Fashion designers’ contribution to environmental sustainability
Master Thesis Author:
Emilie Bendix Hansen 115686
Master of Science (MSc) in Social Sciences in:
Management of Creative Business Processes 2017-2019
Copenhagen Business School Supervisor:
Claus Springborg Hand-in:
15th of May 2019
STU: 153.877 Pages: 62
Abstract
This project investigates how designers may be able to contribute to environmental sustainability with the specific Sustainable Development Goal 12.5 to secure sustainable production and consumption through reduction of waste, prevention, reuse and recycling.
This is done through theories on sustainability in the textile industry and waste management, while also including theory on designers possibilities to minimize waste. The methodology used to cover the research includes an explanatory as well as exploratory cross-sectional approach to associate knowledge and experiences on sustainability. Qualitative semi- structured interviews is used and includes five designers in Denmark, one Danish
sustainability manager for a Swedish global company and a former Danish chairman for the UN General Assembly. The general issue on how designers contribute or is constraint to take sustainable action in the industry is concluded with three main points: designers in the fashion industry is already trying to take action, but are constrained by lack of technology, materials and price. The second conclusion is that designers are constraint by lack of education among consumers, designers and suppliers, for them to make sustainable
choices. Thirdly, designers are concluded to be able to consider environmental sustainability through the choice of material and by designing for longevity for the textiles finally to be recycled or reused.
Table of contents
Abstract 2
Abbreviations 5
1. Introduction 6
2. Background 8
2.1 Global pressure towards sustainable practices 8
2.2 Waste from textile production and consumption 9
2.3 Textile waste management in Denmark 11
3. Methodology 13
3.1 Philosophy of science 13
3.1.1 Epistemology 13
3.1.2 Ontology 13
3.2 Research design 14
3.2.1 Research approach 14
3.2.2 Cross-sectional study 15
3.3 Data collection 16
3.3.3 Analysis of data 21
3.4 Reliability, replicability and validity 22
4. Literature review 23
4.1 Sustainable development 23
4.1.1 Environmental sustainability 24
4.2 Sustainability in the fashion industry 25
4.3 Waste management and Design 29
4.3.1 Recycling 30
4.3.2 Reuse 31
5. Analysis 33
5.1 Environmental sustainability issues in the fashion industry 33
5.1.1 Waste issues in the fashion industry 34
5.1.2 Waste in consumption 36
Concluding notes 37
5.2 Recycling and reuse 38
5.2.1 Recycling 39
5.2.2 Reuse 41
Concluding notes 42
5.3 Design contribution for sustainable fashion 43
5.3.1 The design stage of a fashion value chain 43
5.3.2 Design barriers 45
5.3.3 Market- and process-driven approach to sustainability in fashion 46
Concluding notes 49
5.4 Prevention of waste 49
Concluding notes 54
6. Discussion 56
6.1 Reduction of waste in recycling and production 56
6.2 Discussion of design practices and prevention 58
7. Conclusion and Implications 61
7.1 Future perspective 62
8. Literature 64
8.1 Academic articles 64
8.2 Books 65
8.3 Reports 66
8.4 Websites 66
Appendix 1: Interviewguides 69
Appendix 2: Transcripts 77
Appendix 3: Coding 143
Design barriers, Production, Going sustainable 143
Experience with sustainability 161
Prevention 166
Reuse 177
Recycling 180
Waste and end-of-use 186
Abbreviations
BCI Better Cotton Initiative
GOTS Global Organic Textile Standard SDG Sustainable Development Goal CMT Cut-make-trim
1. Introduction
The apparel and textile industry have been subject to large amounts of sustainable issues. It covers social and environmental issues like low wages, health and safety issues, high levels of energy use, use of bad chemicals and disposal of waste depleting the natural environment (Connell and Kozar, 2012). In the United States of America, waste from the apparel and textile industry generate 12 billion tons of textile waste annually (Connell and Kozar, 2012), while cotton production in itself is responsible for 11 percent of used pesticides worldwide (Goworek, 2011; Connell and Kozar, 2012). More than half of danish textile waste were in 2016 estimated to be disposed of with other household waste (Watson, Trzepacz, Pedersen, 2018). At the same time there is a growth in sales of fast fashion, which by Brodish, Nixon and Cirka (2011) is described as a “here today, gone tomorrow” approach with mass production driven by consumer expectations (Brodish, Nixon and Cirka, 2011). Theory is mainly concerned with the environmental issues in the production, while the production is often separated from the offices ordering the impactful products (Caniato, Caridi, Crippa, Moretto, 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to add another dimension to the theory of creative industries and how creative people in the fashion industry work in terms of sustainability issues. This dimension is the Sustainable Development Goal 12 that seeks to ensure sustainable
production and consumption with the target 12.5 to “...substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.” by 2030 (Sustainable development goal (b), n.d.). This is a crucial factor to the operation and business structure of fashion, as it is mainly working a “take-make-waste” system, that has emerged from social innovation of self- organisation and a desire to release creativity - trying to make the world better (Dilley, 2014).
The topic of sustainability and clean production in the fashion industry is not new (Caniato et al., 2012), but is becoming more and more crucial as the environment and climate within 16 years, according to Schultz (2015), will be irreversibly changed and have severe
consequences for our nature (Schultz, 2015). Dilley (2014) argues that the shortage of a shared understanding of what environmental sustainability is, could be the reason why people struggle to collaborate on creating a healthy planet (Dilley, 2014).
