Identification and Prioritization of Barriers to Circular Supply Chain Transformation in Vietnam’s Textile and Apparel Industry: An Integrated Spherical Fuzzy Delphi–AHP Approach

This study examines the critical barriers to circular supply chain transformation in Vietnam’s textile and apparel industry using an integrated decision-making framework that combines Spherical Fuzzy Sets (SFSs), SF-Delphi, and SF-AHP. Circular supply chain transformation can help reduce textile waste, improve material recovery, strengthen traceability, and support sustainable development. However, its implementation is still limited by several economic, technological, regulatory, and managerial challenges. By collecting expert opinions and prioritizing barriers according to their relative importance, this study identifies the most influential barriers in the Vietnamese textile context. The SF-Delphi stage validated 22 barriers, and the SF-AHP results indicate that high investment cost, lack of traceability, lack of advanced technologies for reverse logistics, uncertainty in return on investment, and lack of sectoral standardization are the most critical barriers. The study also suggests practical directions, including phased investment, improved traceability systems, stronger reverse logistics technologies, and clearer textile-specific standards. The findings provide useful insights for firms, policymakers, and researchers seeking to support circular supply chain transformation in Vietnam’s textile and apparel industry.