The Degrowth Economy. Strategic Path for Clothing Brands´ Future and Empowerment Model for Fashion Consumers?

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF ACRONYMS

INTRODUCTION

STATE OF THE ART

PART 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction to the degrowth and circular economy and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals
The circular economy
Circular economy concepts and governance complexity
The contribution of the circular economy and corporate’ ESG to the SDGs
The relevance of growing investments in CE
Degrowth economy and building blocks
Definition
History of degrowth
Fundamental critics
Problems generated by growth
The transition to degrowth
Degrowth economy and building blocks
Economy
Society
Environnent
Transition to degrowth and its potential contribution to SDGs
A changing fashion industry facing growing challenges and the rise of consumers awareness and empowerment
Reducing clothing production, pain points of the mass produced fashion system
Planned obsolescence and fashion trends
The growing complexity of the demand forecast and accelerating speed of the fashion system
Increasing return rate of fashion products
Globalization and supply chain complexity
COVID-19: an opportunity for degrowth in the fashion industry?
Consequences of the pandemic on the fashion industry
COVID-19 and its relationship to degrowth
The need for a new fashion industry prepared for future social and environmental crisis
Reducing clothing consumption, the nature of happiness and destructive lifestyles
Fashion items under-utilization and over consumption
The issue of the Self: the fashion Ego
Does consumption really lead to happiness?
Shifts in consumers purchasing behaviors
Sustainable fashion consumption patterns
The need for individualized fashion
The empowerment of prosumers
STEEPV analysis of the fashion industry in a degrowth context
Business models definitions review and restructuration
Business model definition
Business model innovation
The myths of business growth and current trends in business model innovations
Forms of business model innovation
Sustainable business models
Definition of sustainable business models
Circular economy business models
Business models to reduce production and consumption in fashion
Limits of the current sustainable business models in fashion
Towards degrowth business models in fashion
The slow fashion movement as a premise for degrowth in fashion?
Definition of a new degrowth-inspired business model

PART 2: DEVELOPPEMENT OF A DEGROWTH ECONOMY BUSINESS MODEL
A new fashion degrowth economy business model for collaborative value creation and environmental and social democratic governance
Rethinking our conventional business models
The rise of Smart and Collaborative Networked Organizations
Empowered consumers at the center of value creation
Restructuration of business model in the degrowth context
New concepts and design elements of the degrowth business model
Collaborative value creation
Crowdsourcing
Common-based peer production
Mass customization and innovation toolkits
Minimize the risk of product obsolescence and reduce footprint
Timeless designs
Commons-oriented design communities
Recover wastes and materials durability
Repairability, modularity and recyclability
Local and resilient economies
Micro-factoring, on-demand production and makerspaces
Industry networks and industrial symbiosis
Intra-industry and inter-industries co-branding
Drop shipping and optimized logistics
Participative logistics and crowd-logistics
Local communities collaboration and distribution
Interactive and responsible communities
Interactive and experiential marketing
Experiential branding and community branding
Responsible consumption marketing
Collaborative governance
Crowdfunding
Pre-ordering and drop sales
Profit redistribution and internalization of environmental externalities
Steady state economy
Corporate Citizenship
Reorganization of work and management of the commons
Supportive strategies for DEBMs
The relevance of digitalization for sustainability in fashion
The fashion industry 4.0 and its contribution to the SDGs
The rise of commons-oriented technologies and innosumers
Supportive technologies for a DEBM
Blockchain for collaborative governance in fashion
Local manufacturing supportive technologies
Virtual prototyping and body scanning
Artificial intelligence and innovation toolkits
The impact of the corporate legal form on the brand governance
Degrowth-supportive legal forms
Cooperatives and Mutual Enterprises
Alternative legal forms and B-Corporations
Benefits and opportunities of the degrowth business model for fashion brands, consumers and the SDGs
Degrowth economy business model’ design options matrix
The degrowth business model as a strategic path for fashion brands
An empowerment model for fashion consumers
DEBM assessment and contribution to degrowth and the SDGs
Value creation system and its contribution to degrowth
The 7 Rs model
The contribution of DEBM to Sustainable Development Goals 2

PART 3: EMPIRICAL TESTING OF THE MODEL
Data collection
Methodology
Case studies presentation
Data analysis
Business models analysis
7 Rs analysis 2

PART 4: MODEL VALIDATION AND DISCUSSIONS
Testing conclusions and lessons learned
Generalization of business model archetypes
The need for a more inclusive and holistic approach of degrowth economy business models
Discussions around the integrative degrowth-oriented business model
Social and cultural issues
Structural and technological limits
Economic considerations
An issue of higher scale

CONCLUSION

ANNEXES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT

The degrowth economy has long been undervalued by businesses considering prosperity without growth as an impossible match. With the rising pressures imposed by climate change, the new transformative challenges the fashion industry is facing and current shifts in consumers purchasing behaviors, the degrowth economy debate appears as a relevant opportunity to initiate systemic change within the fashion industry.

This thesis aims to develop degrowth-oriented business models for fashion brands that could not only bring competitive advantage to these organizations, but also drive the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations in 2015. The outcome of this thesis provides a range of design options and strategies that can be implemented by fashion brands in the degrowth framework, combined within a custom-buildable business model matrix.

An empirical research conducted with both qualitative and quantitative data assessed the developed business model matrix based on 9 existing fashion organizations. The results showed the existence of 3 observable business model archetypes presenting strong similarities with the proposed model, however always limited to a very reductive approach of the degrowth economy.

This research highlights the need and relevance for the development of fashion business models using a more holistic approach of the degrowth economy, now given possible thanks to the translation of degrowth concepts and ideas into implementable business strategies. It suggests that fashion brands could get strong competitive advantages by following these recommendations and by acting as pioneers in a field that goes beyond the current understanding of sustainability in the fashion industry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to my primary and second supervisors, Ingo Rollwagen and Oliver Peters, who guided me throughout and helped me finalize this project. I wish to acknowledge the help provided by all the teachers and lecturers who shared their knowledge and expertise at the Akademie Mode & Design Berlin of Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences.

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my friends, family and in particular to my boyfriend for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement all along this intellectually and emotionally intense process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you.

LIST OF ACRONYMS

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INTRODUCTION

In 1887, the economist Karl Marx saw economic growth in its capitalist phase as containing the seeds of its own destruction¹. Despite its unquestionable relevance and success in public opinion for almost a century, capitalism is now more than ever at the center of critics and is showing more transparently its limits and undesired effects. The primary idea that economic growth should be the unique driver of wealth and prosperity starts being questioned by the growing destructive consequences it has on the environment, and therefore on society's welfare. With a yet observable pressure of climate change repercussions on societies proven as mainly caused by our producing and consuming activities, industries have never been more growing and people have never consumed more than they currently do. With an increasing population on our planet and a decreasing availability and regeneration of natural resources used to satisfy our never-ending needs, a continual expansion of material wants seems fundamentally unbearable.