With this research I aim to contribute to more information on how to avoid environmental impact in the future within one of the most polluting industries worldwide; the fashion industry. The following research question will guide this research and is motivated by my background within textile design and a fascination towards the constant change in trends within a industry evolved from a basic human need.
Based on the above, I specifically seek to in investigate the following:
How can fashion designers contribute to the fulfillment of environmental sustainability goals described in SDG 12.5 and what are the constraints?
I have separated the thesis into seven different chapters: The second chapter will briefly go through the waste issues in the fashion industry as well as in a Danish context. The third chapter will show the methodological decision made and reflect on the reliability. The fourth chapter will provide a literature review to inform on the present knowledge within the field of sustainable development, sustainability in the fashion industry and recycling and reuse. The fifth chapter will analyze on collected empirical data in connection with the current literature in the field. Chapter six will discuss the result as to how they contribute to current knowledge and finally the seventh chapter will provide a conclusion and future perspectives.
2. Background
This section will provide an insight about the pressure towards better production and consumption and includes current waste reduction issues. A closer look into the fashion industry and where in the value chain the issues arise, will then be presented as evaluated by the Global Fashion Agenda stationed in Denmark. The background is described in terms of global issues concerning waste and then a more local view on the fashion industry and the end-of-life agenda in Denmark, is examined. The possibilities in end-of-life for clothing varies according to country and a specific view on Danish solutions is prioritised in this study.
2.1 Global pressure towards sustainable practices
Global production and consumption are several times considered the most crucial factors being responsible for degradation of the environment. In a paper by Akenji and Bengtsson (2014), it is stated that world leaders at both the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the World Summit in 2002 have acknowledged the requirement of sustainable production and consumption for sustainable development (Akenji and Bengtsson, 2014). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is a follow-up to the only eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG). As all environmental issues in the MDGs were narrowed down to one goal to cover both poverty, biodiversity and environmental resources among others, this goal needed to be divided and articulated. It is further stated that specifically the sustainable patterns of
consumption and production needed more attention as demanded by countries,
stakeholders and the Open Working Group1 (Akenji and Bengtsson, 2014). In September 2015, the SDGs were adopted as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and included 17 goals (Sustainable Development Goal (a), n.d.), not least with a goal to ‘Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’ (Sustainable Development Goal (b), n.d.).
“Achieving Goal 12 requires a strong national framework for sustainable consumption and production that is integrated into national and sectoral plans, sustainable business practices
and consumer behaviour, together with adherence to international norms on the management of hazardous chemicals and wastes.” (Sustainable Development Goal (b), n.d.)
For this research specifically, it is relevant to look at target 12.5 with the specific target aiming at reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
1 A 30-member group to prepare a proposal of SDGs. Established in 2013 as an innovative constituency-based system of representation with seats shared by various countries (Sustainable
(Sustainable Development Goal (b), n.d.). The fashion industry is heavily criticised for its impact on the environment (Connell and Kozar, 2012) and with the specific target to reduce waste, nations are expected to put a pressure on these businesses.
2.2 Waste from textile production and consumption
Much research focus on the recycling of fibres and the processes required to produce new products from old material. Piribauer and Bartl (2019) describe how the demand for clothing has risen since the need for clothing was placed as important for human civilization by Maslow in 1943. This is due to a growing population, decreasing poverty and a growing life expectancy worldwide (Piribauer and Bartl, 2019). A growth in population to 7.2 billion people, combined with wealth, creates demands for more production of clothes and exceeds human needs by becoming fashion products (Piribauer and Bartl, 2019).
As the fashion industry is in constant growth with the world population growing and the rising demand from developing countries, so does the waste production within the industry. With a consumption of clothes worldwide counting 62 million tons in 2015, this number is expected to reach 102 million tons in 2030 (Eder-Hansen, Chalmer, Tärneberg, Tochtermann, Seara, Boger, Theelen, Schwarz, Kristensen, Jäger, 2017). The waste generation counted 92 million tons in 2015 and the planetary boundaries have been exceeded long beyond the safe ground. This has resulted in higher risk in terms of the possibility to destabilize the planet and avoid environmental changes. Because only 20% of clothing waste globally is collected for reuse or recycling, there is major room for improvement (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017). The issues so far is to find viable methods to recycle waste into new textiles and invent recycling technology that secures economic scalability. A reduction in waste generation in a linear value chain can provide €4 billion to the world economy by 2030 and can become much higher, if a circular value chain is introduced (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017).
The report, The Pulse of the Fashion Industry, from 2017 also provides an examination of the level of impact from different issues within environmental, social and ethical areas (Eder- Hansen et al., 2017). The area of solid waste within the environmental pillar shows medium impact within several of the steps throughout the value chain except in three areas: Design and development, Raw materials and End-of-use. Whereas waste in raw materials have a very low impact, waste in design and development has a high impact and end-of-use have a very high impact. Already in the design phase, it is determined whether a garment is
possible to recycle through the choice of fabric, fiber construction and color and can further determine the overall lifecycle impact by considering footprint and longevity (Eder-Hansen et
al., 2017). It is proposed in the report that lack of awareness in terms of influence and the
‘design to cost’ are barriers to become more environmental sustainable and that examples of
‘designing out waste’ already have been done by companies like Nike (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017).
The report provided by the Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group further shows the structure of a value chain from design to end-of-use (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017:
37). The model shows (Figure 1) the different steps in a value chain, that can cause different impact on sustainable performance, whereas the first and the last step within the area of waste are of specific concern due to their impact (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017).
