Walking the circular talk: Analyzing the soft and hard aspects of circular economy implementation of ten business cases within the textile and apparel value chain

Companies in the textile and apparel value chain (TAVC) have been increasingly implementing Circular Economy (CE) practices to accomplish sustainable development. However, CE implementation focuses on the techno-environmental dimension, commonly associated with the “hard side” of businesses. Conversely, the social dimension, referred to as the “soft side” of business (e.g., workers impacts and corporate culture) has received less attention, even though the notion of a just CE transition is considered critical for the sector. There is a lack of empirical knowledge about how businesses in the TAVC simultaneously manage soft and hard aspects of Circularity and what kind of socio-environmental impact they generate. This lack of comprehensive systemic vision creates blind spots, generating unintentional tradeoffs between social and environmental objectives. Using a mixed method approach that borrows insights from Organizational Management and Systems thinking, this research analyzed both soft and hard aspects of ten circular business cases from three countries. The analysis resulted in a systemic socio-environmental baseline showcasing good practices that could be optimized in terms of material flows, critical social hotspots (e.g., earnings, workers well-being and collective bargain) and system-change conditions for both soft and hard aspects of CE implementation. This research demonstrates that soft and hard aspects of CE are integral components of a comprehensive transformative CE transition framework that facilitates the adoption of more inclusive-circular practices while improving sustainability performance. [Display omitted] •An assessment framework considering both hard and soft aspects of CE was developed which use help reduce trade-offs.•Current CE implementation lacks embeddedness with the circular hierarchy.•Critical CS waste-generation hotspots include pre-sorting and preparing for reuse.•Critical CS social hotspots are earning, voice & collective bargaining and workers' well-being.•Aligning corporate culture with inclusive circular skills and capabilities is essential for enhancing CE uptake.