Textilindustrin är en av världens mest förorenade industrier idag. Fast fashion företag uppmuntrar konsumenter till ökade köp genom sina låga priser. Förr handlade människor nya kläder vid behov, till skillnad från idag då många konsumerar efter begär. Att textilindustrin har stor påverkan på miljön är många väl medvetna om, men för att de ska kunna ske en förändring måste både konsumenter och företag vidta de åtgärder som krävs. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka slutfasen i den textila värdekedjan. I denna avhandling kommer fenomenet upcycling att studeras och ifrågasättas som en lösning till textilavfall. Upcycling innebär att förlänga livet på ett förbrukat plagg, vilket är en vidareutveckling på en cirkulär ekonomi. Under denna studie har all kontakt med branschfolk varit inom Sverige och arbetet har huvudsakligen tagit plats i Göteborg och Borås. Frågeställningarna har utforskat för- och nackdelarna med upcycling, dessutom har en utvald målgrupp granskats via enkäter för att se deras inställning till ämnet. Resterande information har hämtats från intervjuer samt tidigare forskning. Studien upptäckte vissa svårigheter med att applicera upcycling på sin affärsmodell. Den största utmaningen som belystes var tidsåtgången, problemet kan leda till höga arbetskostnader och ökat konsumentpris. De fördelarna som upcycling bidrar med är att råmaterial och ohälsosamma arbetsförhållanden går att uteslutna. Dessutom kan konsumenten köpa plagg utan att påverka miljön negativt, detta skapar en cirkulär ekonomi. Denna studie görs ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv och kommer att granska ett nytt möjligt tillvägagångssätt för avfallshantering, vilket gör att den kommer att avgränsa från recycling samt kläduthyrning. Studien kommer inte göra en ekonomisk fördjupning utan endast ta upp grundläggande ekonomiska aspekter. / The textile industry has become one of the most polluting industries in the world. Low prices and fast fashion increasing globally has developed a habit of consuming for leisure and not for needs. The awareness of the textile industry's environmental impact is well spoken about, but now consumers and companies need to take action to make a change. The purpose of this study has been to research the end stages of the textile loop, can textile waste turn into new fashionable clothes? In this thesis the phenomena upcycling will be explained, the advantages it brings to the positive impact on the climate justice. Upcycling means adding value to a garment in its last phase to avoid turning into waste, the business model is used to close the loop. During the phase of this thesis all contact with professionals has been within Swedish borders and the major part of this work has been based in Gothenburg and Borås. The main focus has been to explore the benefits and the difficulties with upcycling. Society’s knowledge and attitude is towards upcycling has been explored with the help of interviews and surveys as well as previous studies. The study discovers the difficulties with applying upcycling to its business model, the main problem is consumption of time, which can cause high labor costs and increase the stock price. The benefits that follows from upcycling is that raw material and bad working conditions can be excluded, it has the ability to close the loop and create a circular economy. This study is made from a perspective of sustainability, but does delimitate from the profoundness of economics. In addition, the study will examine a new way for the end phase of a textile garment and will delimitate the methods of recycling and rental of clothes.

