Textile fibers have become a major issue in the debate on sustainable fashion and clothing consumption. While consumers are encouraged to choose more sustainable and circular textile materials, studies have indicated that a reduction in production and consumption has the greatest potential to reduce the total environmental impact. This can be considered an ecocentric perspective with a focus on degrowth as opposed to a technocentric view where new technologies are expected to solve environmental problems while economic growth continues. Based on a survey in Norway (N = 1284), we investigate how the techno- and ecocentric perspectives impact Norwegian consumers’ fiber preferences and perceptions and the corresponding effects on their clothing consumption. We found that the majority of consumers preferred natural fibers compared to synthetic materials. This contradicts current market practices and the recommendations by material sustainability comparison tools such as the Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI), where many synthetics receive better ratings than natural fibers. We also found that perceptions of high sustainability regarding fibers were negatively correlated with reduced consumption. Our study suggests that a continued focus on material substitution and other technological measures for reducing climate change will impede the move toward sustainability in the textile sector.

Production and use of plastic products have drastically increased during the past decades and their environmental impacts are increasingly spotlighted. At the same time, coarse wool, a by-product of meat and dairy production, goes largely unexploited in the EU. This paper asks why more coarse wool is not used in consumer goods, such as acoustic and sound-absorbing products, garden products, and sanitary products. This is answered through a SWOT analysis of results from a desktop study and interviews with producers of these products made from wool, as well as policy documents relating to wool, waste, textiles, and plastic. Findings show that on a product level, the many inherent properties of wool create opportunities for product development and sustainability improvements and that using the coarser wool represents an opportunity for replacing plastics in many applications as well as for innovation. This is, however, dependent on local infrastructure and small-scale enterprises, but as such, it creates opportunities for local value chains, value creation, and safeguarding of local heritage. The shift to small-scale and local resource utilization requires systemic change on several levels: Here the findings show that policy can incentivize material usage transitions, but that these tools are little employed currently.

Textile disposal has become a pressing environmental concern, yet it is often treated as the mere endpoint of consumption rather than as a meaningful practice in its own right. This article examines how textile disposal is justified and made sense of in everyday life, and what these justifications imply for sustainability. Drawing on a six-month wardrobe study in which 28 Norwegian households collected textiles they would otherwise have discarded, the article combines social practice theory with conventions theory to analyse the cultural logics underpinning disposal. The findings show that disposal is shaped by multiple, overlapping conventions that allow participants to reconcile competing demands. Market and industrial conventions frame disposal as reasonable when items are cheap, low quality or inconvenient to maintain, thereby normalising short lifespans. Domestic and civic conventions, by contrast, frame disposal as an expression of care, towards the household, the self and others, through practices such as decluttering, donation and redistribution. Environmental concerns are also present but are often accommodated within these practices rather than displacing them. Rather than locating tensions between care, capitalism and sustainability within individuals, the analysis shows how these tensions are managed within practices themselves. Disposal thus emerges as a key mechanism through which competing cultural logics are aligned, while simultaneously contributing to the reproduction of high-consumption patterns. The article concludes that efforts to reduce textile waste must move beyond end-of-life solutions and individual behaviour change to address the cultural conventions that make disposal both meaningful and legitimate in everyday life.

Extending product lifetimes through repair is a central strategy in sustainable consumption and circular economy initiatives. This article examines how consumers evaluate textile damages and potential to repair, drawing on wardrobe interviews with 28 Norwegian households. Over a six-month period, we tracked 3211 clothing and household textile items going out of use, of which only 107 (3.3 per cent) had been repaired or altered prior to disposal, almost exclusively as home repairs. Based on participant evaluations, we developed a three-level repair scale that reflects perceived repair complexity and feasibility. This scale, combined with item-level damage data, reveals both practical and conceptual challenges in promoting textile repair. Repairability in textiles is more complex than in other product groups, such as electronics, because many common damages fall outside the scope of conventional repair schemes. We argue for a practice-based understanding of repairability that accounts for the interaction between damage types, consumer competences, cultural meanings and systems of provision. Our policy recommendations highlight the need to go beyond product design and service provision to also support social learning, cultural normalization and the integration of repair into everyday life, recognizing its social and cultural significance as essential for effectively extending clothing lifespans.

While consumption and identity have been intimately connected in both everyday life and academic research, the practice-theoretical turn has led to identity being sidelined in consumption research. This paper explores how people make their identities discursively available through accounts of textile disposal and how identity affects what makes sense for them to do. Based on interviews with Norwegian households, two major life transitions, cohabitation and parenthood, are examined as sites for negotiations of clothing and textile disposal. Findings suggest that cohabitation alters the physical location and context of relationships, requiring couples to negotiate shared material arrangements while navigating expectations of proper cohabitation. Similarly, transitioning to parenthood reshapes daily practices, as parents navigate competing practices of sustainability and family life. Findings reveal a parental learning process in which understandings of consumption evolve, shifting what is seen as “appropriate” or “necessary”. This paper contributes to a nuanced understanding of consumption as it views individual identity as influencing the performance of practices and the materials deemed necessary, thereby extending the understanding of consumption beyond mere engagement in practices. Individual variations in practice enactment highlights consumption as a complex process encompassing both mundane, routinized behaviors and reflexive practices of accounting for these behaviors.