Figure 1, Exhibit 12, The Fashion Value Chain (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017: 37)
The end-of-use stage at the end of the value chain is the biggest issue, since the lack of technology makes it difficult for societies to dispose or recycle textile waste properly and therefore ends up in landfills. The different disposal solutions, including, up- and
downcycling, reuse or recycling technology are lacking viable economic evidence of scale.
Recycling is further not considered a relevant improvement by companies and other stages in the value chain are found more important. This can be a concern, because only 20% of clothing is recycled or reused globally. Because consumers in developed countries are reluctant to use second-hand clothing, a closed-loop value chain may be needed (Eder- Hansen et al., 2017).
In January 2019, Retail Institute Scandinavia presented a report on danish consumers and sustainable habits. The website, Fashion Forum, describes that the report shows how people born after 2001, also referred to as Generation Z, expect sustainable products and that sustainability should be at the core of the business. The study also found that 75% of young danish people find the sustainable profile of a product or brand important, whereas 83% prioritise it (Mitchell, 2019). Moreover the study shows how pressure towards more sustainable production is evident and that consumers are ready, though the young people are not ready to pay more (Mitchell, 2019). Another article describes the problem consumers face, when navigating through sustainable initiatives taken by different brands. A danish organization, COZE AARHUS, has encountered the subject by creating a podcast named
‘Wear your values’ which invites sustainability experts to talk about sustainable fashion and consumption (Jensen, 2019). At the same time, Michael Maibom, the founder and creative director of Revolver, an international Fashion Trade Show in Copenhagen, has stated in february 2019, that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals have made it easier than ever for people, brands and the industry to implement sustainable actions (Maibom, 2019). The Scandinavian countries are even, in another article on Fashion Forum, considered role models when it comes to design and environmental sustainability (Aagaard-Strube, 2019), which may put further pressure on sustainable business practices.
Numbers show how the fashion industry has a large impact, when it comes to generating waste in different parts of the value chain. Still the most significant impact is at the design and development stage as well as at the end-of-use stage (Eder-Hansen et al., 2017), which is why this research will be focusing on closing the loop between end-of-use and design, and explore more sustainable possibilities from the designers’ point of view.
2.3 Textile waste management in Denmark
Though it seems easy for some people in the fashion industry to take sustainable actions, Denmark still seems to have a long way to go, when considering a missing system for disposal of textile waste and the missing knowledge of sustainable options. In 2018, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented a report on textile flows in Denmark and showed that 61.938 tons of garments were purchased by danish households in 2016, which is equivalent to 10,9 kg per person in one year (Watson, Trzepacz, Pedersen, 2018). At the same time, 7.600 tons of textiles, including home textiles, were exchanged between consumers themselves and 10.600 tons were distributed back to danish people through charity organisations. Further 21.800 tons of textile waste were exported for reuse or recycling in other countries. Still it was estimated that 40.000 tons of garments and home textiles in Denmark are disposed with remaining household waste and end up incinerated.
Only 36.000 tons were estimated to be collected separately and therefore accounted for less than half of the textile waste in Denmark, whereof only 320 tons is recycled in Denmark (Watson, Trzepacz, Pedersen, 2018). The bodies responsible for collecting textiles are primarily charity organisations and private operators, which accounted for 90% of the collection in 2016. Some municipality waste companies are trying to collect textiles at recycling centers, but these textiles has shown to be of much lesser quality than textiles being collected directly from households. Still, they can be used in recycling or reuse processes and depending on quality be exported to countries with relevant production options (Watson, Trzepacz, Pedersen, 2018).
If textiles are to be recycled or reused, they first of all need to be produced in a quality that allows it (DAKOFA, 2018). Another report by the EPA describe how different brands have taken a step towards sustainability through either recycled or reused materials, whereas others, like H&M, have made partnerships to collect textiles for recycling either for internal or external use (Watson, Kiørboe, Kjær, Lindblad, Dammand, Nielsen, 2014). They argue that, if sustainable considerations are made at the design phase of garments, the recycling industry have the knowledge to secure high quality recycling (Watson et al., 2014).
Therefore the report also suggests providing designers with more knowledge on the subject and existing barriers through workshops or partnerships with the recycle industry to secure a closed loop production. They further argue that it in time will pay off economically and in quality (Watson et al., 2014).
3. Methodology
This section will provide insights to methodology chosen to answer the research question of whether designers can contribute to environmental sustainability and what their constraints are. Firstly the chapter will elaborate on the scientific philosophy in terms of epistemology and ontology and how this affect the results. The chapter then explains the research design as an both explanatory and exploratory study and how a cross-sectional design is used, while also describing how this research deviates from a cross-sectional design. Data collection and empirical work is built on qualitative data as interviews are used to cover this research. Finally, reliability, replicability and external validity is considered.
3.1 Philosophy of science
3.1.1 Epistemology
In social studies, epistemological considerations are concerned with “what is (or should be) regarded as acceptable knowledge…” (Bryman, 2016: 24). For this research the
epistemological stand is primarily rooted in empirical realism, which means that through “the use of appropriate methods reality can be understood” Bryman, 2016: 25). As empirical realist, I see the theory as reality and what experts in the empirical data provide as true. As such I also assert that there is a coherence between what is true and what the research show to be real (Bryman, 2016). I also take a stand in the critical realism as it asserts that the social world can only be understood and changed if we “...identify the structures at work that generate those events...” (Bryman, 2016: 25). I therefore also recognize that the results are highly dependent on the chosen theories and interviewees and therefore the results might have looked different if other or more respondents and theories had been applied.