Fashion is by far, one of the most representative industries that led to this current environmental disaster. The rise of fast fashion developed a very complex system of production aiming to answer an accelerating consumption of short life-cycle fashion products intended to be replaced after a period of time getting shorter and shorter. The fast fashion industry represents the perfect caricature of the capitalist mindset that worked on developing a new social reality pushing us to consume always more and at a pace that now becomes untenable for both fashion consumers and the whole supply chain struggling to follow the production rhythm.

In opposition to this phenomenon, alternative environmentally and socially focused movements have emerged, such as the circular and sharing economies, as well as the slow fashion movement. Supported by international organizations and environmental agreements aiming to alleviate the pressure of our producing and consuming activities on the environment, these “green economies” are offering a light of opportunities for a better and more sustainable future that can now be measured through the stage of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations in 2015. Nevertheless, few of these economies seem to be questioning the problem of economic growth since they were developed in the framework of Sustainable Development that still considered economic growth as a goal to achieve, as long as it is reached in a greener manner. Green-growth economies are therefore still driven by the capitalistic belief that prosperity can not exist without growth. Our technologies, our economy, and our social aspirations are all misaligned with any meaningful expression of prosperity². This is where the degrowth economy differentiates itself from any other green economy by promoting the organization of a new type of society aiming to downscale the production and reject economic growth in already developed countries as it is believed that a voluntary reduction of consumption could help to achieve higher well-being.

When going through the degrowth economy literature, one of the main observations that can be highlighted is that no author has deepened the business model approach enabling to translate degrowth concepts and ideas into concrete strategies for businesses. Moreover, very few studies have worked on the relationship between the degrowth economy and the fashion industry, while research has shown the benefits of reducing overconsumption and overproduction for both brands activities and consumers well being. If the circular and sharing economies have received most of the academic attention when it comes to developing greener economies, the lack of research in the possible business applications in the background of the degrowth economy constitutes an academic gap that needs to be studied to drive future research in this very promising field. Sustainable fashion has focused mainly on achieving greater environmental value without considering consumers who however have the largest impact through their purchasing decisions, underlining the need to create greater social value in the fashion industry that could then be used to drive greater environmental and social goals achievement by scaling-up sustainable solutions. Nevertheless, can we design a degrowth business model that could not only bring competitive advantage to fashion brands but also drive the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals? This is the research question that this study will try to answer.

This topic of research relies on the understanding of business model innovation in the degrowth framework as an opportunity to drive systemic positive change on the largest scope of the fashion industry. Delivering long-term sustainability requires to rethink how fashion businesses operate, therefore it requires deeper structural and fundamental changes in the fashion system going beyond the current understanding of eco-efficiency and sustainability³. Time and experiences have shown the failure of many sustainable fashion business models in upbringing impactful and scaling-up solutions to solve global environmental and social issues. In that thinking, the degrowth economy appears as an interesting pathway and offers alternative transition opportunities that deserve deeper analysis.

The main outcome of this research work is to provide a business model matrix offering a range of design elements aiming to support a degrowth transition for fashion brands. It is not only about restructuring the existing business model canva and proposing new degrowth-oriented strategies, but also designing a new value creation system based on a new type of collaboration among brands, communities of consumers, and smart organizations of stakeholders seeking to downscale both overproduction and consumption as a common and valuable objective.

This thesis envisions a new viable fashion system that does not only consider material and structural innovations as a driver for sustainable change, but uses a more holistic and systemic approach by focusing on the social and psychological dimension of consumer behaviors as a new way to achieve sustainable transformations. The idea is to shift fashion brands' focus from an individualistic to a collective and proactive approach, by engaging critical actors of their business environment whose understanding and vision of emerging social, economic and environmental challenges should be seen as a strategic contribution to build common and truly sustainable solutions. It seems important to demonstrate that prosperity can be achieved without growth, a new mindset that requires a shift in common economic beliefs of fashion businesses and that this thesis will try to explain. Degrowth does not mean rejecting modernity, on the contrary, it embraces digitalization and technological progress for a greener purpose aiming to reduce overproduction and consumption, a concept that this research will translate into practical applications. Going even further, it will show that by rethinking the nature of the business beyond growth, fashion brands can more easily adapt to on-going changes and challenges, sustain in time and develop a new type of competitive advantage ensuring their prosperity. On a larger scale, this study aspires to show that the implementation of degrowth economy applications by the fashion industry could be an accelerator towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The literature review will first analyze the different degrowth economy concepts and solutions, as well as their potential contribution to the SDGs in comparison to the circular economy. Following this analysis, a review of the different pain points and growing challenges the fashion industry faces will be introduced to explore the new opportunities that a degrowth economy could enhance for the industry and fashion consumers. Finally, a business model innovation review will be realized in the field of fashion sustainability to highlight the relevance for the development of new degrowth business models. The conclusions drawn from the literature review will allow the definition and construction of the proposed business model structured in 5 building blocks gathering a range of design elements and supportive strategies for their implementation.

The next step consists in evaluating this model under the background of the degrowth economy and will offer a strategic analysis for both fashion brands and consumers. In order to offer different pathways for fashion brands shifting towards a degrowth strategy, an empirical research is conducted to evaluate the existing business models’ design elements of 9 selected fashion brands showing potential in the degrowth framework. This research is based on qualitative data regrouping business model strategies and components that can be observed for each case study. Mostly recovered from previous studies, published scientific articles, as well as brands statements and public reports; the research uses secondary data as a source of information. A content analysis of the data obtained is conducted to highlight degrowth-related design elements for each fashion brand and draw business models archetypes, aiming to support fashion brands transition towards a downscaling economy.

STATE OF THE ART

The degrowth economy remains a field of research largely unexplored by academic and scientific publications. Even if some of the pioneers of the movement have been proactively working on establishing definitions and concepts through different publications, such as Latouche’s most famous work published in 2010 under the name of Farewell to Growth⁴ ; the degrowth economy is still a flourishing concept. More recently, Kallis & al. (2014) published a book entitled Degrowth: Vocabulary for a new era ⁵, which eventually appears to be one of the only litterature gathering the most relevant publications and authors from the degrowth field within this very special book that can serve a foundation for the comprehension of the degrowth economy mindset from a modern perspective. Most of these publications acknowledge the fact that the implementation of a degrowth economy would require deep structural changes within our leading institutions that can only be driven by people and their ability to question the relevance of the capitalistic economy given the current environmental and social context.

