Austria’s textiles sector is facing operational challenges as organisations manage logistical pressures during the shift from linear to circular models. Limited automation, reliance on road transport, and declining collection quality are compounding difficulties across Austrian textile reverse logistics systems. A new study has identified multiple weaknesses in Austria’s textile reverse logistics system, including high transport costs, manual sorting dependence, storage limitations, and contamination issues. Researchers map these challenges across collection, sorting, transport, interim storage, and resale.
- Transport operations represent a major expense, with staffing shortages further limiting vehicle availability for collection tasks.
- Processing operations remain predominantly manual, with multiple handling stages required to achieve acceptable quality standards, increasing labour intensity and limiting efficiency improvements.
- Seasonal storage restrictions create bottlenecks during transitional fashion cycles, forcing operators to absorb warehousing costs and reduce efficiency when managing collected inventories effectively.
- The paper ‘Advancing Circular Economy in the Textile Industry: A Comprehensive Study of Reverse Logistics and Operational Practices in Austria’, by Manuela Brandner and others from the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria has been published in Procedia Computer Science.
THE STUDY: The researchers conducted a detailed examination of reverse logistics in Austria’s textile industry. Using qualitative expert interviews, they explored operational challenges in collection, transport, sorting, interim storage, and resale. The study examined process steps and has contributed to a differentiated understanding of operational dynamics affecting collection, sorting, transport, interim storage, and resale.
- Nine expert interviews were conducted with representatives of companies that deal with seconds, charitable organisations, recycling firms, socio-economic enterprises, and consultants familiar with Austrian market operations.
- Participants were selected for their expertise across different process stages, ensuring insights covered both profit-driven commercial firms and social-mission enterprises handling textile flows.
- Interviews were semi-structured, averaging around one hour, and conducted in German or English between April and May 2025.
- The authors of the study are Brandner, Sarah Pfoser, Elisabeth Voraberger, Patrick Brandtner and Oliver Schauer.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: Expert interviews revealed concerns across commercial and socio-economic operators about profitability, staffing, and textile quality. Many collected items failed to meet resale standards, limiting higher-value second-hand opportunities and increasing the share of textiles diverted into energy recovery processes.
- Transport dependency on road networks makes operations vulnerable to fuel cost changes, while companies report personnel shortages that restrict vehicle fleet utilisation.
- Many collected items failed to meet resale standards, limiting higher-value second-hand opportunities and increasing the share of textiles diverted into energy recovery processes.
- Commercially operated second-hand stores face competition from low-priced new fashion items, a factor that negatively affects their profitability.
- Socio-economic enterprises reported challenges balancing their social objectives with the need to maintain financially sustainable operations under competitive market conditions.
WHAT THE DATA SHOWS: The Austrian study provides multiple data points illustrating systemic inefficiencies in textile reverse logistics and their wider environmental implications. These numbers highlight both local operational pressures and global consumption risks confronting the sector. From transport cost allocation to projected second-hand market growth, the findings underscore the scale of restructuring needed for Austria to meet Europe’s 2025 collection targets.
- One Austrian operator estimated transport costs consume around 25% of total expenses, representing a major financial burden across collection operations.
- Energy requirements for second-hand clothing processing are 10–20 times lower than producing new garments, underlining its relative environmental efficiency.
- Worldwide losses from clothing discarded despite being wearable are estimated at US$ 460 billion. Without structural change, the textiles sector could consume over 26% of the global carbon budget aligned with the two-degree pathway by 2050.
