17 Stakeholders’ Influence Towards Sustainability Transition …
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17.3 Research Design
A case study method as described by Yin (2009) was utilized in this research to identify the barriers to sustainability transition in a real-world environment and explore
solutions to deal with those issues. To understand the complexity of multi-actor
interaction at the different levels of sustainability transition, several organisations
within the textile industry domain were identified as participants for the study and
fitted within the MLP framework. Leading researchers in sustainable systems and
textiles along with stakeholders such as managers, CTOs and other decision makers
in the chosen organisations were selected for the data collection process as they
have considerable mandate in strategizing and making decisions regarding sustainability issues in the organizations (Lahtinen and Yrjölä 2019). Among stakeholders
within the value chain of an organization, managers in particular perceive sustainable development to be a cost and liability of doing operations (Hart and Milstein
2003), a condition that has existed for the last two decades and one that continues
to grow (Oxborrow et al. 2017; Revell and Blackburn 2007). It was for this reason
that strategic decision makers were chosen in this study. To ensure that top level
management did not face managerial isolation issues (Teece 2007), the organisations
confirmed that transparency in communication was maintained within all levels of
operations.
17.3.1 Case Description
The aforementioned negative impacts of the textile industry on the environment
and society, in particular fresh water consumption and pollution, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, have paved the way for new technological development
opportunities to reduce the industry’s footprint.
Between the fall of 2017 and 2018, we collaborated on a project with DyeCoo, a
Dutch company that has successfully commercialized a novel water-free dyeing technique, to estimate the climate implications of the textile dyeing process. The patented
and commercially available technology uses reclaimed CO 2 (carbon dioxide) as a
solvent instead of water for dyeing polyester fibres and textiles. At a temperature and
pressure above the critical point, CO 2 becomes supercritical (scCO 2 ), a state with
liquid like density and gas like viscosity. scCO 2 is a green solvent with high solvability and permeability which allows dyes to dissolve easily in it. The dyes are then
easily absorbed by the fibres. 95% of the CO 2 is recycled in a closed loop system.
The process uses no water, no chemicals and produces no waste. Short batch cycles
and efficient dye use, without a requirement for water evaporation or waste water
treatment all contribute to significantly reduced environmental impact in comparison
to traditional water-based dyeing technologies (DyeCoo 2012).
It is known that incumbent actors within regimes have their own innovation agenda
(Farla et al. 2012) and strategies for improving performance. The purpose of using the
239
17.3 Research Design
A case study method as described by Yin (2009) was utilized in this research to identify the barriers to sustainability transition in a real-world environment and explore
solutions to deal with those issues. To understand the complexity of multi-actor
interaction at the different levels of sustainability transition, several organisations
within the textile industry domain were identified as participants for the study and
fitted within the MLP framework. Leading researchers in sustainable systems and
textiles along with stakeholders such as managers, CTOs and other decision makers
in the chosen organisations were selected for the data collection process as they
have considerable mandate in strategizing and making decisions regarding sustainability issues in the organizations (Lahtinen and Yrjölä 2019). Among stakeholders
within the value chain of an organization, managers in particular perceive sustainable development to be a cost and liability of doing operations (Hart and Milstein
2003), a condition that has existed for the last two decades and one that continues
to grow (Oxborrow et al. 2017; Revell and Blackburn 2007). It was for this reason
that strategic decision makers were chosen in this study. To ensure that top level
management did not face managerial isolation issues (Teece 2007), the organisations
confirmed that transparency in communication was maintained within all levels of
operations.
17.3.1 Case Description
The aforementioned negative impacts of the textile industry on the environment
and society, in particular fresh water consumption and pollution, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, have paved the way for new technological development
opportunities to reduce the industry’s footprint.
Between the fall of 2017 and 2018, we collaborated on a project with DyeCoo, a
Dutch company that has successfully commercialized a novel water-free dyeing technique, to estimate the climate implications of the textile dyeing process. The patented
and commercially available technology uses reclaimed CO 2 (carbon dioxide) as a
solvent instead of water for dyeing polyester fibres and textiles. At a temperature and
pressure above the critical point, CO 2 becomes supercritical (scCO 2 ), a state with
liquid like density and gas like viscosity. scCO 2 is a green solvent with high solvability and permeability which allows dyes to dissolve easily in it. The dyes are then
easily absorbed by the fibres. 95% of the CO 2 is recycled in a closed loop system.
The process uses no water, no chemicals and produces no waste. Short batch cycles
and efficient dye use, without a requirement for water evaporation or waste water
treatment all contribute to significantly reduced environmental impact in comparison
to traditional water-based dyeing technologies (DyeCoo 2012).
It is known that incumbent actors within regimes have their own innovation agenda
(Farla et al. 2012) and strategies for improving performance. The purpose of using the