The circular economy fashion communication canvas

Current design thinking focuses on incremental improvements to a linear system in which products are designed, produced and eventually disposed of. This continued consumption has resulted in over 1 million tonnes of discarded clothing and textiles entering into landfill each year in the UK alone. The effect of this high volume of waste is not only the loss of embodied energy and value, as re-useable items are disposed of, but continued environmental degradation through greenhouse gas emissions, toxic pollution and rapidly declining landfill space. As much as 70% of textile waste in the UK is sent to landfill or incineration from municipal waste collections. Whilst consumers are increasingly aware of the consequences of continued consumption, there is limited understanding of how to act more responsibly. Online sources of communication mean that although more information is available than ever before, confusion over terminology and the authenticity of messages can lead to in-action on the part of all stakeholders. In order to investigate these problems key points at each stage in the fashion and textiles cycle were analysed using an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach combining case studies, semi-structured interviews and a consumer survey. Brands and designers working to create change by offering more conscientious product choices are struggling to connect with mainstream fashion consumers, hindered by a lack of industry acceptance and media coverage. Barriers to scaling up circular economy fashion strategies include a lack of market knowledge relating to consumers and the most effective promotional and retail strategies. These findings present significant evidence to guide the development of an effective fashion communication strategy for a circular economy. Academic implications of the research include the identification of additional insights needed to establish more effective methods to communicate the economic, social and environmental benefits of textile reuse, recycling and upcycling to consumers and the fashion industry, leading to further research and contributions to knowledge. Practical implications include key contributions to the development of an operational framework to integrate circular economy fashion strategies into mainstream production and retailing. Originality lies in determining the existing practices already employed in this sector of the fashion industry and examining their effectiveness against the mainstream, in order to more effectively communicate to the benefits of sustainable, circular consumption in an industry which has so far thrived on linear consumption, novelty and obsolescence. In this way, marketing strategies can be developed for circular economy fashion which emphasise longevity, product lifetime optimisation, new forms of consumption and user experiences in a circular economy. The circular economy communication canvas serves a purpose to facilitate positive decision making for all stakeholders.