This study has been carried out at Klättermusen, a Swedish company producing outdoor clothingand equipment with a focus on durability, safety, function and environment. The purpose of thethesis was to investigate if Klättermusen should use Cradle to Cradle (C2C) in their sustainabilitywork. This was reviewed by studying the working procedure, by making a case study, byinvestigating if there are alternative ways to practise C2C, by studying the weak points of theC2C-certification and by investigating the compatibility with other sustainability tools.The C2C vision is inspired by the ecosystems and is based on the three rules Waste equals food, Usecurrent solar income and Celebrate diversity. An important aspect of C2C is the focus on attaining apositive impact on humans and the environment instead of doing things less bad by minimizingemissions. To make it possible for companies to communicate their effort and progress to theircustomers and become more competitive a C2C certification has been elaborated. The core ofthe certification is an assessment of the materials included in the product to make sure they aresecure, healthy and recyclable. Other parts included in the certification are energy, water andsocial aspects.When studying the C2C certification three of Klättermusen’s products were used as references.To certify these products Klättermusen has to gather information from their suppliers and makestrategies regarding Materials, Material Reutilization, Energy, Water and Social Responsibility. Forexample all the substances that contained in the garment at a concentration of at least 0.01 %must be reported, which means that all suppliers must be requested to list their substances. Thecertification cost of a pair of pants investigated in this study was estimated to 54 500 €.An assessment was made to find alternative ways to practise C2C and identify weak points of theC2C certification. It is based on interviews held with Jenny Pfau working for EPEA and threepersons in contact with C2C in their work; Kjersti Kviseth, Magnus Hedenmark and RichardBlume. According to Jenny Pfau Klättermusen can practise C2C by making a screening, a detailedassessment or a workshop. Both Magnus Hedenmark and Richard Blume practise the frameworkof The Natural Step and think that the C2C certification should be used as a tool within theframework. Some weak points found by these persons in the certification are that it is timeconsuming,not transparent enough and lack of a systems perspective.The C2C certification was compared with bluesign, a sustainability standard for the textileindustry, and Eco Index, a sustainability tool made for the outdoor industry. The purpose was toinvestigate if the C2C certification is compatible with other tools and the compared aspects weremainly lifecycle stages, impact categories and level of detail, but also purpose, procedure,workload, required knowledge and experience, cost, credibility and transparency.Both strengths and weaknesses were found when studying the C2C certification. It has got apositive approach to sustainability and develops safe products from a chemical perspective buthas a lack of systems perspective, is costly and time-consuming. The compatibility of the toolswas discussed with the comparison as a basis. Eco Index is modular and could be adjusted tocomplement the C2C certification but both tools have a big workload. bluesign and the C2Ccertification include the same lifecycle stages but have different strengths, which could makethem complementing each but possibly contradictive.Klättermusen is recommended to make a sustainability vision of their future products and thenchoose which tools to use. Since Klättermusen is already a bluesign system partner it could be agood idea to complement bluesign with Eco Index and C2C, but this choice should depend onthe future vision.

Problem – The essential problem being analyzed in the research paper is the methods of improving supply chain flexibility under certain circumstances and constrains that are imposed on the company. Purpose - The paper aims at providing suggestions on improvement of supply chain flexibility for ICA AB (Clothing) based on comparative analysis on sub-case study of ZARA. The major part of analysis is based on investigation of the relationship between supply chain characteristics and firm performance of both companies that is crucial for finding out areas for improvements for ICA supply chain. Design, Methodology and Approach – The research is based on qualitative analytical approach using two basic case studies on Northern Europe’s leading retailer ICA AB and the largest international fashion retailers ZARA. The main idea of comparing these two retailers is that they have different supply chains in terms of its set up, responsiveness, postponement and level of flexibility. The main method of the research is comparative analysis of two supply chains based on literature review, personal interviews with companies’ representatives (Director of Logistics and Supply Chain Department, Supply Chain Manager – Operating and Category Manager Non-Food) and provided internal materials of the company. Frame of references – Based on various sources of literature concerning supply chain flexibility, enablers for flexibility management in global supply chain, value chain flexibility, manufacturing flexibility, comparison between flexibility and adaptability in supply chain and flexibility as a determinant of supplier selection. We, as researches, also included in the analysis how flexibility relates to company’s performance in the supply chain context. Research questions and Limitations – In order to solve the problem in the research there are certain questions to be answered and supported in empirical study. The first question is how the supply chain looks like for the same products (textile products) in two different companies in terms of its flexibility. The second question is connected to enablers of the supply chain flexibility improvement in specific business environment, namely retailing, after comparative analysis of the aforementioned supply chains. The research provides limited number of suggestions in certain supply chain aspects for ICA AB. As concrete case studies were analyzed, wider and broader range of solutions of increasing supply chain flexibility could not be provided. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the focus company has its own position in the market, strategy, mission, financial strength and available resources. Conclusion - The research paper includes the analytical review of theoretical base on supply chain flexibility and focuses on further understanding of it in textile industry. The paper provides suggestions on improvement of supply chain flexibility for fundamental case study of ICA AB (Clothing). These suggestions are given for improving the flexibility of supply chain in four areas after conducting the comparative analysis based on Model of Supply Chain characteristics and Firm Performance. The analysis was grounded on model modified by authors. While conducting the analysis the authors realized the necessity of dividing Firm Performance into two main types, such as Financial Performance and Non-Financial Performance. This can be considered as authors’ academic contribution and also has its practical implications. The comparative analysis was grounded on the main case of ICA AB and sub-case study of ZARA.