Often perceived as a barrier to financial prosperity for companies and to freedom of consumption for individuals, the term “degrowth” has sparked many debates and is still very badly connoted for the majority of people. A very few publications have explicitly exposed the business benefits that degrowth-oriented strategies could bring to companies, making the idea of degrowing societies hard to thrive. The publication Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet ⁶ from Jackson (2009) aims to demonstrate that degrowth can actually turn out to be a very strategic choice for companies. He concludes on the necessity to understand prosperity not as a financially-monitored goal, but as a human-focused approach that aims to maximize welfare within and outside an organization. In opposition to most of the degrowth publications, Jackson does not reject modernity and technological improvement as they can be used for environmental and social purposes and improve employee’s welfare through better working conditions. Additionally, Khmara & Kronenberg (2018) have identified seven criteria which can be used to assess whether a company follows the degrowth paradigm, with their publication entitled Degrowth in business: An oxymoron or a viable business model for sustainability?⁷. This research represents a starting point for the development of the building blocks of degrowth-oriented business models as it translates economic and politic concepts into business vocabulary.

Indeed, there is a lack of research and academic work when it comes to translating the degrowth economy ideas and concepts into applicable business strategies. The greatest achievement in that field was realized by Hankammer & Kleer (2017), with their publication Degrowth and collaborative value creation: Reflections on concepts and technologies ⁸, which concludes on a range of business solutions and strategies, such as crowdsourcing or mass-customization, that are aligned with the degrowth mindset thanks to their potential in downscaling consumption and avoiding overproduction. Hankammer & Kleer are proposing a technology-focused approach to the degrowth economy which opens the way to a new understanding of this concept and highlights its potential in scaling up sustainable innovations. To date, collaborative value creation concepts and flexible manufacturing technologies have been discussed almost exclusively as business model patterns for companies in economies that are set to grow.

Moreover, most of the academic research has so far been undertaken within the field of the circular economy. Bocken & al. (2018) have realized A Review and Typology of Circular Economy Business Model Patterns⁹, which offers a very relevant structure gathering all the design options and strategies from the circular economy under a business model matrix; a work that could inspire the degrowth economy to do the same since it also allows to highlight business models’ archetypes and therefore offers different pathways for organizations. Schroeder & al. (2018) have developed a very efficient methodology to demonstrate The Relevance of Circular Economy Practices to the Sustainable Development Goals¹⁰. By showing on which SDGs and how circular practices could have a direct, indirect or negative impact; Schroeder & al. are demonstrating the individual contribution that organizations can have on achieving the SDGs. Therefore, defining degrowth practices appears as an essential step to undertake the same process and assess the opportunity that the degrowth economy could have in achieving the SDGs.

Finally, when it comes to the fashion industry, no literature has explicitly explored the relationship between the degrowth economy and fashion. The only publication envisioning this relationship is an experiment from Armstrong & al. (2016), named: Using Clothing Acquisition Abstinence to Explore Sustainable Consumption and Life Beyond Growth¹¹. This research provides critical proof that fashion consumption does not lead to happiness, a necessary conclusion to consider further work in this field.

PART 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

I.Introduction to the degrowth and circular economy and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals

The aim of this section is to explore current trends in sustainable economies expansion, multiplied environmental regulations and international policies, as well as the potential of a degrowth economy in supporting these trends and its relevance in today’s social, economic and environmental challenges.

1.The circular economy

At the beginning of the 70s, scholars, politicians and environmentalists started to set higher priority to rising environmental issues and began to think about institutional regulations and policies for the environment, together with the efforts of international organizations, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and citizens. However, the first relevant global environmental policies will only be defined after the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, where the concept of Environmental Governance is introduced for the first time, setting the starting point of the circular economy mindset.¹²

a. Circular economy concepts and governance complexity

Our global resources are finite, and we are exceeding our planetary resource capacity. In the search for alternatives to unsustainable resource use, the field of Industrial Ecology provided the foundations for the idea of a circular economy. First being popularized as a public policy requiring changes at the macro-level (cities, regions), efforts have recently been on promoting the circular economy as a business concept focusing on a micro-level, integrating both businesses and consumers¹³.

The goal of circular economy is to replace existing open production systems based on a linear consumption model, where raw materials are extracted, processed into finished products and become waste after they have been consumed, with closed systems that reuse resources and conserve energy. This can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling (Figure 1). These circular economy strategies are contributing to create regenerative systems in which resource generating waste, emissions and energy leakage are minimised by slowing, closing, and narrowing material and energy loops. Moreover, the circular economy seeks to maximize the value creation over the entire life cycle of the products we consume.

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Figure 1: Major reverse cycles for the circular economy (Lüdeke-Freund, F., Gold, S., & Bocken, N. M. P. 2018).

The circular economy implementation is still at its very early stage and has mostly shaped practices in waste management and recycling, while practices of reusing or remanufacturing materials are still niche phenomena¹⁴. China is most probably the first country that integrated circular economy policies as a national development strategy in 2002. The European Union followed a bit later with the European Union (EU) Action Plan for the circular economy in 2015 and more recently, the United Nations Environment Programme. The institutionalization of environmental governance for the circular economy has also exploded during the past few years and is now managed and framed at different scales by International Organizations (UNEP), NGOs (Ellen MacArthur Foundation) and transnational experts (Figure 2). However, the literature also shows that the lack of standardization of circular economy policies, the confrontation of institutions and the lack of alignment and engagement among countries are making the sustainable transition difficult and happening at a very slow pace.¹⁵

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Table 1: Towards a typology of international intermediaries (Kern, F., Sharp, H., & Hachmann, S. 2020).

b.The contribution of the circular economy and corporate’ ESG to the SDGs

In 2015, the United Nations introduced the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seen as a normative framework of the social and environmental challenges that both governments, civil society and business should tackle, in both developed and developing countries. The SDGs have since then received attention from businesses as integrating part of their Environmental and Social Governance (ESG). However, where ESG information has developed over time, information on how a business contributes to the SDGs is still in its first stages.¹⁶

Many businesses have faced confusion while trying to make the link between SDGs, ESG and circular economy, making environmental initiatives reporting and action difficult¹⁷. Even if circular economy practices appear as being contributing directly to some SDGs such as Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), uncertainty remains on how businesses could achieve many of these goals with, or without, the help of their circular economy strategy. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that by 2030, a shift toward circular economy could reduce resource spending in the EU by €600 billion annually, improve resource productivity by 3% and create 800 000 full-time jobs for the only country of France¹⁸. Achieving these goals could thus lead to generate an annual net benefit of €1.8 trillion in the EU, a considerable amount of money that could then be invested for other purposes like health, education or environmental infrastructures, contributing to reach further SDGs targets that can difficulty be achieved at the micro-level of a company.

