A case study of Amsterdam

The textile industry is the second most polluting industry in the world (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2017a). It is known for its increasing resource and energy consumption as a result of fast fashion culture, resource-intensity and wasteful practices (Dissanayake & Sinha, 2013). Due to their pressing nature, negative environmental and social pressures of the textile industry have entered political discourse.

This research assesses what types of policy interventions could stimulate system wide sustainability improvements of the jeans life cycle, and what additional criteria would complement the environmental criterium. To this end, it applies a mixed method approach, using qualitative and quantitative data to assess the current state of sustainability of Amsterdam’s denim jeans system. To inform public decision makers, the policy analysis process as described by Patton et al. (2015) is applied. This method allows for the integration of different policy interventions in the analysis.

Author: Tess van Basten Batenburg

Image credits

Icon image: Denim.jpg

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