The main environmental concern in the textile industry is about the amount of water discharged and the chemical load it carries. The total quantity of chemicals used in textile mills varies from 10% to over 100% of the weight of the cloth produced. Many chemicals currently used in the textile industry affect the amount and the type of waste produced and their influence the aquatic life of the receiving stream. One of the critical steps in pollution prevention studies is auditing the use of chemicals and making the necessary chemical substitutions. Chemical substitution simply means the replacement and/or reduction of hazardous chemicals in products and processes with less- or non-hazardous ones. This study was conducted on one of the major textile factories in Turkey with a capacity of 20,000 tons of denim fabric per year. During this study, chemical consumption level, recipes applied, environmentally problematic and alternative chemicals were examined. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (BAT) for the Textile Industry was accepted as main reference document and also related case studies were examined. According to the study, over 60% reduction in sulphide, which is very toxic to aquatic life, was achieved by replacing sulphur dyestuff with low sulphide content. By replacing an alternative complexing agent, the mill not only prevented the 3100 kg/month COD load to the WWTP, but also obtained more biodegradable wastewater generated during production. On the other hand, some of the chemical substitution options were on progress or dropped.

Recovery of caustic solution from mercerizing wastewaters of a denim producing textile mill was performed by using membrane technologies. A comprehensive characterization study was conducted to develop the treatment scheme. Highly alkaline and warm condition of wastewater has induced using membranes made of Polyethersulfone (PES). Conducted pretreatment applications such as microfiltration, flocculation and centrifuge have been found unsuccessful to improve further treatment capacities. Hence recovery studies which are UF, NF and pilot-system membrane applications have been implemented without any pretreatment. Effects of TMP and CFV on UF and NF processes were investigated and optimum operating conditions have been defined. UF has accomplished almost complete caustic solution recovery beside high COD and color retentions 84 % and 94 % under 4.03 bar TMP and 0.79 m/s CFV at 20&plusmn / 2 0C. Because of higher capacity of NF membranes also in acid and alkali recovery area, NF process has been studied in addition to UF. NF has also provided nearly complete NaOH recoveries with 92 % COD and 98 % color retentions under 4.03 bar TMP and 0.79 m/s CFV at 20&plusmn / 2 0C. Furthermore temperature effect was also studies by repeating the same processes at 40&plusmn / 2 0C considering the real operating conditions. Temperature has affected the system performance positively with regards to flux increases with insignificant loses in recovery and retention capacities. Lastly a pilot plant study has been conducted and it was found successful despite some operational difficulties due to high inorganic content and temperature of wastewater.

Was wäre, wenn es die Kontinentalsperre nicht gegeben hatte? Die Beantwortung dieser Frage setzt eine Beschäftigung mit den Konsequenzen der Blockade auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der betroffenen Länder voraus. Desweiteren ist die Suche nach einem möglichen Alternativszenario notwendig, um einen Vergleich zwischen realem und kontrafaktischem Verlauf ziehen zu können. Diese Arbeit betrachtet zunächst die unterschiedliche Entwicklung der Textilindustrien in England und dem deutschsprachigen Raum. Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Zustand vor, während und nach der Blockade leitet in die kontrafaktischen Überlegungen über. Hierbei wird ein Vorschlag entwickelt, wie ein solches kontingentes Alternativszenario aussehen könnte. Die in dieser Arbeit angestellten Überlegungen sollen einen Beitrag dazu leisten, die Bedeutung der Kontinentalsperre für die europaische Wirtschaftsgeschichte einschätzen zu können ...