Therefore, businesses should understand circular economy and SDGs as a complexe relationship of mechanisms influencing one another with more direct or indirect links. The work of Weber & al. (2018) (Figure 3) is a good representation of the impact that circular economy practices can have on SDGs, helping circular businesses to understand how they can contribute to a better future.

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Figure 2: Relationship between Sustainable Development Goals in the context of circular economy practices (Weber & al. 2018)

On the other hand, confusion has also been exposed when it comes to integrating SDGs within the corporate ESG. Ortas & al. (2015) concluded that SDGs are a normative framework on where the world should move towards, rather than a company (Figure 3). However, with its ESG strategy a company influences positively or negatively on environmental and social challenges targeted by the SDGs. This relationship can be explained by the fact that the corporate commitment, or ESG, necessarily involves an organizational change that allows stakeholder engagement, universal rights, sustainable development, and the common good to flourish¹⁹.

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Figure 3: ESG information versus SDG information for business entities (Ortas & al. 2015).

The transition toward the circular economy, framed by a relevant ESG, is thus a strategy allowing businesses to comply with international environmental regulations, but is also a strategic driver for worldwide positive change and can even become a competitive advantage. The circular economy represents a way to responsibilize and engage companies to reach higher environmental and social goals defined by international organizations, but can also bring businesses both financial and non-financial benefits. Indeed, academic work has largely shown the close relationship between corporate financial performance and ESG.²⁰ The establishment of a good ESG can help to reduce operational costs but also improves the public image of a company, as its environmental and social responsibility is valued in the eyes of the growing market of conscious consumers.

c.The relevance of growing investments in CE

Sustainability-driven investment is still at its very early stage and is expected to grow. The United Nations conference on Trade and Development stated that between US$5 trillion and US$7 trillion per year in investment would be required for the achievement of the SDGs²¹. It seems important to remind that circular economy remains a path very little undertaken by companies since only 6% of all materials processed by the global economy are recycled and contribute to closing the loop²². Moreover, although the SDGs have received a lot of attention since they were introduced, the challenge on how to turn these goals into investment decisions remains. Not only the circular economy can contribute directly and indirectly to the achievement of these goals, but the SDGs can also help the promotion of circular economy practices. Indeed, progress on SDGs that are not directly related to circular economy can benefit the uptake of circular economy practices²³. This is why decisions investments are now paying further attention to circular economy business models (CEBM)²⁴.

Many investment companies have started to integrate the SDGs in investment decisions, either by linking their investments to the SDGs or by looking for specific investments that impact one or more specific SDGs²⁵. By creating long-term value and thus being critical agents for the achievements of these goals, businesses and more specifically CEBM-based companies are positively and increasingly assessed by investment firms. Moreover, the positive relationship between companies’ ESG and financial performance being well known, it seems that a company building on a strong understanding of ESG strategies and applications of circular economy practices could benefit from diversified sources of investments.

As an alternative to the circular economy, the degrowth economy might possibly offer another opportunity for the achievement of SDGs, for which the circular economy has so far shown indirect relationships. Therefore, the degrowth economy could become a new relevant strategic and sustainable direction for businesses.

2.Degrowth economy and building blocks

a.Definition

The concept of degrowth economy takes its roots first and foremost on a critique of growth²⁶. It calls for the abolishment of economic growth as a social objective by stating that prosperity, which must be understood as welfare, goes beyond material pleasures, it includes quality of life, please at work, social interactions, education, health or the happiness of our friends and families²⁷. In fact, developed countries have entered an era in which economic growth no longer renders benefits but instead it exacerbates challenges on the environmental, social and cultural spheres.

The degrowth economy seeks to lead out societies toward a voluntary, smooth and equitable transition to a regime of lower production and consumption²⁸. It represents the liberation from a productivist obsession, in order to re-discover other human dimensions, first and foremost the relational one. It doesn't necessarily mean doing less of the same, but instead: doing smaller of beautiful. Therefore, degrowth can be defined as a downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level, in the short and long term ²⁹.

b.History of degrowth

The term degrowth was introduced in 1972 by the French social philosopher André Gorz³⁰. First inspired by bioeconomics and ecological economics ideas, it became a major debate among the french society of social economists and environmentalists between 1975 and 1990. The movement as we know it today really began in 2002, after the publishing of the special issue of Silence³¹ introducing the work, among others, of Serge Latouche³² who became a reference in the field of degrowth economy. In April 2008, the Paris Conference took place and scientists gathered for the first time in an interdisciplinary and international academic setting with representatives of the civil society on the topic of economic degrowth as a possible path for more ecology, more equality and more well-being³³. The conference led to the publication of the Paris Degrowth Declaration ³⁴ which calls for economic degrowth if environmental sustainability and social equity are to be achieved. In March 2010, a second scientific conference about the degrowth economy took place in Barcelona, structuring proposals toward an alternative degrowth society.³⁵

Degrowth is now a political ecology and environmental justice movement taught in universities all around the world. It has been used and misused by French and Italian politicians and has received coverage in many renowned newspapers, including Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal or Financial Times³⁶

c.Fundamental critics

The degrowth economy movement is developed on two main foundations. It is first of all a criticism of growth and its measurement tool, the growth domestic product (GDP); and is also a criticism of capitalism.

The GDP, a wrong indicator for social progress and welfare.

The GDP is broadly speaking a measure of economic activity in a nation or region. The GDP counts the economic value of goods and services exchanged on the market³⁷. Using this value, we can then measure the GDP per capita which is still largely understood as the main indicator representing the prosperity of a country. However, prosperity in its economic meaning isn’t necessarily synonymous with income or wealth, as it doesn’t clearly show social progress and welfare. GDP takes into account good but also bad economies such as the tobacco industry, military expenses, etc. Moreover, increases in GDP may be at the expense of resource depletion and environmental contamination, neither aspect being captured in the conventional measure of economic growth³⁸. This indicator was introduced by the United States in a post-war situation in order to relaunch the economy, before being applied to the rest of the world. With the rise of inequalities and environmental pressure in countries that are still growing (by increasing their GDP), it seems today more than relevant to define a new indicator that would allow to measure well-being, ecological sustainability and social equity. These dimensions should be a part of the economic measure, not only because they are relevant measures to assess welfare but also because the entire economy depends on them, as shown by Henderson's three-layer cake with icing model³⁹ (Figure 4).

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Figure 4: Hazel Hendersson’s three layer cake with icing model of the economy (Henndersson, 1999).

