Sustainability has become a major focus of fashion brands in the past decade. As organisations evaluate the root cause of the problem and find solutions, a growing number of fashion companies are set to establish supply chain transparency and adopt circular business models. The growing number of innovations in terms of fibres, processes, etc also point towards this trend.
The global textile and apparel industry, generated over $1.5 trillion in annual revenue and used 109 million tonnes of fibres in 2020. The industry employs over 300 million people, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. According to a Quantis report, textiles is only second to the oil industry in generating pollution, accounting for approximately 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. Every year millions of tonnes of clothes are manufactured, worn, and thrown away. The textile and apparel industry is also one of the major contributors of plastic microfibres entering the oceans. It is anticipated that by 2050 the textile and apparel industry will use up to 25 per cent of the world’s carbon budget. The textile chain consumes a huge amount of water and energy, along with the use of various chemicals and harmful substances.
It is for these reasons and also because of the fierce use of natural resources, sustainability has been highlighted as a growing concern for the textile and apparel industry. While natural fibre cultivation involving pesticides results in decreased soil fertility and water pollution, the textile industry is a prevalent contributor to serious health issues and environmental concerns, including water and air pollutions. There is a dire need to adopt new methods of manufacturing, which do not hamper the environment, to help sustain not only the textile industry but the environment too.
Sustainable Fabrics
The easiest and to an extent surest way to go sustainable is the use of eco-friendly fabrics for all textiles and clothing items. The following are the six most sustainable fabrics used in the industry.
Linen: Linen is made from the fibres of the flax plant. It was used by ancient Egyptians because of its strength and ability to keep people cool and absorb water. Nowadays, when it is grown in geographically suitable areas, such as Europe (almost three-quarters of flax is grown in the EU), there is no need for pesticides or fertilisers, and it requires much less water than cotton and is good for soil health. The material itself is hard-wearing so doesn’t need to be replaced for years and dries quicker than cotton and other fabrics.
Wool: Wool is a renewable, durable and biodegradable fabric. Additionally, some sheep farmers produce wool using techniques which sequester carbon from the atmosphere to reduce the environmental impact. The strength and resilience of the fabric – it is both flame-resistant and water-repellent – means that it lasts for a long time, reducing the need for fast fashion replacements.
Better Cotton: Cotton farming requires gallons of water and lot of pesticides. However, there are more sustainable ways of producing the fabric. The Better Cotton Initiative, for example, supports farmers across the world to care for water, soil health and natural habitats with certain specifications. It covers 12.5 per cent of the market. For apparels made from Better Cotton one must look out for products that are certified with the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) label. This means that the manufacturing process doesn’t use toxic fertilisers or pesticides which are harmful for our environment or the farmers.
Hemp: Hemp is technically a plant in the cannabis family but doesn’t have any of the psychogenic abilities of marijuana and has been used to make fabric for hundreds of years. It grows much faster and requires less water than cotton, doesn’t require pesticides, doesn’t deplete the soil the way many crops do and, it is a carbon-negative crop (i.e., it removes more CO2 from the atmosphere than it emits). Like linen, hemp fabric also has antimicrobial properties and has a natural UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) to protect skin from the sun’s harmful rays.
Tencel/Lyocell: Tencel is the trademarked name of a type of lyocell created by the Austrian manufacturer Lenzing. Lyocell is a semi-synthetic fabric made using wood pulp from eucalyptus trees. In producing Tencel only sustainably managed forests are used. It’s breathable, wicks away moisture and has anti-bacterial properties. It requires very little water and energy to produce, compared to most other fabrics, and while it is made using chemicals, the process is a “closed-loop system,” which means that more than 99 per cent of the textile waste can be recycled over and over.
Econyl: Created by the Italian company Aquafil, Econyl is made from synthetic waste like recycled plastic, waste fabric and fishing nets pulled from the ocean that are woven and spun into a new nylon yarn.
Like Tencel, it uses a closed-loop system that prevents significant chemical runoff and requires very little water to produce. It is a durable and more sustainable alternative to synthetics like nylon or polyester. One downside, however, is that because Econyl is made from plastic it can release microplastics, or tiny non-biodegradable particles, into the ocean and waterways through washing cycles. However, a sustainable washing bag like GuppyFriend can help trap those tiny pieces before they hit the pipes.