3.1.2 Ontology
The ontological consideration is rooted in: “whether social entities can and should be
considered objective entities that have a reality external to social actors, or whether they can and should be considered social constructions built up from the perception and actions of social actors” (Bryman, 2016: 28). I have chosen an objectivist stand with regards to ontology, which means that knowledge is objective. This means that I regard what is informed by interviewees and theory to be facts informed by them and to be beyond reach.
The data applied is therefore once again an objective reality that affect the results and which might have looked differently if other interviewees had been used.
3.2 Research design
The research design takes its stand in a cross-sectional design to associate results in the analysis and find a conclusion between cases and variables. The following part will further describe methodological decisions made throughout the study to provide a valid and possibly replicable conclusion among the field.
3.2.1 Research approach
This research has taken a deductive and iterative approach as it takes its point of departure in theory and seeks to uncover how (Bryman, 2016) designers can contribute to
environmental sustainability and what the constraints are. As this research evolved from environmental sustainability, further research has called for iterations to which theories specifically was needed to cover the research on sustainability, waste and design. The Sustainable Development Goal and specifically target 12.5, was the motivation for this research and were in connection with theory used to shape the empirical method of
collecting data - like deductive research does (Bryman, 2016). This study has provided the research with a conclusion and therefore also includes some degree of inductive approach, as it contributes to theory on the subject of sustainability in the work of designers in the Danish fashion industry.
By taking an explanatory approach to this research to the first part of the research, it was possible investigate the relationship between variables (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). This was necessary to explain the designers experiences of working with waste reduction, recycling, reusing and prevention. The second part of the research question focused on investigating the constraints of taking environmentally sustainable actions and is therefore exploratory (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). As my curiosity referred to the ways in which designers can make use of methods to increase sustainability, the
explanatory study could help clarify possible contributions suggested in the SDG, while the explanatory approach could provide insights to new information and the “precise nature of the problem” as described by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2016: 139). In both
explanatory and exploratory studies, interviews can be used to either explain reasons or to understand a problem (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). An important fact within the exploratory approach, is the researchers willingness to change direction if data shows new insights on the subject and more data shows relevant (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009).
A change of direction has also proven necessary while studying the literature for this research, as well as collecting the interview data. New information required a smaller
revision in chosen theory within the field, while new empirical data required revision in interview guides and what to focus on.
3.2.2 Cross-sectional study
The design for this research is within a cross-sectional design as it seeks to discover a sample of cases at a single point in time with quantifiable data in connection with variables (Bryman, 2016). Cases are in this research designer people from different organisations (Bryman, 2016) and because this research aim to discover how fashion designers can implement sustainable waste reduction methods to meet better, sustainable production and consumption patterns, qualitative data was necessary. Because qualitative data is “based on meanings expressed through words” (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009: 482) and not quantitative data, this research deviates from directly quantifiable data defined in cross- sectional studies. Still this method is used, because the cross-sectional design allows ways to compare results (Bryman, 2016), which is prioritised and considered important to make a conclusion based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews. The work of designers and how they can contribute to sustainability in the fashion industry are used to cover this research.
Because the cross-sectional study is fitting in more ways than comparing, the following section will provide arguments for using this design.
A reason for using more than one case or one person is that more designers can provide knowledge about their experiences of working with sustainability, how they are affected and finally how they can improve sustainability in their industry. This also helps get variation on the different variables applied (Bryman, 2016), which is the SDG target that require reduction of waste through prevention, reusing and recycling. By placing the data into a scheme with interviewees (cases) on one side and variables on the other (Bryman, 2016), the data was analysed, associated and compared to discover how designers can contribute to
environmental sustainability.
Despite quantifiable data collecting, cross-sectional studies are argued by Bryman (2016) to also be present and popular in qualitative studies when using semi-structured interviews. It is further argued that conversational interviews can be more ‘ecologically valid’ than formal data collection (Bryman, 2016: 56). By choosing the semi-structured interviews for designers and sustainability advocates, this approach may therefore prove more valid, because the interviewees were able to provide data through conversation with the interviewer.
3.3 Data collection
3.3.1 Empirical collection of data
The collection of empirical data is build on methodology literature by Brinkmann and Kvale (2014) as they go through the seven stages of interview investigations. These steps are used to secure a thorough collection of data through semi-structured interviews (Brinkmann
& Kvale, 2014), to provide an understanding towards working with environmental
sustainability in a world class polluting industry. The semi-structured interview means that I have sought to get an understanding of the designers’ knowledge and that an ordinary conversation would not suffice (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014). The seven stages involves thematizing, designing, interviewing, transcribing, analyzing, verifying and reporting (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014) of which the first three steps will be described in the following section, as to how they are used in this research.
Thematizing
The first step, thematizing, involves why this research has been carried out (the purpose), what it is about through pre-knowledge (the subject matter) and how it should be
investigated through various techniques of interviewing (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014). Because literature showed a large amount of research on the environmental impact in production of fashion and only little literature on the designers impact on the environment, this turned out to be an important gap in theory. The purpose therefore became ‘how designers can contribute to environmental sustainability’ and it is assumed that production is the result of decisions made by designers. The subject matter in this research is environmental
sustainability in the danish fashion industry and how reusing, recycling, reduction and prevention might help designers minimise waste. The assumption that reusing and recycling to reduce waste will help reduce environmental impact, stems from the Sustainable
Development Goal and is here studied in a danish context.