It is however important to remind that growth remains an important process of welfare improvement in developing countries as it increases incomes and therefore, countries' capacities to ensure health and education⁴⁰. However, the increase of GDP should be seeked by countries up to a certain level of development where a switch towards other goals should be initiated. giving more room to developing countries for their own development.

The instability of capitalism.

The first and most famous publication criticizing capitalism was probably Das Kapital⁴¹ published by Karl Marx in 1867, which surely inspired many degrowth thinkers in modern times. Marx warned about the wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails presents itself as an immense accumulation of commodities⁴². 150 years later, half of the world's net wealth belongs to the top 1% of the richests⁴³, showing exponentially increasing inequalities as a result of the capitalism system. In 1972, the publication The Limits of Growth by the Club of Rome⁴⁴ concluded that absolute limits to growth would be reached within 100 years. At the global level, the ecological debt, also estimated from UN statistics, has increased by about 173% since 1961 and now exceeds the planet’s biocapacity by 56%⁴⁵.

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Figure 5: Humanity’s Ecological Footprint against Earth’s biocapacity in global hectares, 1961-2020 (WWF, 2020)

It is important to remember that the main driver, and therefore critical point, of the capitalism system is consumption. The pressure to consume is created by mass media and advertising, in order to convince people that they need certain goods and want to replace those they already have, at an ever-accelerating rate⁴⁶. With ongoing exponential growth of population and capital, capitalism must undertake a process of transformation if it is to be sustainable in the long term⁴⁷.

The oxymore of sustainable development

In order to deal with the new environmental challenges our societies are facing, the concept of sustainable development was introduced during the Brundtland Commission in 1985⁴⁸, claiming that economic growth and environmental sustainability could be combined. The commission underlined that the content of growth must be changed so that it can take place within the limits of what is ecologically sustainable⁴⁹. However, according to degrowth thinkers, it is impossible to perpetuate development without harming the environment⁵⁰. Latouche considers sustainable development as a pleonasm at the definitional level and an oxymoron at the level of its content. It is a pleonasm because development means 'self-sustaining growth'. And it is an oxymoron because development is neither sustainable nor self-sustaining⁵¹. In that thinking, sustainable development is a political program that maintains levels of profit and avoids changing our individual habits by making an imperceptible change of direction⁵².

d.Problems generated by growth

Economic

On the economic level, it is argued that the acceleration of production generated by growth contributes to a growing scarcity of resources that will increase prices, making the prospects for economic growth difficult. For instance, during the economic crisis of 2008, oil prices doubled resulting in food prices rising by 66%⁵³. The second issue is in regards to people’s growing indebtment. Indeed, the vast majority of all money in existence is created in the form of debt and is brought into existence by the creation of loans by private banks through fractional reserve banking⁵⁴. An economy based on debt-based money is able to grow only by placing ever more people into ever greater debt through the granting of credit⁵⁵. Finally, economic growth has resulted in a society where states are incorporated into the markets, rather than national economies are incorporated into the boundaries of the state, resulting in the birth of super-capitalism and the decline of democracy, becoming progressively less sensitive to citizens demands and incapable of protecting them⁵⁶.

Social

Socially, degrowth thinkers believe that growth is unjust because there is no equal repartition from the benefits of resource exploitation and it maintains an unfair division of work between North-South and Men-Women. Moreover, growth does not increase happiness since extra incomes are devoted to increase positional goods such as housings; goods that generate constant insatisfaction of unfulfilled and growing needs⁵⁷. As mentioned above, economic growth is contributing to the loss of democracy that can be read as the crisis of the centrality of the traditional political sphere and of the prerogatives of the state in its capacity to govern society and economy. Therefore the problem is not only the reorganization of the centers of political and economic power, but also to avoid turning democracy into a mere political consumer market or to strengthen the culture of democratic citizenship among people⁵⁸.

Environmental

Last but not least, growth is leading us to surpass the planetary boundaries and resources depletion (Figure 6). After the second world war, countries have prioritized their own development, seeing ressources as abundant and without considering possible serious threat to ecosystems. Today, environmental pressures are already affecting the economy, which however caused these environmental pressures in the first place. For instance, grain productivity has fallen from 3.5% to 1.5% since 1970 because of the use of fertilizers on the soil, freshwater availability and price becomes a global problem, and climate change consequences is impacting many industries activities and productivity⁵⁹.

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Figure 6: Planet boundaries (Stephen, W. & al. 2015)⁶⁰

e.The transition to degrowth

When it comes to lead our growing societies towards degrowing societies, Castoriadis⁶¹ among others, argue that degrowth, as a political project, wouldn’t be an efficient strategy. Indeed, the transition to degrowth requires a cultural revolution, commonly referred to as the decolonization of the imaginary. In other words, people have to understand that a degrowth society wouldn’t require us to go backwards nor to reduce our quality of life, but it would require to rethink the conception of life quality in a new disruptive way. Degrowth envisions a society that doesn't need to accumulate nor to be commodified common goods, it envisions a society of self-limitations. As an example, Latouche tells us to ask ourselves if the experience of well-being necessarily requires us to have ten pairs of shoes, which are often of poor quality, rather than two pairs that will last⁶². A degrowth revolution would require that the majority of the community enters a phase of political activity, where the social imaginary gets to work and explicitly sets about transforming existing institutions.

3.Degrowth economy and building blocks

Over the years, degrowth concepts and solutions have evolved and grown from one another. This section introduces the main ideas illustrated with concrete examples and applications for the economic, social and environmental sphere.

a.Economy

The quest of autonomy

According to degrowth thinkers, growth should be coming to an end to allow more autonomy from wage labour, from techno-infrastructures and to allow the collective to decide for its future⁶³. Indeed, our productivist obsession is making us increasingly dependent on technological improvement and chains us to work, pushing us to spend more and more of our time working to satisfy our unnecessary consumption desires. Autonomy can thus also be understood as the autonomy from our consumption markets. When it comes to the autonomy from techno-infrastructures, degrowth isn’t against technologies, it is against technologies that are making us lose our abilities to auto-produce and replace people by machines.

The decolonization of the South

Degrowth advocates a break away, in the South, from the economic and cultural dependency on the North⁶⁴. It seeks to renew Southern developing countries’ culture, skills and technologies that were interrupted by colonization and globalization. One should remember that degrowth thinkers are obviously not asking for an economic degrowth in the South. On the contrary, they believe that degrowth in the North would give the South more room to define its own development trajectory. It would allow break out with socio-environmental liabilities of transnational companies and unequal exchanges⁶⁵.

