Governing the Transition to Circularity of Textiles – Finnish Companies’ Expectations of Interventions for Change

Abstract

The governance of the transition to a circular economy (CE) within the textile industry is a topical, complex, and political issue that is inadequately understood. This empirical paper provides insights into companies’ expectations of governance in terms of the circularity of textiles. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on transition governance by viewing the shift toward a circular economy through the multilevel perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions. The focus is on companies’ expectations of governance and how these differ between niche- and regime-level companies. The study was conducted by interviewing 27 companies in Finland, a country that aspires to be a forerunner in the CE. The results show that textile companies differ in their expectations depending on the activities related to circularity and modes of governance. Companies operating at the niche level call for either strict regulations or self-governing methods to create a more supportive operating environment, while companies at the regime level perceive the opportunities of collaborative governance. The lack of shared expectations of governance can destabilize the regime practices, which can further act as a lock-in and prevent a transition to the circularity of textiles. Accelerating the transition toward circularity requires new ways of collaboration between companies and the government but also between companies. The results of this study increase the understanding of companies’ preparedness to accept governance processes and new policy tools for CE.