Supply chain collaboration for circular economy: a case study in the textile industry

In recent years the circular economy (CE) has received increasing attention worldwide because of the increasing emphasis on transparency of the supply of resources and efficiency in their use, fundamental points for the prosperity of economies and businesses. CE is considered a solution to reconcile objectives linked to economic growth and environmental sustainability, objectives that at first sight seem to be in conflict. As the topic of CE is still unexplored, therefore there is room to conduct case study research. In this paper we have chosen as unit of analysis the supply chain (SC), to gain an in-depth view of the circularity characterizing it and because the configuration of the SC plays an important role to pursue a CE strategy. We decided to find a case of interest in the textile sector, due to its great potential as regards to the CE, and conduct interviews at multiple levels of its SC. The aim is to demonstrate that a collaborative SC management has a major role to play in the transition towards a CE as it is difficult for a single company to achieve benefits in terms of CE and it is necessary the commitment of all the different players involved in the product life cycle.