Regionalization

Consequently, degrowth promotes a relocalization of all economic activities according to a new territorial administration leading all societies and communities towards regional value creation systems. Regionalization includes: less transport, transparent production lines, incentivizing sustainable production and consumption, reducing dependency upon capital flow and multinationals. Regionalization facilitates a more democratic approach to the economy, reduces unemployment, increases participation (and therefore integration), encourages solidarity, opens up new perspectives for the developing countries and, finally, improves the health of citizens in the rich countries by encouraging sobriety and reducing stress⁶⁶.

New public money and local currencies

Creating new public money as a public resource would aim to create all new money either under democratic control through a national monetary budget or through an independent monetary authority and limit the power of banks to create money that is directly converted into a debt⁶⁷. The development of local currencies is also envisioned to increase productivity at a micro-level, keep the money within communities and displace the demand for debt-based money as a medium of exchange⁶⁸.

Other applications

As an example, many degrowth authors are proposing the cooperative business legal form as one economic solution integrating most of the degrowth economic concepts since it represents an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise⁶⁹. More recent degrowth propositions have been developed in regards of digital commons⁷⁰, the dematerialization of the economy⁷¹ (investments in services rather than material goods), cryptocurrencies as local currencies, or the development of new taxes such as heavy penalties for spending on advertising⁷².

During the Barcelona Conference in 2008, causal diagrams were produced to provide a basis for feedback thinking about degrowth proposals and define where the promotion of high leverage interventions should be undertaken in the social, economic and ecological sub-systems⁷³. Results for the economic part are introduced below (Figure 7) and represent a great help to summarize degrowth sub-systems mechanisms and proposed solutions. The causal loop notations explanations are exposed in Annex 1.

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Figure 7: Degrowth proposal acting in the economic sector (Kallis & al. 2014)

b.Society

A democratic society

One of the preconditions to move towards a degrowth society is the development of a fully democratic society. By decentralizing and deepening institutions and re-politicizing the economy, degrowth thinkers believe that new democtraic societies could emerge⁷⁴ and would allow it to reflect people’s needs and preoccupations regarding environmental degradation and the rise of inequalities. As stated by Schneider & al. (2010), democracy lives, regenerates and is perpetuated only through the recognition and the care of its links with the environment and the past and future generations⁷⁵. According to many authors, building a truly democratic society, that has to be understood as a society where people are actually participating, listened and reflected into political decisions, would necessarily lead to place limits on growth by a reinforcement of common resources management and therefore, reduce production and consumption. Radical changes in current institutions have to be made in order to focus on essential issues in a wider spatial and temporal sense⁷⁶.

A new reorganization of work

Largely inspired by Marx ideas, the question of work has been a main topic of discussion among the degrowth thinkers and is often considered as the main “limit” to the degrowth model. In fact, the opposition to degrowth would argue that less production would necessarily lead to unemployment. However, degrowth would only generate a destruction of labor exploited by capital, work would still exist⁷⁷. It means the end of labor driven by growth, creating both environment harming and worker’s productivist exploitation through unsatisfactory work. It means giving more control to workers within a cooperative society and allowing them to find purposeful work in new environmental and social “industries'' that degrowth will create. It also means the end of the exploitation of workers in the South, generating more work at a local scale⁷⁸. If this is not enough to fight against unemployment, work sharing is envisioned by sharing the available work across the population, an option that will allow people to work less hours and focus on meaningful activities and leisure time. With less intensive working weeks, it is also expected that productivity increases.

Other applications

When it comes to work, many degrowth thinkers are envisioning the establishment of a basic income to complete eventual decreases of salaries⁷⁹, the promotion of voluntary work for the community during extended leisure times caused by work sharing and for activities such as urban gardening. This would also contribute to the development of local communities administering a new type of relation to ecology but also to democratic power, engaging in political decisions on a territorial basis⁸⁰. Local communities would be required to take decisions on a intergenerational and cognitive level, decide about infrastructure projects, educate about local ecosystems and life in society, define community work and resources sharing⁸¹.

The causal loop diagram defined during the Barcelona Conference for the social sub-system is introduced below (Figure 8) .

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Figure 8: Degrowth proposal acting in the social sector (Kallis & al. 2014)

c.Environnent

Commons de-commodification

The concept of commons largely used within the degrowth community has to be understood as a shared management, self-provisioning and shared responsibility of specific resources. According to D’Alisa (2014), a resource becomes a commons when it is taken care of by a community or network. The community, resource, and rules are all an integrated whole⁸². The development of local and democratic societies would lead to a more efficient and environment-friendly management of natural resources, where the de-commodification of these resources would be necessary.

The myth of decoupling and rebound effect

One of the main criticisms pointed out by degrowth thinkers relative to material and energy use is the current relative decoupling⁸³ and the rebound effect⁸⁴. Indeed, Jackson points out that even though we can observe relative decoupling in global economies, it remains of lower impact than the pace to which the GDP is growing, therefore resource efficiencies must increase at least as fast as economic output does⁸⁵. The rebound effect is a consequence of energy decoupling where people tend to consume more of an eco-efficient resource, knowing that this resource is not harming the environment, and investing the financial savings made from energy efficiency into other resources-consuming goods or services⁸⁶. In that thinking, limits and reductions in the scale of production and consumption are the key to achieving a future of low material use⁸⁷.

Bio-economics and environmental justice

Degrowth concepts are largely inspired by bio-economics principles and especially, the law of thermodynamics⁸⁸ allowing to state that a productivity growth in a planet that has finite natural resources is naturally impossible. This shows the need to replace traditional economics with bioeconomics, or in other words the need to relate economics to the biosphere. It requires deep changes in institutional structures and demonstrates the necessity to reduce consumption as the only viable option. Latouche (2010), states that reducing our final consumption by 50% would allow to cut down the depletion of natural resources by 30%⁸⁹, which is required to remain within planetary boundaries and ensure justice for the environment.

Other applications

The concept of steady-state economy⁹⁰ is largely exposed as a concrete application of bio-economics and represents an economy in which the ecological conditions for this economy in terms of a constant stock of physical capital, capable of being maintained by a low rate of material throughput that lies within the regenerative and assimilative capacities of the ecosystem⁹¹. It defines the development of stable economies mildly fluctuating in size and setting resources exploitation limits to remain within environmental boundaries. Recycling and waste management concepts are also a major component of the degrowth model and other applications are in regards to the development of additional environmental taxes following the idea of “polluter-payer”. Growing investments in environmental infrastructures solutions are also considered as part of the degrowth economy⁹².

In conclusion, the causal loop diagram defined during the Barcelona Conference for the environment subsystem is introduced below (Figure 9) .

