Smart Fashion Economy through a Data-Driven Circular Ecosystem: A Case Study

Abstract

While Circular Economy (CE) strategies have been discussed as solutions for negative environmental impacts, companies are facing various challenges in applying CE strategies and redefining their business models. Recent research articulates that to achieve the CE goals, businesses should collaborate with each other within an ecosystem in which values are equally captured among all the stakeholders by governing and managing data flows. In this ecosystem, all the actors and stakeholders can share data, information and solutions regarding to CE to help each other through the path and co-create CE values. Regardless of the transition towards CE, fashion and textile industry is still following the linear economy model (take, make, use, dispose), where only less than 1% of the recycled clothes get back to use cycle. For textile and fashion industry, data plays a key role in providing transparent flow of information on product’s lifecycle, from circular material resources and design all the way to the recycling and waste management. In this regard, a data-driven ecosystem in which various stakeholders can access the source of right data, can ensure the success of circularity of the entire supply chain. A data-driven strategy can help to engage and train all organizations to build a data-literacy ecosystem towards a common goal. The purpose of this paper is to identify the important role of a data-driven CE ecosystem in fashion industry within the case study of the circularity. ID® a solution developed by-circular fashion.