not Been Easy

June 23, 2025
Activism

In California, a Push to Decommission Gas Lines in Low-Income Neighborhoods Moves Forward

June 22, 2025
Activism

The Ecofeminist Movement Is Surging. Here’s What Its Advocates Want

June 21, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Scientists’ Letter Urges Brazil’s President Lula to Reject New Amazon and Offshore Drilling

June 21, 2025
Energy

Ground Source Heat Pump Manufacturers Urge Senators to Preserve Geothermal Tax Credits

June 20, 2025
Environmental Magazine

Environmental Magazine, Latest News, Opinions, Analysis Environmental Magazine. Follow us for more news about Enviroment and climate change from all around the world.

Learn more

Sections

  • Activism
  • Air
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Fossil Fuels
  • News
  • Uncategorized
  • Water

Topics

Activism Air Climate Change Energy Fossil Fuels News Uncategorized Water

Recent News

As GOP Tries to Pass Tax Bill, Senate Includes Billions in Benefits for Oil Industry

June 23, 2025

Figuring Out a Battery Storage System to Fit New York’s Wind and Solar Ambitions Has Not Been Easy

June 23, 2025

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.