Abstract
This research explored whether, and to what extent, Circular Clothing Business Models (CCBMs) reduce the environmental impact of the clothing sector. It was designed to inform decision-making by businesses in the clothing sector and policymakers. The research was carried out by first developing a typology of circular business models, and then conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) that compared the environmental impacts of wardrobes acquired using various CCBMs to the environmental impact of a wardrobe acquired using conventional routes. To do this, data was gathered about how people acquire clothing, the use of CCBMs, and clothing in the wardrobe of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK). The CCBMs included in the LCA were online resale, commercial resale, charity resale, short-term rental and leasing.
The results show that the CCBMs compared in the LCA reduce global warming potential compared to conventional acquisition of clothing, by between 14 and 26%. Online resale shows the greatest improvement, and short-term rental the least, but varying some of the input parameters changed the results. This sensitivity analysis found the displacement of sales of new products had a more significant impact on the results than customer transport or take-up of CCBMs. The findings suggest that at scale, CCBMs have potential to reduce the environmental impacts of the clothing sector in the UK, by replacing sale of new products. Uptake is stronger for some CCBMs, especially resale models, but consumers’ interest appears to be developing more slowly in the UK than elsewhere. This leaves open a question about how to drive industry action to provide for reuse, and whether policy intervention is required.