Interview Design
The design of the interview study entails one elite interview with a danish former politician involved in the Sustainable Development Goals, three designers from two different fashion brands, two creative directors and designers from two more brands and one local
sustainability manager from a global brand. The interviews were further conducted as conceptual and narrative interviews (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014) to capture the interviewees’
conceptions of sustainable actions while the narrative approach provided insights to the interviewees’ experiences in working with sustainability. Designing the interview study, some
criteria for generalization require considerations on representativeness and size. This study took into account how the interviewees could individually cover and represent other people in their field. Five of the people interviewed were in creative design positions and are considered the main subjects to direct information on how designers may contribute to sustainability, while the former politician and the sustainability manager could provide information on how to work with sustainability and what demands were required to meet sustainability needs. The following table shows an overview of the people interviewed in this research and how they contribute to knowledge:
Table 1
Date Type of source
Contact & brand Interviewform Reference
1/4-2019 Expert in Development Goals
Mogens Lykketoft, former chairman for UN General Assembly
Semi-structured
telephone interview Lykketoft, 2019
5/4-2019 Clothing brand Marie Christine Nielsen,
Designer, Won Hundred Semi-structured
personal interview Nielsen, 2019 8/4-2019 Clothing brand Anne Sofie Tobiasen,
founder and designer &
Trine Elmkvist, Designer, Serendipity Organics
Semi-structured personal group interview
Tobiasen, 2019 Elmkvist, 2019
11/4-2019 Clothing brand Silas Adler, Creative
director, Soulland Semi-structured
personal interview Adler, 2019 11/4-2019 Clothing brand Mette Fredin, Creative
director, Blanche Semi-structured
telephone interview Fredin, 2019 16/4-2019 Clothing brand Mia Møgelgaard,
Sustainability manager, H&M - DK
Semi-structured telephone interview
Møgelgaard, 2019
The different initiatives taken by the fashion brands provide a varied view of how to approach sustainability in a complex and impactful industry like the fashion industry. Brinkmann and Kvale (2014) argues that the amount of interviews needed is the amount necessary to cover, what the researcher needs to know. The seven people chosen in this research have different experiences working with sustainability as well as different years of experience working in their positions, which gives a varied view on the subject. Another consideration is the time available to transcribe and analyse, whereas too few interview samples will be hard to generalize from and too many will make it hard to do a thorough analysis (Brinkmann &
Kvale, 2014). Because this research is focusing mainly on the possibilities of prevention, reusing and recycling to reduce waste from a designers point of view, more interviews than needed would not have provided new knowledge, because the study profited more from less interviews to make time for analysis and well prepared interview guides.
Interviewees
The former chairman of the UN General Assembly and now expert on the sustainable development goal, Mogens Lykketoft, is chosen as an interviewee based on an event in March 2019, where he provided a talk on how to understand and contribute to sustainable development on an individual level. Lykketoft made it clear how every development goal were interconnected and how it was crucial to incorporate sustainable actions to save future generations and the environment. The interview is important for this research as it provides knowledge on the meaning of the goal on sustainable production and consumption and insights to who is responsible for its implementation.
To secure more insights on sustainable management within a fashion company, Mia
Møgelgaard, the Danish sustainability manager of H&M was interviewed. She was contacted after a talk on fast fashion at Copenhagen Business School in March 2019 and her years of experience within a global brand were used to obtain knowledge on how H&M secures a sustainable agenda. Furthermore, to obtain information to what extent their designers are affected and can affect these sustainable decisions made in other departments of the company. Because she is managing only the Danish sustainability department in a Swedish company, insights on the Danish stores and consumers were possible, whereas her contact with designers were minimal.
The designers and creative directors were chosen partly on their sustainable actions visible on websites and articles by fashion sites describing their actions towards sustainability. One designer, Marie Christine Nielsen, is chosen partly on knowledge obtained about recycling actions at the company, Won Hundred (Won Hundred, n.d.). The interview were made possible through an already existing personal friendship and the interview is affected by this through thorough descriptions and trust, but also in shared language between interviewer and interviewee. Personal relation and common understanding of language were
underestimated in the second interview with the designers in Serendipity Organics, where we had no previous personal relations, and some questions and answers needed more explanation to secure common understanding. The founder, Anne Sofie Tobiasen, and designer, Trine Elmkvist, however are interviewed due to their knowledge and experiences with organic and natural clothes in Serendipity Organics. The Soulland creative director and designer, Silas Adler, were chosen due to the recent sustainable actions mentioned on a popular fashion news webpage, Fashion Forum. The company has existed for years, but recently started pursuing sustainable strategies and products, which makes it relevant for this research. Mette Fredin from the fashion company, Blanche, were suggested by Marie
Christine Nielsen due to the knowledge of the brand working with sustainable denim since the foundation of the company in 2017.
Each designer is considered important, because they provide insights on working with sustainability whether it is with organic and natural fibres (Serendipity Organics), with
certifications and recycling (Won Hundred), with sustainable improvements in an established company (Soulland) or with longevity, clean fabrics and starting a company with sustainable guidelines (Blanche). Further, as described previously, Mia Møgelgaard provides knowledge on implementing sustainability at different stages in the value chain of a global company like H&M.
Interviewing
To be able to structure and analyse the results collected from interviews, interview guides were made for each individual interview. As three interviews were conducted by telephone and three in person, they all included a description of the purpose of the study at the beginning and had the same overall structure, except for Mogens Lykketoft. The interview guides were not structured according to the research question as proposed by Brinkmann and Kvale (2014). This approach allowed for more variations within the topics, and allowed different results with respect to different backgrounds. The topics were as follows: 1.
clarifying question on subject, 2. about the industry, 3. knowledge on reusing, 4. knowledge on recycling, 5. end-of-life opinions, 6. sum-up. Each topic had specific questions based on already gathered information on the individual brand or type of source. The Danish politician were not assumed to have knowledge on the fashion industry specifically, but rather how Danish companies would be affected by sustainable initiatives. The interview guide also differs from the rest in topics, because the main objective from this interview was to get a greater insight into the development goals and how to understand their existence.
