Born-sustainable textile reuse businesses conduct textile waste management tasks in accordance with sustainable standards. Innovation and collaboration are the core values around which these businesses have operated since inception. As there are not enough regulated channels to manage textile waste across many parts of the globe, they remain in warehouses for a long time before being discarded into landfills or incinerators. Re-using this waste globally will significantly reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing new fabrics. However, these born-sustainable businesses frequently have difficulties managing their operations with limited resources and hence it would be challenging for them to expand their business globally. As there is a scarcity of research on born-sustainable businesses and their internationalization, the present study aims to fill this gap through a qualitative study by interviewing multiple textile reuse businesses and one of the case company business stakeholders. The analysis demonstrates that textile reuse businesses that are born sustainable are also born digital and internationalized more quickly than traditional businesses, due to innovation and digital business opportunities. Additionally, characteristics of born sustainable businesses and internationalization coexist with each other as these businesses are also Born Global. Since the textile sector is a global business, these businesses have networking opportunities and had to deal with difficulties in the institutional void from the inception.

Idag förbränns tonvis med textil i Sverige som aldrig har blivit använd. Detta som en effekt av att dagens textilindustri är uppbyggd som en linjär modell där nya råvaror ständigt går in i systemet och avfall lämnar det. Krav ställs nu på nationell nivå i Sverige att textilindustrin måste ställa om och bli cirkulär som en del i att klara klimatmålen. Detta ställer stora krav på svenska företag att hantera det textila restmaterial som uppstår i deras processer på helt nya sätt. För att textilt restmaterial ska kunna bli råvara till en annan produkt behövs nya system och ibland branschöverskridande samarbeten där den enas avfall blir den andres råvara. Denna studie bidrar med insikter om de utmaningar som svenska företag står inför när textila restmaterial ska bli råvara samt hur möjligheter kan tas tillvara genom nätverkande och kunskapsutbyte. Med observationer, en enkät och intervjuer undersöktes textila produktutvecklings- och produktionsföretags behov och hinder för användning av textila restmaterial som råvara. I studien har också de behov av resurser och nätverk företagen har för att kunna öka användandet av textila restströmmar utforskats. Studien visar på att attityden till att samla in textila restströmmar bland producerande företag är positiv och att det finns goda möjligheter för ökad insamling av industriella textila restmaterial med en hög grad av spårbarhet. Den visar också att det för företag som vill använda restmaterial efterlyses möjligheter för effektiv insamling samt bearbetning eller förädling av materialen. Alla delar i värdekedjan behöver ses över och för att möta utmaningen och det finns ett behov av att tänka annorlunda och våga prova nya vägar och samarbeten. Resultatet av denna studie visar på att en plattform för enbart handel av textila restmaterial inte är tillräckligt, företagen behöver också kunna knyta nya kontakter, få se på goda exempel och samverka kring logistiken kring insamling för att uppnå effektivitet. / In today’s textile industry, tons of textiles are incinerated every year without being used once. This because the textile industry today is built like a linear system, in which raw materials enter the system and then leave it in the form of waste. Requirements are now set on a national level in Sweden that requires the textile industry to change its direction and become circular as a part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This poses massive requirements on Swedish textile companies to handle their textile waste material in their processes in new ways. For textile waste material to become the raw material in a new product, new systems are necessary and sometimes cross-industry collaborations are needed. This study aims to contribute with knowledge about the challenges that Swedish textile companies face when textile waste materials are becoming the raw material in new products, and the opportunities to take advantage of through networking and knowledge sharing. With observations, a survey, and semi structured interviews the challenges and opportunities of Swedish textile product developing companies and textile production companies for collecting and using textile waste material was studied. The study also investigates the need for resources and expanded networks that the companies have, to increase the use of textile waste as a raw material. The study shows that the attitude among the production companies to sort and collect their textile waste is positive and that there are great opportunities for an increased collection of textile industrial waste material with a high level of traceability. The study also shows that for the companies that want to use textile waste material as a raw material in their products, new systems for effective collection and processes for refining the materials are asked for. To meet these requirements all parts of the value chain need to be reconsidered and new ways of thinking needs to be applied to try new collaborations and find new paths. The result of the study shows that a platform for just trading materials is not good enough, the companies are also in need of new contacts, inspiration, and solutions for efficient logistics in sorting, collecting, and distributing materials.