Finnish textile ecosystem - circular economy drivers and barriers

The study explores circular economy of textiles from an ecosystem point of view, focusing on the development of the Finnish ecosystem of textile circulation. The ecosystem mapping covered aspects such as different actor types within the ecosystem, textile and fibre circulation enabling technologies and business, organizational, regulatory, linguistic, visual and psychological drivers and barriers that affect the development of the ecosystem.

The ecosystem mapping was executed by interviewing different actors within the field of Finnish textile circulation. The study was conducted as a Master’s thesis study.

The results support the need for a systemic change of both textile production and consumption and highlight the importance of for example co-operation, transparency and inclusive communication and the different actors’ roles in the formation of a circular economy ecosystem. The results elucidate the wide spectrum of affecting drivers and actor types that are needed for a traditional field of industry to successfully implement circularity into its operations. Even though a certain driver can be a strong accelerating force as itself, a boost from other driver types is often needed to create a strong enough momentum for change.

Textile ecosystem is one of the ecosystems that is being studied in CICAT2025 project. The study sheds light on textile industry’s ongoing journey towards circularity in accordance with the project’s multi-disciplinary approach.

Author: Eeva Pohls, University of Tampere