Sufficiency-related Strategies and Activities of Small Finnish Clothing Companies

Abstract

AbstractThe current textile industry is characterised by unsustainable business models. There is a need to transform the industry towards sufficiency – that is a textile industry where consumption is decreased to a level that is adequate and within planetary boundaries. Through a literature review and interviews with small Finnish textile companies, our research synthesizes previous research and provides new information about business practices that companies can employ to advance sufficiency as part of their everyday business. We found that companies have various activities that can enable, promote or inspire decreased consumption and sufficiency. Activities relate to six categories: (1) valuing quality over quantity, (2) enabling multiple product lives, (3) provision of support services, (4) encouraging and enabling doing-it-yourself, (5) ethics-motivated communication and interaction and (6) embracing locality. The activities connected to each strategy are manifold and context specific including, for example, permanent collections, not having discounts, repair service, quality and curated second-hand products and interaction with users during the use phase. It is important to note, however, that the studied sufficiency strategies come with rebound risks and companies should identify the best activities that fit their context and measure their impact. Changing the paradigm from fast fashion to sufficiency will not be an easy task and will require efforts from consumer citizens, decision makers and companies alike.