A comparison of circular business models using life cycle assessment, focusing on clothing retail, distribution and use

Abstract Purpose Clothing Circular Business Models (CCBMs) include resale online and in stores, short-term rental models and longer-term leasing. Interest in CCBMs among consumers encouraged that they can acquire clothes without concern for impact on the environment, makes them an attractive business opportunity. Despite this, few life cycle assessments (LCAs) have quantified the environmental impact of CCBMs, leaving a knowledge gap, which this paper addresses. Method A comparative LCA was carried out, concerned with which CCBMs are likely to either increase or decrease the environmental impact of clothing. Retail, distribution and the use phase were therefore included in the foreground and new data were collected for these life cycle stages. The research carried out used data collected from interviews and a large-scale consumer survey to quantify the impacts of five CCBMs. These were: online resale, commercial resale, charity resale, short-term rental and longer-term leasing. The reliability of the input data used in the LCA model was tested using scenario analysis and uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulation. Results All five CCBMs discussed were found to reduce environmental impact compared to the conventional acquisition of clothing. The results of the LCA showed reduced emissions due to each of the CCBMs ranging from 14 to 26% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, due to the increase in garment use achieved across the wardrobe as a whole. Online resale showed the greatest improvement, and short-term rental the least, when compared to the conventionally acquired wardrobe. Sensitivity testing found the displacement rate was more important than other factors. Uncertainty analysis showed significant savings could be expected due to the three resale CCBMs and leasing but failed to rule out the possibility that the short-term rental model might increase emissions compared to a conventional wardrobe. Conclusion This LCA provides new insights by including a wider variety of garment types and business models in the analysis compared to previous research. It can be concluded that resale models offer great potential to reduce the environmental impact of clothing acquisition. This improvement depends more on the ability of CCBMs to replace consumption of new clothing than on other factors.