Because all interviews were semi-structured, the interview guides were only used as guides to secure all topics were touched upon (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014). That way, the subject were able to tell whatever he or she found relevant and provided different viewpoints and narratives from experiences. To make the interviewees comfortable they were able
beforehand to choose how they wished to be interviewed, because the possibility of physical presence would be constraining and limit willingness to participate. Telephone call and physical presence were suggested. When first contacting the interviewees, they received a description of the topics to be addressed in the interview and got a review at the beginning of the actual interview. Follow-up questions and probing question were necessary to secure a shared understanding of the meaning.
When conducting the group interview, domination of one participant and the relation between founder and designer were considered (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009).
Since there were only two interviewees, it had no larger effect on the overall interview structure, but discussions and support from each interviewee may have helped probing answers. As such, agreement or disagreement to certain matters may have occurred, which would not if each participant had been interviewed alone. The group interview also help get access to more interviewees, due to the risk that Serendipity Organics only had time for one interview with one person.
Some issues regarding the quality of interviews were taken into consideration when
interviewing each person, as suggested by Brinkmann and Kvale (2014). One were whether subjectiveness had any effect to the final result, because biased interviews should be acknowledged to become valid (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014). Further reliability can be questioned in terms of how leading the questions were formed, but can also help test the interviewee as to whether suggestive questions are powerful enough to probe specific answers (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2014). Though probing and leading questions were
performed, every answer often included a well formulated explanation to either agreeing or not.
3.3.2 Secondary data
Secondary data is used to provide knowledge on the subject and partially help answer the research question through literature and methodological texts (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). For this research qualitative secondary data is used in the background section as well as in the methodology and literature review. The background section specifically provides secondary data in the form of multi-sourced industry statistics and reports (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009) and peer-reviewed academic articles on the contemporary environmental issues within the fashion industry and waste management in Denmark. This was relevant to understand the context of the problem and give a review of already studied subjects. Secondary data further includes written material from company websites (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009) from the interviewees’ organisations. The secondary data chosen for the literature review is primarily academic articles sourced from either the Copenhagen Business School internet library, Libsearch, or from courses taken at the business school. One book is further used to provide knowledge on cultural industries of which the fashion industry is considered a part of. The methodology section uses secondary data from books on social research, interviews and methods for business students (Bryman, 2016; Brinkmann and Kvale, 2014; Saunders et al., 2009).
Articles were found using the following search words (in various combinations) on Libsearch:
Environmental sustainability, design, fashion, textile and apparel, textile industry, fashion industry, garment, sustainable management, sustainable development goal, SDG, sustainability, reuse and recycle, waste management. Many different issues within each search word were reviewed and gave knowledge about an industry with endless
sustainability issues. However, the specific research problem were not found present in previous research, and a synthesized coherence were made drawing connections between investigations not typically connected to cover the underdeveloped research topic (Sandberg and Alvesson, 2011) in the literature review. Finally, the secondary data in the literature review is used to compare the empirical data to find how designers can contribute to environmental sustainability.
3.3.3 Analysis of data
The interviews conducted in this research are all transcribed to be able to make a coding scheme for later comparisons of experiences and attitudes toward sustainable contributions in accordance with the cross-sectional design. Because every interview were audio-recorded either at personal or telephone semi-structured interviews, non-verbal expressions are not included in the transcription. To some extent a removal of words being repeated to formulate the sentence was necessary to understand the sentence in written language (Brinkmann &
Kvale, 2014).
3.3.3.1 Coding and analysis
The coding process is chosen on the grounds provided by Brinkmann and Kvale (2014) arguing that it helps the researcher become acquainted with large data sets and breaking the process into manageable steps. The process is further based on methodology by Miles, Huberman and Sandaña (2014) and their definition of coding transcripted words of data.
Codes are made to provide symbolic meaning to collected data and often consist of bigger grouped transcripted text pieces (Miles, Huberman and Sandaña, 2014). The collected data were therefore firstly transcribed to be able to divide and code text pieces. Then provisional coding (Miles et al., 2014) method were used to divide the transtrips into already assigned topics based on the prepared explanatory research. A revision was necessary, since all relevant data did not fit into the first assorted topics. The topics were divided into the following codes: design barriers, production, going sustainable, experience with
sustainability, prevention, recycling, reuse and end-of-use. The codes were recognised separately in each transcript after which eight new schemes were made to associate the
codes within each topic. The codes are further used to associate, compare and analyze the data in the analysis.
3.4 Reliability, replicability and validity
Reliability means whether the result of a study is repeatable (Bryman, 2016). In this research the respondents were found to provide a lot of the same understandings to the subject, and will due to a realist view be seen as knowledge obtained. However, as this is an industry in constant change and technological change, the same results may not be obtained in later research or with other respondents with a different capacity. The results may therefore not be consistent though it is considered consistent now.
Replicability decides whether a study will show the same results in studies replicating the original research (Bryman, 2016). Replicability concerning results may be possible for this research because the results is considered real obtained knowledge. However, the limited number of interviewees and combination of respondents from four smaller Danish
companies already working with sustainability and the sustainability manager from a global company might be hard to replicate. Because the investigation is within the cultural
industries, and fashion companies work with symbolic value, interviewees may understand their obtained knowledge differently.
