Background: Sustainability is becoming increasingly important from a consumer’s perspective when it comes to their preferences. Simultaneously, mass-market apparel brands are struggling to meet the demand for sustainable clothing and textile products. The industry is in dire need for sustainable development as it is responsible for 8-10% of world’s greenhouse gas emissions and is the cause of 20% of the world’s wastewater. Therefore, it is vital to explore what the barriers are that hinders the development of sustainable business models and the consequences of these barriers. 

Purpose: This thesis aims to explore which barriers and subsequent consequences Swedish clothing & textile organizations face when developing a sustainable business model.

Method: This study follows the interpretivist approach with inductively inspired reasoning. Qualitative semi-structured interviews are conducted on three different cases, which are analysed and compared using the general analytical procedure. The study used Snoek’s (2017) theoretical framework of internal and external barriers to explore the barriers in the Swedish clothing & textile industry.

Findings: This thesis contributes with comprehensive knowledge about barriers and their consequences in the Swedish clothing & textile industry with the help of Snoek’s (2017) framework of internal and external barriers. A total of 24 barriers were classified under four barrier categories; “Costly business model”, “Lack of awareness & low willingness to pay”, “Lack of transparency”, and “Misalignment between policy & regulation within the C&T industry”. Nine were new out of these 24 barriers. A theoretical framework is brought forward illustrating the interconnectivity between “consumer awareness”, “demand and willingness to pay for sustainable products”, “companies match the demand”, and after that “, creating demand for sustainable products”. This study’s findings extend the knowledge about the Swedish clothing & textile industry for organizations that wish to develop sustainability into their business model.