Fast Fashion
Fast fashion refers to the mass production of inexpensive clothing in response to the latest trends and high-fashion designs. With manufacturing becoming cheaper and abundance of labour, there has been a continuous rise in fast fashion in the last few years. Fast fashion has negative effects on the environment and is reportedly unethical in terms of production.
As per a United Nations report, global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014. The report also revealed that the clothing industry is responsible for approximately 20 per cent of water wastage on a global level. It takes 10,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of cotton or approximately 3,000 litres of water for one cotton shirt. Furthermore, textile dyeing requires toxic chemicals that subsequently end up in our oceans.
A separate study by the University of California at Santa Barbara found that polyester fleece jackets release 1.7 grams of plastic microfibres each time they go into the wash. Overall, the textiles economy is expected to have released over 20 million tonnes of plastic microfibres into the ocean by 2050. The discarded clothes that are often left behind in deserts such as in the Chile’s Atacama, take hundreds of years to biodegrade, polluting the environment and water.
A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, titled A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future states that every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned.
These alarming statistics call for greater urgency in integrating sustainability into textile and apparel production. Sustainability in the textile and clothing industry goes beyond using just organic materials and efficient processes. It means addressing the entire chain in which clothing is produced, the people who produce, and increasing the longevity of a product before it reaches the landfill.
One way of tackling the adverse effects of the textile industry is through circular economy-based approach. By moving to a circular system, the textile and apparel industry can unlock an enormous economic opportunity. Realising this opportunity requires new business models and collaboration across the value chain (e.g., production, marketing, and after-sales care), to keep safe materials in use.
Closing The Loop Through Circularity
A circular economy for textiles and apparel is the one that creates better products and services for customers, contributes to a resilient and blooming industry, and rejuvenates the environment. It prioritises the rights and equity of each person involved in the textile and apparel industry and creates new opportunities for a distributed, diverse, and inclusive growth.
Recycling of textiles, a crucial part of the circular economy for textiles and apparel, has the potential to reduce GHG emissions and freeing precious land for other uses. To this end, several countries have outlined plans to increase recycling and reduce textile waste. For example, China aims to recycle 25 per cent of all its textile waste and churn out 2 million tonnes of recycled fibre by 2025. This is part of its push to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060, according to a document jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Commerce of China.
The European Union has also released its Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles which sets out the vision and concrete actions to ensure that by 2030 textile products based on the EU market are long lived and recyclable, use recycled fibres as much as possible, free of hazardous substances and produced in respect of social rights and the environment. The Strategy proposes actions for the entire lifecycle of textiles products, while supporting the ecosystem in the green and digital transitions. It addresses the way textiles are designed and consumed, including by looking also at sustainable technological solutions and innovative business models.
Meanwhile, the EU’s Waste Directive Framework requires countries to separate all textile waste by 2025, and several European nations have implemented extended producer responsibility schemes, making brands and retailers responsible for post-consumer waste and requiring financial contributions from producers for the collection, recycling and reuse of products. New design requirements for textiles under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation has set mandatory minimums for the inclusion of recycled fibres in textiles, making them longer lasting, and easier to repair and recycle. Under the proposed regulation, sustainable textiles products will become the norm in the EU. The proposal would also ban the destruction of unsold products under certain conditions, including unsold or returned textiles.
If all countries frame such policies for circular textiles and implement them, it will tremendously accelerate the process of textile industry going circular. According to a new report from the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the fashion industry can become 80 per cent circular by 2030 with increased investment in existing recycling technologies and infrastructures. Companies are required to increase their uptake of recycled inputs and explore circular models and invest in new technologies that can close the loop efficiently and cost-effectively.
Engaging in closed-loop recycling is seen as a critical opportunity to both reduce the extractive cost of virgin raw materials and limit textile waste. A closed loop recycling system enables to integrate waste materials back into production chain without degrading quality. It recycles materials again and again, so that theoretically, they remain in continuous circulation. Brands leading the charge in this area are investing in research and development and engaging in pre-collaborative initiatives. For example, Inditex’s Zara, a leading fashion brand has committed that 50 per cent of the items it sells in 2022 will be made from recycled materials and “ecologically grown cotton”.