External validity decides if the results of a study is possible to generalize in other contexts (Bryman, 2016). The generalizability will likely not be possible in other contexts, as this research focuses on a small segment of designers in Denmark. Since the study takes a cross-sectional approach and is focused on Danish designers and sustainability experts at one single point in time, the results may not be the same for designers in other countries.
Still, because I take a realist stand and believe the knowledge is fact, the results on designers contribution and constraints towards environmental sustainability is considered generalizable and true for designers in a Danish context.
4. Literature review
This chapter will give a literature review on relevant theories applied for this study. Firstly a broad view on sustainable development and environmental sustainability is reviewed after which sustainability in the fashion industry more specifically is described. The issues of waste and design is reviewed in coherence as this investigation seeks to uncover how these affect each other in the fashion industry. Finally, this study focus more specifically on
recycling and reuse and will be described separately. The review provides an overview of the literature within the field chosen for this research, but does also show the specific problem to be addressed in the following analysis, which is the possibilities and constraints within reuse and recycling in the fashion industry.
4.1 Sustainable development
Much literature on environmental sustainability is based on the sustainability definition provided by the World Commission on Environment and Development of Sustainable Development from 1987: “development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brodish, Nixon and Cirka, 2011: 356). The definition focus not only on needs and development for the present world we live in, but also future generations and their surroundings (Brodish, Nixon and Cirka, 2011). The definition includes environmental, social and economic concerns and can be referred to as the triple bottom line of which business practice should be managed and thereby secure sustainable development (Caniato, Caridi, Crippa, Moretto, 2012). The social aspect requires everyone to be treated fairly; the economic aspect includes enough
production of resources to sustain a reasonable standard of living; while finally the society protect environmental resources (Caniato et al., 2012: 660).
In an article from 2018, the sustainable development goal aiming at ensuring sustainable consumption and production was reviewed in terms of clear guidance and how to
accomplish the separate targets. The target 12.5 comprises the reduction of environmental impact by reducing waste through improvement of efficiency and through prevention, reuse and recycling. This target is by Bengtsson, Alfredsson, Cohen, Lorek and Schroeder (2018) criticised for not demanding any changes in structure of systems or the volume of
consumption. Further, it is criticised for not using measures beyond the amount of recycled waste, which is the least environmental friendly approach, because it shows weak
commitment to a possible wider systemic change (Bengtsson et al, 2018). To avoid
hazardous chemicals and only use circular material flow, will according to Bengtsson et al.
(2018) require changes in product design, business models and much stricter regulations on use of chemicals. This argument may raise concerns related to the SDG for economic growth, as this can be conflicting with the aim to reduce waste (Bengtsson et al., 2018). Both prevention, recycling and reuse are identified as ways to reduce waste generation.
Literature also states how consumers have little awareness of the environmental impact of clothing and that personal and economic factors play a bigger role. It was concluded that increased information on the subject, could make the respondents consider changing their behaviour (Goworek, 2011). According to another article, it has not been measured how anti- consumption will affect companies, but as García-de-Frutos, Ortega-Egea, Martínez-del-Río (2018) assume, a large number of consumers rejecting a brand or product will have a negative effect on the overall perception on an organization. However, Connell and Kozar (2012) are describing the possibilities of recycling after end-of-use, which also points to the fact, that a change in the ways people consume is needed in order to stop the rise in fibre produced and the decrease in garment lifespan (Connell and Kozar, 2012).
Advocating for more sustainable management theory, Starik and Kanashiro (2013) argue that more theory on sustainability would promote more innovation, decisions and actions, when individuals, organisations and society realise biophysical benefits (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013).
4.1.1 Environmental sustainability
Specifically the effects of the textile industry have showed a tremendous impact on the environment and biodiversity (Hasanuzzaman and Bhar, 2017) and is of concern by several researchers. Environmental sustainability is according to Starik and Kanashiro (2013) the most urgent problem to address, since all quality of life is dependent on it. Long-term
solutions are needed to avoid semi-optimal decisions, because human pollution has already endangered two thirds of the ecosystem worldwide several years ago (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013).
As with the definition of sustainability given earlier, Starik and Kanashiro (2013) define it as a healthy, long-term future for human generations that includes environmental and social needs, but does also include other species. Focusing only on the environmental
sustainability, Hasanuzzaman and Bhar (2017) define it as “...the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment” (Hasanuzzaman and Bhar 2017: 50).
The reasons for concern and attention to this matter are issues like climate change, resource
exploitation and waste management, which put a pressure on all industries (Hasanuzzaman and Bhar, 2017). The long-term horizon should imply that economic growth will help the social and environmental progress and can be established in long-term buyer-supplier relationship (Caniato et al, 2012). The connection between nature and humans seems so obvious, that Starik and Kanashiro (2013) fear it is forgotten when applying effective sustainability on individual, organisational or societal scales. A sustainable world would include enough resources for people as well as other species to meet environmental and social needs (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013). They further argue that there is an interest and the capacity to become more sustainable and that more people seek knowledge on reducing energy, improving water quality, and reusing and recycling of waste (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013). Prevention and recovery of damaged environment are possible with values like innovation, learning, durability, adaptability and responsibility. The importance of
sustainability management therefore is the recognition and adaptation to the natural milieu and should include theory on common subjects like, waste reduction and reuse and recycling (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013).
