Combining SWOT with AHP for Analyzing the Adoption of a Circular Economy in the Apparel Industry in Brazil

The Brazilian fashion industry is the country’s second-largest generator of direct and indirect jobs. Despite Brazilian design being a world reference mainly for prints and summer-related collections, it is also the second most polluting industry in the country. We investigated the factors that impact adopting a circular economy in the textile industry using an association of a SWOT analysis and the AHP approach. We analyzed the adoption of a circular economy in the apparel industry. The opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, and threats were associated using the evaluators’ comparison of the selected SWOT items related to the application of a circular economy in the conventional apparel industry were used as criteria for the AHP approach. The case study used managers from two intimate apparel industries in northeastern Brazil and four academics in Production Engineering. By applying the concepts to the case study, we found that expanding products, upcycling, and increasing sustainability were the three vital criteria for reaching a circular economy in the studied apparel industry.