Abstract

Over the last few decades, the fashion industry has evolved from providing well-conceived haute couture collections to the production of trendy, mass-produced, low-priced apparel, with reduced lead times. This consumption of ‘throwaway fashion’, at an alarming rate, has yielded extensive environmental and social detriments, thereby warranting industry reform and accountability. Driven by the tenets of sustainable development, brands within the fashion industry have since advanced to incorporate values that balance profits, people, and planet. As the circular economy gains traction, globally, to tackle sustainability challenges across industries, this research conducts a case study to explore the implementation of circularity strategies within the sustainable fashion industry in Montreal. Guided by Québec Circulaire’s Circular Economy Framework, practices employed by 90 sustainable apparel brands in Montreal, are identified and analysed to ascertain alignment with different circularity orientations and strategies. We found that a large number of sustainable brands in Montreal adopt practices that orient towards rethinking the extraction and use of virgin resources rather than optimising the use of extracted resources. They do so by employing a mix of strategies including eco-design, responsible procurement and consumption, and operations improvement. Further in-depth interviews conducted with 12 brands also revealed contextual factors that influence the transition of the industry to a CE model, including local culture and community, industrial and supply chain network, access to raw materials and skilled workforce, support from the government, and the cost of living in Montreal.