Restitiching the Common Thread : The Potential of Closed Loop Recycling in the Textile and Clothing Industry for Regional and Entrepreneurial Resilience in Northern Portugal
Abstract: This master’s thesis explores how stakeholders in the textile and clothing industry (TCI) perceive the potential of closed loop recycling (CLR), a circular economy (CE) strategy, for entrepreneurial and regional resilience in Northern Portugal. Since textile and clothing production globally contributes significantly to breaching the planetary boundaries and increases social inequalities, a transition towards sustainable business practices is needed. Simultaneously, the depletion of natural resources intensifies the TCI's vulnerability. Hence, an industrial transition to increasing resilience and sustainability is necessary to cope with challenges of the 21st century. To gain an understanding of how stakeholders perceive the potential of CLR a theoretical framework is developed. It is then used to analyse stakeholder as well as cognitive maps, which are graphical representations of an actor's view on the system of textile and clothing production based on circularity. These are merged into a stakeholder map giving a holistic overview of the effects CLR has on the relationships among stakeholders in Northern Portugal's TCI. The thesis shows that stakeholders in the TCI perceive CLR to positively influence entrepreneurial as well as regional resilience in Northern Portugal as it increases cooperation, reduces dependencies on virgin materials and suppliers, as well as facilitates innovation.
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