Furthermore, environmental sustainability is considered a key managerial issue. The problem of balancing sustainability and business has according to Caniato, Caridi, Crippa and Moretto (2012) drawn the attention of researchers, as consumers have become more aware of sustainability issues in recent years. The chemicals and natural resources used in production processes in the fashion industry have a massive effect on the environmental (Caniato, Caridi, Crippa, Moretto, 2012). Literature further describe how fashion
organisations are held responsible for the environmental issues related to production despite having external production partners or suppliers executing it in low-labour-cost countries (Caniato et al, 2012). Ethical issues in the industry include the volume of consumption and disposal of used garments (Goworek, 2011).
4.2 Sustainability in the fashion industry
As sustainability has already been researched in other industries, the specific issues, drivers and barriers should also be studied in the context of textiles from a managerial point of view (Desore and Narula, 2018). Further it is argued that management positions have the
opportunity and responsibility to challenge environmental issues and put them at the front, while business scholars should provide knowledge on how to solve them (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013). Some international brands, already established on the market, have implemented green practices and literature suggests that environmental sustainability can provide new business possibilities (Caniato et al, 2012).
Following a theory by Lampel, Lant and Shamsie (2000) the fashion industry can be placed within the cultural industries, because it exceeded the utilitarian factor of buying clothes for mere practical reasons and survival. Fashion products project a symbolic value and can due to originality rarely be valued on utilitarian qualities only (Hesmondhalgh, 2013). Sustainable textiles are defined by Kahn and Islam (2015) in line with sustainability to be produced on renewable resources of materials, energy and further ingredients that do not affect future generations. It should further minimize waste while properly exploiting materials. Creativity and the cultural industries can be argued to be in tension with environmental sustainability and one is often prioritised over the other, but the implementation of both as a ‘green’
agenda is recognised as giving economic advantage (Stables, 2009).
Much research has been done concerning water, waste and energy management in the textile industry, but little has been made on how to implement it. Often only as part of other research subjects like motivations for adopting sustainability, strategic response and barriers (Desore and Narula, 2018). Desore and Narula (2018) argue that the implementation level is crucial to examine to ensure sustainable production and consumption in the industry.
Caniato, Caridi, Crippa, Moretto (2012) also advocate for more research on drivers to adopt green practice and research on practices to improve environmental sustainability.
While it is subjective emotion that determines whether a product is valued and possibly purchased, producers of cultural goods must rely on interpretation of consumer choices too (Lampel, Lant and Shamsie, 2000). As such García-de-Frutos, Ortega-Egea and Martinez- del-Rio (2018) argue that environmental oriented anti-consumption (EOA) can become a consequence of broadened societal information on sustainability and culture. Anti-
consumption is defined as when consumers voluntarily choose not to buy goods because of how it affects the environment (García-de-Frutos, et al, 2018).
A demand for lower production costs has resulted in relocation of production and has caused more transportation and related pollution (Caniato et al, 2012). Furthermore the growth in demand for fast fashion has increased and gives opportunities for the industry, but can also be affected by a growth in slow fashion that goes directly against unsustainable fashion practice (Brodish, Nixon and Cirka, 2011). Keeping a balance between conflicting demands allow for sustainability through creativity, learning, flexibility and human potential (Starik and Kanashiro, 2013). This theory is supported by Desore and Narula (2018), who argue that human and financial resources are primary drivers for sustainable implementation. This includes the managers’ ethical commitment and sustainability values and the drive for a
better position in the market and the associated reputation. Still, values and ethical commitment does not change the barriers, which are lack of financial resources and the missing legislation and governmental involvement (Desore and Narula, 2018). Caniato et al.
(2012) found that small companies have the ability to change entire supply chains and that large established companies can only change one part of the supply chain due to scale.
From an organisational point of view, Desore and Narula (2018) describe how both process- driven and market-driven sustainability strategies in the textile industry can help implement sustainability into organisations while also improve financial outcome (Desore and Narula, 2018). While the process-driven approach focus on how to reduce environmental issues and secure cost-savings, the market-driven approach focus on differentiating products to get a competitive advantage through environmentally friendly products and packaging. In the literature, the process-driven approach were found most popular and include redesigning of production through; redesigning of pollution and waste control systems, redesign of
production process to be environmentally sensitive and using recycled materials from production and recycled energy sources (Desore and Narula, 2018). The fact that products and disposal in literature is suggested to be categorized according to level of environmental impact is by Desore and Narula (2018) argued to be a sign that the entire supply chain needs to be more sustainable and should be achieved with the involvement of suppliers and environmentalists. The market-driven strategy includes advertising and labeling of
environmental-friendly products (Desore and Narula, 2018).
Too little attention is paid to sustainability and has caused environmental issues like climate disruption, overconsumption, toxic pollution and biodiversity loss. Starik and Kanashiro (2013) argue that it is critically important to reduce overconsumption. As for the
environmental impact and pollution, Desore and Narula (2018) argue that every step of producing textiles into garments causes environmental impact, from fertilizers in cotton production to finishing chemicals and solid waste. In between comes the dyeing, energy for plants and transportation and also pollution of air and water affected in the whole process.
Despite a 50% decrease in water and energy use for cotton production and a global
reduction of 40% in chemicals over the years between 1990 and 2009, environmental issues still increase (Desore and Narula, 2018). Some suggested ways provided in green supply chain management are the reduction of waste and packaging, supplier selection,
development of eco-friendly products and training of suppliers (Caniato et al, 2012). The literature on environmental anti-consumption show that many small steps can make a difference for the environmental impact (García-de-Frutos, Ortega-Egea and Martinez-del- Rio, 2018).