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Figure 9: Degrowth proposal acting in the environmental sector (Kallis, G. & al. 2014)

4.Transition to degrowth and its potential contribution to SDGs

A major question that one could ask is if there is a possibility to move from capitalist societies towards degrowth societies. A steady state capitalism, understood as zero growth capitalism, could persist according to Solé and Garcia-Olivares (2015)⁹³. Indeed, markets would adapt to a new ressources allocation required for a stationary state of the economy. When it comes to degrowth however, understood as negative growth, the debate is shifting since many authors have shown that capitalism can’t really exist without growth as it represents its driver and core mechanism⁹⁴. Without growth, capitalism becomes destabilized as shown by the different economic crises that the world has gone through, with consequences on societies and the environment in total opposition to what is expected by degrowth. The transition would therefore require the complete redefinition of our institutions, driven by the mobilization of the masses to develop new forms of democracy. In addition, Solé and Garcia-Olivares (2015) believe that this transition could now take place due the structural instability in the presence of new technological systems facilitated by reaching physical limits of the planet⁹⁵. The current environmental crisis could require at some point, the development of a completely alternative system once people start to understand that their own life is endangered, and that capitalism created it. The biggest challenge remains to find out how to manage the unemployment that a degrowth society would create before social stability starts being perturbed, which would fail the implementation of this new degrowth economy.

No literature has yet explored the relationship between the degrowth economy and the SDGs. However, the exploration of the contribution of degrowth economy to these goals appears as a necessary driver of the transition since it could push the degrowth economy debate to the higher level of international organizations and would allow to re-think it as a viable option showing its relevance more than ever given the current environmental and social context. Using the causal loop diagram model exposed by the work of Kallis & al. (2010) as well as the work of Weber & al. (2018) on the relationship between circular economy and the SDGs, the following hypotheses regarding the relationship and potential contribution of degrowth economy on SDGs are being made (Figure 10).

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Figure 10: Relationship between Sustainable Development Goals in the context of degrowth economy practices (inspired by Weber & al., 2018)

The work of Weber & al. (2018) shows a direct relationship with the circular economy and 5 of the SDGs, while according to the literature, a degrowth economy would have a direct impact on 9 of the SDGs. While the circular economy shows indirect relationship, or weak relationships with: Justice and Peace (SDG 16), Reduce Inequalities (SDG 10), Good Health & Well-being (SDG 3), Climate Action (SDG 13) and Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), the degrowth economy integrates these goals in its core mindset, justifying a potential direct relationship. Therefore, the contribution of the degrowth economy to SDGs seems to be pretty clear and undeniable, very likely to show even more direct contributions compared to the circular economy. Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17) and Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) are however considered as contradictory with degrowth ideas since they maintain the concept of growth and globalization.

Concluding on this section, it now seems relevant to analyze the degrowth economy on a meno and micro-level, by exploring the field of fashion consumption and production as well as the opportunities and threats that the fashion industry could expose when it comes to be integrated within a degrowth economy.

II.A changing fashion industry facing growing challenges and the rise of consumers awareness and empowerment

The goal of this section is the analysis of the growing challenges the fashion industry is facing at the social, environmental, economic, political and technological levels. It also seeks to go deeper into consumers shifts in purchasing behaviours, showing growing awareness and empowerment, a trend accelerated by digitalization and emerging crises.

1.Reducing clothing production, pain points of the mass produced fashion system

The fashion industry is increasingly pointed out for the numerous sustainability issues that generated mass clothing production. The world population is rising and capitalism increases the demand for clothes of ever-changing trends, while the price of fashion decreases at the cost of the environment. Overconsumption, overproduction, overexploitation of natural resources, the fashion industry is now the industry of the too much ⁹⁶ and a perfect example of capitalism failure.

a.Planned obsolescence and fashion trends

The success of the mass-produced fashion industry now lies on a very vicious phenomena called obsolescence, building a way to act on supply and demand of goods by influencing consumers’ perception of their products’ continued usefulness⁹⁷. Through a combination of design and marketing communication efforts, brands have been trying to control consumers' responses and conversion into sales, forming cycles over periods of time getting shorter and shorter, more commonly known as fashion seasons. In the fashion industry, obsolescence is driven by changes in aesthetics, added to a shift in social preferences and cultural conditions. Changes in colours, styles and details are building fashion trends, which are supported by changes of opinions, attitudes and desires of consumers⁹⁸ mainly influenced by marketing strategies and consumers’ social and digital environments. Obsolescence generates feelings of non-satisfaction and non-fulfilment, encouraging consumers to think that they need something different⁹⁹. This practice became a business strategy for many fashion brands, shortening the life span of fashion products and making consumers believe that brands are offering them the solution by creating new products that are more desirable¹⁰⁰. The obsolescence strategy allows a continuation of the business activity through continuation of sales but before all, it accelerates the depletion of natural resources and use of toxic substances, faster than recycling solutions can actually process thrown away clothes.

b.The growing complexity of the demand forecast and accelerating speed of the fashion system

Another observable characteristic of the mass produced fashion system is the speed to which collections are released, increasing both demand forecast and production complexity. The fashion trend forecast is usually done more than one year ahead of the official beginning of the season, after which the new collection is designed and orders are placed by retailers 7 to 5 months ahead of the season, based on their estimations of required quantities and styles. The manufacturing process can then start before the sales period opens up¹⁰¹. The production lead time, from the order to the delivery, is also called “the lead time gap” and represents the biggest challenge for fashion retailers as it can lead to forecasts margin of errors up to +/-40% if done 5 months in advance and the uncertainty gets higher the more ahead forecasts and orders are done. This phenomenon is associated with many disadvantages by creating inventory surplus, loss of revenue and profits for brands and therefore up to 30% of unsold products have to be heavily marked down at the end of the season¹⁰².

It can also be the case that consumers are not able to get what they want because of underestimation of the demand, a situation that brands usually prefer to avoid by using the strategy of production overcapacity, given that lower inventory levels may not facilitate a quick response to an unexpected high demand because of the lead time gap¹⁰³. With an estimation of 50 “micro-seasons” per year for the fast fashion industry¹⁰⁴ (Figure 11), there is no need to explain how complex this whole process has become and how the acceleration of design, production and buying paces are slowly getting out of control, showing the limits of human capacities challenged by capitalism requirements.

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⁴¹ Das Kapital, Volume I (1867) is a critical analysis of political economy, meant to reveal the contradictions of the capitalist mode of production, how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production and of the class struggle rooted in the capitalist social relations of production. The first of three volumes of Das Kapital was published on 14 September 1867, dedicated to Wilhelm Wolff and was the sole volume published in Marx's lifetime. Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labor, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value. (source: Wikipedia - The Capital).

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⁴³ Global Wealth Report (2013). Credit Suisse.

