A call for a fashion pact: challenges and opportunities for circular economy in the brazilian fashion industry

The fashion industry comprises processes from manufacturing to retailing of a variety of products, such as clothes, shoes, and accessories. This global enterprise has shown a significant change towards the model of just-in-time production, consolidating the concept of fast fashion, resulting in higher production, lower costs, and more competitive prices, although less aligned with sustainable development. One of the challenges is the generation of higher volumes of solid waste, not always managed sustainably. This article focuses on investigate how the clothing industry in Brazil is dealing with its textile solid waste management. The approach is an analysis of the legal instruments presented by Brazilian policies regarding solid waste management. Results show that, although the country provides comprehensive legislation, Brazilian clothing industry lacks a logistical project for allowing a circular economy in its full capacity. This scenario leads to some Brazilian recycling industries importing textile solid waste to supply their units since the imported bales of textile waste are separated and classified. Therefore, compliance with Brazilian policies needs improvement to insert its own textile solid wastes back into production. One strategy is the call for a fashion pact among stakeholders in Brazilian clothing industry, as discussed in this paper.