Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2025

Abstract

Textile waste has become one of the most visible consequences of the fashion industry’s linear production and consumption model, where materials are rapidly extracted, transformed, consumed, and discarded. This paper critically examines how sustainable fashion can move beyond isolated recycling efforts toward a more integrated circular economy framework. Rather than treating textile waste as only an end-of-life problem, the study analyzes it as a systems issue shaped by overproduction, weak product design, limited recovery infrastructure, fragmented regulation, and consumer habits that normalize short garment lifespans. The paper argues that closing the loop on textile waste requires coordinated interventions across policy, technology, and behavior. Policy tools such as Extended Producer Responsibility, landfill restrictions, eco-design standards, and transparency requirements can shift accountability from consumers and municipalities to producers. Emerging solutions, including chemical recycling, digital product passports, and AI-assisted sorting, offer promising pathways but remain constrained by cost, scale, and material complexity. Equally important, consumer-facing strategies such as repair, resale, rental, take-back programs, and reduced consumption must be embedded into accessible and socially acceptable practices. Thus, circularity in fashion depends less on a single innovation and more on the alignment of governance, industrial redesign, market incentives, and cultural change. The paper concludes that a sustainable textile future requires transforming fashion from a disposable commodity system into a regenerative model that preserves material value, reduces environmental burden, and promotes shared responsibility across the entire supply chain.

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