BFTT Work Package 5: A Systemic Material Innovation Study of the Current State and Future Possibilities for Circular Polyester

This dataset comprises 18 interviews with 20 individuals considered to be stakeholders in the circular polyester eco-system and experts in terms of their expereince of working with circular polyester at different points in the life cycle.
These interviews were conducted as part of an investigation into the barriers to, and opportunities for, achieving Circular Synthetics. Research was funded by Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology Creative Research & Development Partnership (BFTT CRDP—£5.5 million) led by the University of the Arts London, part of the UK Creative Industries Clusters Programme (CICP) funded by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, and delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation.
To achieve a systemic perspective on the area of investigation researchers co-created an eco-system map from three different perspectives: a sportwear brand (SME), a textile recycling trade organisation, and a regenerative recycler. This provided a techno-economic view of the circular polyester eco-system in the UK, which was needed to meet the overarching goal of supporting SMEs in their transition. This map was used to identify potential research participants. Based on this map participants were selected from the researchers’ own networks and those of the existing participants. This initial selection ‘snowballed’ into a final selection of 20 ‘industry experts’ who each participated in a semi-structured interview around one hour in length. In addition to questions, the interviewer used three canvases to take notes as a way of probing and guiding reflection. The aim was to explore participants’ day-to-day encounters with polyester textiles while pursing circular systems, processes, materials and products. This was an important feature of the research, that the real situation being observed by people working in close proximity to polyester would be revealed and challenge common assumptions. During the interviews, researchers probed participants’ perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in circular polyester. Participants also took part in mapping life cycles for polyester sports garments, identifying key points on a roadmap to circular synthetics and co-creating a definition for circular synthetics. 
An analysis was published in Sustainability [see related materials]

本数据集包含对20位在循环聚酯生态系统中被视为利益相关者且在生命周期不同阶段从事循环聚酯工作方面的专家进行的18次访谈。这些访谈作为一项关于实现循环合成障碍与机遇的研究的一部分而进行。研究由时尚商业、纺织与技术创新研发伙伴关系（BFTT CRDP—资助金额为550万英镑）资助，该伙伴关系由伦敦艺术大学领导，是英国创意产业集群计划（CICP）的一部分，由产业战略挑战基金资助，并由艺术与人文研究委员会（AHRC）代表英国研究与创新机构实施。为了从系统视角审视研究区域，研究人员从三个不同角度共同创建了一个生态系统图：运动品牌（中小企业）、纺织回收贸易组织和再生回收商。这一图示为英国循环聚酯生态系统提供了技术经济视角，这对于支持中小企业过渡至循环经济至关重要。该图被用于识别潜在的研究参与者。基于此图，参与者从研究人员自身的网络和现有参与者的网络中被选取。这一初步选择经过‘滚雪球’效应最终形成了一个由20位‘行业专家’组成的最终选择，每位专家都参与了一项时长约一小时的半结构化访谈。除了提问外，访谈者还使用三张画布来记录笔记，作为一种探查和引导反思的方式。目的是探索参与者在追求循环系统、流程、材料和产品时的日常与聚酯纺织品相遇的经历。这是研究的一个重要特点，即观察那些与聚酯工作紧密相关的人们所观察到的实际情况将被揭示并挑战常见的假设。在访谈过程中，研究人员探查了参与者对循环聚酯中挑战与机遇的看法。参与者还参与了聚酯运动服装生命周期图的绘制，确定了通往循环合成路线图上的关键点，并共同定义了循环合成。相关分析已发表在《可持续性》杂志上[见相关材料]。