LOOPHOLES

Overview

The textile industry is under pressure to meet sustainability goals amid complex supply chains and evolving EU regulations. Yet many companies still tackle these issues in isolation. This toolkit addresses that gap with a systems thinking approach connecting data, stakeholders, materials, and business strategy to support better decisions and sustainable innovation.

The Brief

To develop effective methods that help companies adopt systems thinking—particularly in relation to data, stakeholders, materials, and business operations—while ensuring alignment with current and emerging EU sustainability policies.

Methods

• • Secondary Research: Reviewed EU sustainability policies (current and upcoming), explored tools that support systems thinking, analyzed documentation from previous versions of the toolkit, and studied product lifecycle mapping approaches.
• • Primary Research: Conducted qualitative interviews with representatives from companies including 7weaves, H+M, Zara, Sting, and Dungse.
• • Play Testing: Tested the toolkit in various configurations and role-played as companies interviewed to evaluate usability and relevance.
• • Toolkit Components: Outlined the essential elements of the toolkit, including the canvases required, duration of each session, modes of engagement, and possible configurations for use.
• • Stakeholder & System Mapping: Mapped stakeholders and activities from four key perspectives: Data, Stakeholders, Materials, and Business.

Synthesis & Results

The canvases serve as a guide to facilitate systems thinking and, over time, enable systemic innovation. Through our research, we identified the importance of starting each session by evaluating a company's current position or defining a potential direction for a new venture. This approach helps clarify the company's unique value proposition (USP) and strategic goals, setting a clear foundation for applying systems thinking within the broader sustainability context.

Canvas System

• • Data Canvas: Enables smarter decisions by connecting insights across the product lifecycle. Maps key data points, links data to decisions and actions, and supports continuous improvement.
• • Stakeholder Canvas: Supports innovation by focusing on the people in the system. Maps key stakeholders, highlights roles and relationships, and informs people-centered decisions.
• • Material Canvas: Encourages innovation in design and production. Focuses on physical products and processes, inspires new materials and technologies, and supports sustainable and future-ready choices.
• • Business Canvas: Connects all perspectives to assess viability. Evaluates product-market fit, aligns with sustainability goals, and ties data, materials, and stakeholders into the business model.

Iteration & User Manual

We ran multiple sessions during and after development to refine the toolkit. Key improvements included adding prompts to clarify policy implications at the right stages and making the User Manual more visual and detailed. Emerging from the need to make systems thinking accessible and actionable, the manual provides structured guidance on how to engage with the toolkit and the canvases, helps navigate different modes of use, and adapt the toolkit to varying business contexts.

Implementation

Loopholes is a Transitions Roadmap toolkit designed to help companies and students adopt systemic innovation, digital transformation, and circular business strategies. It enables users to identify skill gaps, explore data interoperability, develop roadmaps for digital technology adoption, and evaluate sustainable business opportunities.

Collaborators