M. Tech. Business Administration (MBA) / The objective of the study was to identify factors that have enabled Chinese footwear and textile products to thrive in the Central Business District of Johannesburg. China has become Africa's largest trading partner. Over 800 Chinese companies currently trade in 49 countries in Africa resulting in a 10-fold increase in trade between 2000 and 2010. Since the early 1990s, 800 local textiles producers have ceased operation, and over 60,000 jobs have been lost. Accordingly, the South African Government imposed import duty on Chinese textiles products in August 2006. Moreover, Chinese entrepreneurs experience logistical bottlenecks in importing products, language barriers, and still have to comply with government requirements. Also, consumers have become price-sensitive considering the arguably inferior quality of Chinese products. In spite of the hurdles highlighted above, Chinese textiles enterprises are more successful than their competitors. The results of this study showed that the relative success of Chinese footwear and textile companies in comparison with local enterprises was attributed to the practice of rewarding employees with gifts, the provision of training to employees on entrepreneurial skills, and the ability to keep accurate records on business activities. Findings of the study are valuable to stakeholders such as the local footwear and textile enterprises as well as the South African Department of Trade and Industry and the South African Chamber of commerce and Industry.

Between 1813 and 1825 the Boston Manufacturing Company built a textile factory in Waltham, Massachusetts. Their factory is known for many important firsts in American industry, including the first commercially viable power loom, one of the first vertically integrated factories, and one of the first join stock financed manufacturing concerns. This successful factory became the direct model for the large textile mills built along the Merrimack River and elsewhere, iconic locations of American post-colonial industrialization. This dissertation looks at the early development and success of the Boston Manufacturing Company from a geographical perspective. It argues that in order build a successful factory, the company, its managers, and its workers, had to transform their "place": a notion that I investigate from an economic-geographical and anthropological point of view, moving from site, to landscape, to geographic networks. On these grounds, I show how the logic of the factory's development was both embedded in and shaping the emerging structures surrounding it, and how, in turn, the company’s later move to Lowell as one of the iconic industrial sites depended on its having successfully learned the business of "place-making" in its foundational Waltham decade. / History of Science

Globally operating business organizations tend to use a global strategy by using a standardized strategy as a fixed format. However, this has developed to be very ineffective for the ability to compete in the different markets worldwide. The adaptation of local preferences hence, seems to be crucial but also very complex for multinational retailers. This study therefore, determines the complexity of considerations that a shift from a global to a transnational strategy includes. The decision making of which strategy is appropriate for multinational retailers to compete on a global market can be quite puzzling, as is can be seen in the bed textile segment. Therefore this research paper investigates, within a case study of IKEA’s bed textile department, if a shift from a global to a transnational strategy is of advantage for a multinational retailer like IKEA and to what extend cultural awareness has to be considered. The methods that were used for this study include a literature review in the mentioned focus area and a collection of primary data through a qualitative research design with an open questionnaire sent to the Sales Leaders of IKEA. The research has shown that market research is an important factor when it comes to cultural related differences between the countries. Also, when dealing with the concern of adaptation of the market relevant bed textile sizes to the product range, the Sales Leaders of IKEA have perceived different concerns. Therewith a full adaptation may not be the solution for all businesses, since this depends on the product and market preferences. The cultural preferences in each country and the right degree of standardization and local preferences are a big issue for the global bed textile industry and are hence perceived as the main challenges in this concern. Possible paths for future investigations are shown by the results of this study. Thus, an inclusion of other cases could enable the possibility of a generalization of the study’s findings. Also, the same case study could be expanded by including customers input in the individual markets; this would lead to a better understanding of the customer’s preferences and a higher validity of the study. Last but not least this study has shown that there is no simple answer given whether a shift from a global towards a transnational strategy is of advantage for multinational retailers; however interesting factors concerning the shift could be identified.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration