Systemic Change Through Innovation: An Investigating of Next-gen Materials’ Role in the Sociotechnical Transition of the Fashion Industry

Abstract

Considered as one of the most polluting and destructive industries to the environment, the resource-intensity of the fashion industry calls for solutions and collaboration for disrupting the status quo. Relying on a flurry of technological developments with the potential for closing the loop, this thesis investigates how next-gen materials can play a role in transitioning the industry towards circularity. Departing from a critical realist approach, this is examined through an embedded single-case research design that operationalizes niche actors. The findings and insights are based on data collected using qualitative methods through interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and secondary data. The thesis contributes to literature on sustainability transitions by making analytical adaptations to the multi-level-perspective and strategic niche management. Depicting radical innovations with the potential for closing the loop of the fashion industry, the findings suggest how the next-gen materials have developed as a response to climate change. Here they are faced with an entrenched regime locked into unsustainable practices, where incumbents and consumers favour price and profit, over sustainability. To navigate the dynamics of the incumbent regime, the finding show that the niche innovators must take advantage of the protective space, leverage the embedded actors to gain stability, and anchor themselves into several regimes. Moreover, the findings point to the fashion industry facing a critical juncture, wherein the instability of cultural, policy and spatial dimensions are pointing to a hybrid pathway for the trajectory of next-gen materials.