Likewise, Parade, the online intimate and loungewear brand, has launched an initiative to collect and recycle undergarments. Other brands like Boohoo, H&M and Kering (the group that includes the luxury houses Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen) have also set up similar sustainability goals to use more recycled and organic materials.
The key to circularity is the ability to track and trace textile and apparel products throughout their life cycle, and into their second and subsequent lives. The demand for sustainable textiles is increasing, which is great news. But guaranteeing that the materials are sustainably produced is tricky even for the most devoted fashion brands. However, there are several initiatives that are working to close the loop when it comes to textiles recycling.
The Billie System – Hong Kong-based yarn spinner Novetex Textiles, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) has developed a method called The Billie System for mechanical recycling of cotton blends. It provides an innovative way for brands and companies looking to revive excess inventory, unused raw materials, or textile waste. The Billie System combines new and existing technologies to create a waterless solution for recycling textile waste and lowering chemical waste. The machines can process up to three tonnes of recycled fibres per day, which can be blended with virgin materials to produce yarn for various products and garments.
EcoCycle – Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread company, has launched EcoCycle, a range of water dissolvable threads to facilitate the disassembly of garments. Coats has been looking to scale up its circular solution through collaboration at the garment design stage. The new thread retains its durability during the life of the garment but when washed in an industrial machine at 95oC, seams sewn with EcoCycle dissolve. This enables the garment to be easily and quickly disassembled by simply pulling it apart so the non-textile and textile components can be sorted for recycling.
The Circular Fashion Partnership – It is a cross-sectorial project, led by the Global Fashion Agenda, to support the development of the textile recycling industry in Bangladesh by capturing and directing post-production fashion waste back into the production of new fashion products. In addition, the partnership seeks to find solutions for the COVID-19 related pile-up of deadstock and to engage regulators and investors around the current barriers and economic opportunities in the country.
Circulose – The Swedish textile-to-textile recycling innovator Renewcell has signed a Letter of Intent with Birla Cellulose, the pulp and fibre business of Grasim Industries Limited, a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group and one of the world’s largest man-made cellulosic fibre producers, concerning a long-term commercial collaboration for man-made cellulosic fibre production. The agreement affirms the two companies’ intent to work together to supply high quality Liva Reviva textile fibres made using Circulose, Renewcell’s 100 per cent recycled textile raw material, to global fashion brands and textile industry in the coming years. The shared ambition is to use 30,000 tonnes of Circulose per year. Renewcell has also partnered with brands H&M and Levi’s and has an agreement with Beyond Retro’s parent company Bank & Vogue, which supplies post-consumer waste to Renewcell. Renewcell is building a new plant that will be able to recycle 60,000 tonnes of textiles a year by 2022.
OnceMore – Austria’s Lenzing AG, a global manufacturer and supplier of wood-based specialty fibres, and Sweden’s Sodra Group, a world-class producer of pulp, have signed a cooperation agreement in June 2021, with the goal to process 25,000 tons of textile waste per year by 2025, which equates to 50,000 tons of pulp containing 50 per cent wood and 50 per cent post-consumer waste. Under this agreement, the two companies will combine their expertise and knowledge in a bid to speed up the journey towards circularity. The companies have named their recycled pulp OnceMore. In the OnceMore process, cotton and polyester are separated from polycotton blends, which is one of the world’s most widely used textile types.
BlockTexx – BlockTexx is a clean technology company that recovers polyester and cellulose from textiles and clothing. Its mission is to divert textiles and clothing away from landfill and accelerate the global textile recycling industry towards a sustainable future. Using separation of fibre technology (S.O.F.T), the company estimates that one can reclaim “98 per cent of resources from cotton and polyester garments” by converting them back into raw materials that can then be used for production. BlockTexx is building a textile recycling facility for polyester-cotton blends that aims to recycle 10,000 tonnes a year by the end of 2022.
