The study titled ‘The Emperor’s old clothes: a critical review of circular fashion in gray literature,’ which was published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainability, argues new proposals for sustainable fashion are needed to overcome circular fashion’s flaws.
The study evaluated 20 key reports from non-academic industry publications such as non-profit Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy (2017).
It suggests circular fashion concepts are poorly defined, disconnected from academic economic theory, and serve the interests of major fashion brands as opposed to consumers and garment workers.
It adds that there is a $460bn miscalculation on how much circular fashion can recover in lost value annually through resale, rental, and recycling.
The research warns that in its current form, circular fashion is built on unrealistic projections and industry rhetoric rather than substantive economic and environmental solutions.
Plus, it notes circular fashion risks creating new problems instead of solving existing ones as it prioritises corporate interests and maintaining the status quo.
The study’s authors urge academics, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to critically reassess circular fashion narratives and explore alternatives that prioritise systemic change over profitability.
The study adds future sustainability efforts must be grounded in robust empirical research rather than unexamined advocacy.
Circular fashion study’s key findings
- Flawed economic assumptions: Circular business models (CBMs) such as resale and rental generate lower profit margins than new product sales. If CBMs successfully reduce new production, fashion revenues will shrink, contradicting circular fashion’s economic promises. If they merely supplement new production, environmental benefits will be negligible
- Overproduction ignored: Circular fashio literature focuses on consumer behaviour but overlooks the fashion industry’s routine disposal of unsold stock. This omission weakens circular fashion’s ability to address the root causes of waste
- Misguided policy recommendations: Reports rely on business jargon and inconsistent definitions of ‘value chain,’ leading to superficial policy prescriptions that fail to address systemic issues
- Labour concerns overlooked: The shift to lower-margin circular models is unlikely to improve wages or working conditions for garment workers. Instead, it may lead to even more precarious employment in secondhand clothing sorting and recycling
- Industry-controlled sustainability discourse: Consulting firms like McKinsey & Co and global leadership organisations shape circular fashion policy without rigorous scrutiny, reinforcing the power of dominant fashion brands while side-lining alternative models such as degrowth and sufficiency.
The study’s lead author, Dr Talia Hussain from Loughborough University London explained: “The fashion industry faces many sustainability challenges which it is, unfortunately, not tackling successfully.
“At every stage and every scale, we observe problems. From water and land use, to chemicals, fossil fibres, labour abuse, overproduction and ultimately textile waste.
“We can see water overexploitation from space. Polyester microfibres pollute the deepest ocean water and our bodies too.
“Our paper shows that that the circular fashion solution, which has been embraced by governments and industry, does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny.
“The authors of a flagship circular fashion report have added $460bn dollars they should have subtracted.
“Overproduction, which anyone can see in the never-ending sales on the high street, is not addressed.”
She also pointed out circular fashion relies on the same ideals of image-oriented high-frequency consumption that create the problems being observed today.
She said: “Social media hashtags, as recommended in the EU’s sustainable textile strategy, cannot solve these problems.
“Unfortunately, circular fashion has absorbed the majority of policymaking attention and resources for research. After circular fashion fails, and it will, we will be left with a load of old problems and no new ideas. We need to invest in research, development and testing of new ideas now.”
In 2024 Ellen MacArthur Foundation published a report titled Pushing the boundaries of EPR policy for textiles (2024), which stated: “A comprehensive circular economy approach is the only solution that can match the scale of this global problem. In this system, businesses contribute to supporting infrastructure in proportion to what they place on the market.”
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