Exploring Circular Economy principles in the clothing manufacturing industry driven by fast fashion: Stakeholder Perspectives and Policy Implications in Cape Town, South Africa

This research explores Circular Economy (CE) principles in the clothing manufacturing industry. The clothing manufacturing industry currently faces interconnected issues that affect the three pillars of sustainability – Environmental, Economic and Social aspects. This is because this industry operates on a Linear model that prioritises the concept of make, use and discard. This is exacerbated by the concept of fast fashion, which prioritises trendy clothing that is worn for a short period of time (Boström & Michelet, 2016:368). There is a call for transitioning into a sustainable way of manufacturing clothes through the concept of CE, which promotes a regenerative system (Boström & Michelet, 2016:368). CE principles are being adopted across the world to help mitigate the detrimental effects of the clothing industry. However, the CE principles are currently presented from a European perspective that fails to address the unique challenges faced by developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan regions such as South Africa (de Aguiar Hugo et al., 2021:1). Because of this, developing countries struggle to incorporate CE in their policies. This study aims to address these challenges by exploring CE principles and how they can be localised to address the unique issues that Cape Town’s clothing manufacturing sector faces as a result of the introduction of fast fashion. This study has four objectives, being: to critically review the existing literature on circular economy principles and their application in the clothing manufacturing industry; to assess how the global CE framework and principles can be localised and implemented in Cape Town’s clothing manufacturing industry; to assess the potential benefits and challenges of adopting circular economy principles in Cape Town’s clothing manufacturing industry; and, lastly, to explore and document the perceptions of selected Cape Town’s clothing manufacturing industry stakeholders towards circular economy principles and sustainable practices. To address the objectives of the study, a mixed-research design comprising qualitative and quantitative research was employed (Schoonenboom, 2023:2). It further incorporated various data collection methods to ensure a comprehensive exploration of the research objectives. Therefore, a comprehensive literature review, semi-structured interviews, surveys and secondary data were utilised (Schoonenboom, 2023:2). The data analysis employed two forms of analysis: thematic analysis and content analysis to identify the significant themes. ATLAS.ti software was utilised to analyse the data by importing Microsoft Teams audio recordings of the interviews. REDCap was utilised to conduct the surveys and secure the data (Cheong et al., 2023:9). The findings of the study indicate that developed countries are at the forefront of implementing CE principles, whereas African regions, such as Cape Town, apply CE principles on a smaller scale. This is largely due to challenges including limited stakeholder involvement and collaboration, financial constraints, inadequate infrastructure, low levels of awareness, and the failure to localise international polices to suit local contexts. There is a need to transition to a sustainable pathway that prioritises the three pillars of sustainability and alignment with the SDGs. The incorporation of CE principles plays a significant role in this transition. However, there is a lack of awareness around this concept, which calls for a need to raise awareness amongst various stakeholders. Although these principles are currently implemented in Cape Town’s clothing industry, more effort has to be exerted for this realisation.

Grantor dc:publisher

Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Mukansi, Delian

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Williams, Samantha

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136132

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136132