⁴⁴ Founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, the Club of Rome consists of current and former heads of state, UN administrators, high-level politicians and government officials, diplomats, scientists, economists, and business leaders from around the globe. Central to the formation of the club was Peccei's concept of the problematic. It was his opinion that viewing the problems of mankind—environmental deterioration, poverty, endemic ill-health, urban blight, criminality—individually, in isolation or as "problems capable of being solved in their own terms", was doomed to failure.

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⁶¹ Cornelius Castoriadis (1922 – 1997) was a Greek-French philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group. His writings on autonomy and social institutions have been influential in both academic and activist circles (source: Wikipedia - Cornelius Castoriadis).

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⁶⁸ Leonard, D., & Treiblmaier, H. (2018). Can Cryptocurrencies Help to Pave the Way to a More Sustainable Economy? Questioning the Economic Growth Paradigm. Business Transformation through Blockchain, 183–205.

⁶⁹ D’Alisa, G., Kallis, G., & Demaria, F. (2014). Degrowth: Vocabulary for a new era. Routledge Editions.

⁷⁰ The digital commons promote the figure of “prosumer” (producer-consumer), an individual who partakes in the online community and “consumes” value, but also produces value. Cooperation to share openly and freely accessible knowledge and resources and not dictated by labour contracts since made with total voluntariness (source: D’Alisa, G., Kallis, G., & Demaria, F. (2014). Degrowth: Vocabulary for a new era. Routledge Editions).

⁷¹ Næss, P., & Høyer, K. G. (2009). The Emperor’s Green Clothes: Growth, Decoupling, and Capitalism. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 20(3), 74–95.

⁷² Latouche, S. (2010). Farewell to Growth. Polity.

⁷³ Videira, N., Schneider, F., Sekulova, F., & Kallis, G. (2014). Improving understanding on degrowth pathways: An exploratory study using collaborative causal models. Futures, 55, 58–77.

⁷⁴ Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511–518.

⁷⁵ Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511–518

⁷⁶ Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511–518.

⁷⁷ Hankammer, S., & Kleer, R. (2018). Degrowth and collaborative value creation: Reflections on concepts and technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197, 1711–1718.

⁷⁸ Latouche, S. (2010). Farewell to Growth. Polity.

⁷⁹ D’Alisa, G., Kallis, G., & Demaria, F. (2014). Degrowth: Vocabulary for a new era. Routledge Editions.

⁸⁰ Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511–518.

⁸¹ Bernard, M., Cheynet, V., & Clémentin, B. (2010). Objectif décroissance : Vers une société harmonieuse.

⁸² D’Alisa, G., Kallis, G., & Demaria, F. (2014). Degrowth: Vocabulary for a new era. Routledge Editions.

⁸³ Relative decoupling refers to a decline in the ecological intensity per unit of economic output. In this situation, resource impacts decline relative to the GDP, which could itself still be rising. Decoupling means cutting the link between economic growth and environmental degradation. Increasing eco-efficiency refers to the production of commodities of equal or better quality while reducing their resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. Improved technological solutions are the crucial means to obtain higher eco-efficiency. (source: Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without growth: economics for a finite planet. Earthscan)

⁸⁴ The concept of rebound effect appeared during the first oil crisis, when many energy saving techniques emerged. Scientists then put the gains obtained by these techniques into perspective by calculating the increases in consumption associated with them. Energy efficient lamps, for example, tend to be used longer than others because they cost less to run. The rebound effect is then defined as "an increase in the consumption of a product or service due to a reduction in its cost price." (Bernard, M. & al. 2010).

⁸⁵ Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without growth: economics for a finite planet. Earthscan.

⁸⁶ Bernard, M., Cheynet, V., & Clémentin, B. (2010). Objectif décroissance : Vers une société harmonieuse.

⁸⁷ Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511–518.

⁸⁸ The first law of thermodynamics states that whenever energy is converted in form, its total quantity remains unchanged. In other words, energy (or matter) can be neither created nor destroyed. The total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time, and is constant if and only if all processes are reversible (source: Wikipedia - Thermodynamics).

⁸⁹ Latouche, S. (2010). Farewell to Growth. Polity.

⁹⁰ The phrase “steady state economy” originated from ecological economics, most notably the work of Herman Daly, but its roots are in classical economics, most notably the “stationary state” as touted by John Stuart Mill (source: Center of advancement for Steady State Economy, 2020.)

⁹¹ Hankammer, S., & Kleer, R. (2018). Degrowth and collaborative value creation: Reflections on concepts and technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197, 1711–1718.

⁹² Bernard, M., Cheynet, V., & Clémentin, B. (2010). Objectif décroissance : Vers une société harmonieuse.

⁹³ García-Olivares, A., & Solé, J. (2015). End of growth and the structural instability of capitalism—From capitalism to a Symbiotic Economy. Futures, 68, 31–43.

⁹⁴ Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without growth: economics for a finite planet. Earthscan

⁹⁵ García-Olivares, A., & Solé, J. (2015). End of growth and the structural instability of capitalism—From capitalism to a Symbiotic Economy. Futures, 68, 31–43.

⁹⁶ Dissanayake, D. G. K. (2020). Does mass customization Enable Sustainability in the Fashion Industry? Fashion Industry - An Itinerary Between Feelings and Technology.

⁹⁷ Fletcher, K. (2017). Exploring demand reduction through design, durability and “usership” of fashion clothes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 375(2095).

⁹⁸ Tracy, C. (2013). Sustainability in Fashion and Textiles: Values, Design, Production and Consumption || Sustainable colour forecasting: The benefits of creating a better colour trend forecasting system for consumers, the fashion industry and the environment.

⁹⁹ Stewart, J. (2013). Fashion and the Consumer, by Jennifer Yurchisin and Kim K.P. Johnson. Design and Culture, 5(2), 265–267.

¹⁰⁰ Tracy, C. (2013). Sustainability in Fashion and Textiles: Values, Design, Production and Consumption. Sustainable colour forecasting: The benefits of creating a better colour trend forecasting system for consumers, the fashion industry and the environment.

¹⁰¹ Walter, L., Kartsounis, G.A., & Carosio, S. (2009).Transforming Clothing Production into a Demand-driven, Knowledge-based, High-tech Industry. The Leapfrog Paradigm.

¹⁰² Strahle, J. (2017). Green Fashion Retail. Springer Series in Fashion Business.

¹⁰³ Walter, L., Kartsounis, G.A., & Carosio, S. (2009).Transforming Clothing Production into a Demand-driven, Knowledge-based, High-tech Industry. The Leapfrog Paradigm.

¹⁰⁴ The True Cost (2018). Produced by Aandrew Morgan. Life Is My Movie Entertainment Production.