Circularity in Colombia’s Textile Industry: Practices and Business Models Through a Multiple-Case Study

In Colombia, roughly 95% of textile waste is landfilled, incinerated, or otherwise mismanaged, with documented impacts on ecosystems and water bodies. Although environmental legislation has increasingly embraced the circular economy at the global level in recent years, the country still lacks a specific and effective policy for textile-waste management. This policy gap coexists with an industry in which microenterprises account for about 94.2% of firms, which pose challenges for implementing and scaling circular solutions. Against this backdrop, Circularity in Colombia’s Textile Industry: Practices and Business Models Through a Multiple-Case Study adopts an exploratory qualitative approach to ask: How are circular economy practices being implemented across Colombia’s textile industry, and which enabling factors and challenges influence the adoption and scaling of circular business models? Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten small companies that integrate circularity into their value propositions, within-case and cross-case analyses were conducted based on: (i) mapping circular practices by lifecycle stage (design, production, distribution, and post-consumer), (ii) the 9R framework, and (iii) a Circular Business Model (CBM) typology: Circular suppliers, Product life extension, Sharing/Access, Resource Recovery, and Product-as-a-Service. Findings show the prevalence of cycling strategies, centered on remanufacturing/upcycling and the use of surplus/deadstock, complemented by resource recovery where industrial alliances exist (e.g., re-spinning, panels, concrete, PP/PET inputs). Key enablers include reliable access to recovered inputs, partner networks, and flexible capacity via satellite workshops. Recurring challenges include material heterogeneity and labor intensity, capacity/infrastructure gaps, price sensitivity and higher costs of recycled inputs, a regulatory vacuum (absence of EPR), and logistics frictions. The social dimension was a critical finding that was briefly addressed: recyclers and workshop workers, often operating under informal conditions, whose fair inclusion emerges as a necessary condition for scaling circularity in the sector.