Voluntary Sustainability Standards and the Fashion Industry: Opportunities and Challenges for Building a Circular Textile Economy

Abstract

The race to the bottom that has enabled the rise of fast fashion is becoming increasingly intensified and, due to climate change and pollution, the environmental impacts of the industry are becoming more catastrophic. One sustainability solution that is rapidly growing in popularity across the industry is the Circular Economy (CE), due to its promise to deliver positive social, environmental and economic sustainability outcomes. Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) are widely used across many different industries for a variety of development objectives, and have started being used to facilitate the movement towards circularity. VSS is a prominent regulatory mechanism in the fashion industry, and thus exploring the alignment of VSS with – and hence its potential to effectively implement – the CE will help illuminate the value of both as sustainability approaches to addressing the enormous detrimental impact of fast fashion. This paper makes a unique contribution to the literature on CE in the fashion industry by taking both a conceptual and applied approach to assessing the congruence between VSS and CE, drawing from various bodies of literature and performing expert interviews. This research aims to serve as a foundation for research on sustainability in the textile industry, and a resource for decision-makers, corporations and policy makers looking to promote a circular textile economy. Ultimately, the goal is to promote sustainable development and provide tangible outcomes towards these objectives.