| Abstract |
While economic geographers have studied cities and regions as the locus of innovation and entrepreneurship in the fashion industry, the role of the local context in coordinating knowledge development and collaborative relations towards sustainable and circular fashion has yet to be examined in depth. Simultaneously, while circular economy literature has emphasized the importance of inter-organizational collaborations for driving transitions towards the circular economy, how these relational processes could take place at the local scale deserves further attention, especially for sectors such as the fashion industry that have developed complex and fragmented global value chain relationships. This paper aims to bridge these knowledge gaps by applying the concept of proximity relations to understanding how fashion industry stakeholders coordinate interactions and collaborations in advancing circular fashion initiatives. Proximity dimensions as developed in innovation and economic geography studies serve as a useful conceptual lens to examine both the spatial and non-spatial forms of stakeholder interactions, thereby highlighting both the local and global scales of coordination in circular fashion initiatives. This paper conducts a systematic literature review on circular fashion, through which a content analysis of proximity relations is performed. The analysis illustrates both the geographical and nongeographical proximity dimensions that matter in coordinating resource flows across the production, consumption, and end-of-life phases to narrow, slow, and close resource flows in fashion. Furthermore, various intermediary organizations support coordination at both the local and global scales. Understanding the various dimensions of proximity relations in circular fashion provides nuanced policy implications for cities and regions on ways to foster both local and global collaborations in making fashion circular. |