In this paper we fuse design thinking and the sociology of translation, particularly Callon’s four moments
of translation (1986), creating an analytical framework to explore organizational barriers to change
towards sustainability in the textile and fashion industry. Drawing on design thinking we propose to add a
fifth moment to Callon’s framework to highlight the value of iterations or “overlaps” (Callon, 1986) in
processes of change. The paper, which is co-written by a textile design researcher and a PhD student with
a background in cultural studies, is based on a case study of a workshop series developed and delivered by
Textiles Environment Design (TED) at Hennes & Mauritz (H&M). Based on an analysis and discussion of
the workshop series, we argue that design thinking, especially through its use of design tools, has the
potential to make the challenges and opportunities related to processes of sustainability change tangible
and thus more actionable at individual and organizational level. We further argue that the framework
established could facilitate a more nuanced understanding of organizational barriers to change towards
sustainability and also bestow the field of design thinking with additional analytical concepts to explore its
methods and communicate its potential value to processes of change.