Green Machine – In 2021, Turkey’s denim company Isko signed a licensing agreement for the “green machine” technology developed by HKRITA, which recycles cotton and polyester blends. The Green Machine employs an ultra-efficient hydrothermal treatment method that decomposes cotton into cellulose powders and enables the separation of polyester fibres from blended fabrics. The closed-loop process uses only water, heat and less than 5 per cent biodegradable green chemicals. In addition, Isko and HKRITA will work together to develop related technology.
SIPTex – In 2020, Sysav waste treatment and recycling company of Sweden opened the world’s first industrial-scale, fully automated textile sorting plant, SIPTex which stands for ‘Swedish innovation platform for textile sorting’. It will be the link which is currently lacking between textile collection and high-quality textile recycling with the capacity to sort 24,000 tonnes of textile waste a year.
Fibersort – In 2020, Belgium-based Valvan Baling Systems launched Fibersort, a fully automatic technology specifically developed for the sorting of textiles based on fibre composition and colour properties that can sort around 900 kilogram of post-consumer textiles per hour, enabling a closed loop textiles solution.
Reuse and Repurpose of Clothing
Reuse and repurposing of clothes is an essential activity in facilitating a circular economy. Some countries, like Germany have high collection rates of textiles for reuse to the tune of 75 per cent of textiles which are usually exported to other countries for extended use. However, in the countries where second-hand clothing is exported, similar collection infrastructure does not exist and hence their used clothing most certainly ends up in landfills. The practice, rather than effecting a fundamental change, merely delegates the responsibility to an ineffective system, with the resulting damage to the environment being the same with only a change in geography.
Resale and Rental Approach
Ellen Macarthur Foundation estimates that $560 billion could be added to clothing consumer pockets annually if they decide not to throw their clothing. The resale and rental approach clothing use can be extended, which can slash the environmental impact of clothing. Vestiaire Collective, a fashion resale platform unveiled its first impact report in 2022, revealing that 70 per cent of customers believe that shopping on the platform prevents them from buying brand-new items. The inaugural impact report, created in collaboration with PwC, adds that shopping with Vestiaire Collective saves 90 per cent of the environmental cost of a new fashion item, showing that resale platforms can reduce the fashion industry’s impact on the environment.
Traceability
Traceability is the ability to trace the whole lifecycle of a product from the raw material to the consumer, to disposal and recycle. Improving transparency and traceability has become a priority for the textile and clothing industry to increase its ability to manage the value chains more effectively.
During the last decade, supplier relationships have been especially affected by local and global events. For example, in 2013 the Rana Plaza building of Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,132 people and wounding more than 2,500 others. This tragedy became a symbol of the fashion industry’s impact and need for sustainable reform. Each year, the Rana Plaza disaster reminds textile and apparel industry to recognise and redefine the working conditions involved in the manufacturing of clothes.
According to an OECD report, traceability is one of the mechanisms that can be adapted to address the identified issues such as smooth functioning of the textile and apparel supply chain, product counterfeiting, inefficient recall practice and lack of visibility. However, despite its various benefits, traceability is still an evolving, less adopted mechanism in the textile and apparel supply chain. According to a McKinsey’s CPO (chief purchasing officer) survey, sustainability and transparency are perceived as the most compelling priority to take action for by 56 per cent of the apparel companies.
Blockchain Technology: Supply chains are famous for their complexity, with a vast network of manufacturers, warehouses, transport depots, communication channels and logistic providers, each managing their own databases and logistics. Blockchain connects the apparel supply chain with a real-time flow of data, replacing fragmented data with a single, unalterable ledger that is visible to all permitted parties. Each material batch is certified with a twin fibercoin, a digital token that can be likened to a fingerprint, ensuring unique digital identity for the material that is sustainably produced. It’s like a digital accounting system that can’t be manipulated, changed or tampered with, and its recorded history lasts forever. This allows retailers to build more customer-centric supply chains that prioritise authentication and trust. Besides the extra security of the technology, consumers enjoy an improved user experience, as the entire life cycle for each garment is available online, from when and where it was designed, to the first purchase, and even resale.
• TextileGenesis – The TextileGenesis is a blockchain traceability platform custom built for the fashion and textile ecosystem. It captures all shipment transactions between the six main steps in the apparel supply chain: fibre producer, spinner, fabric maker, dyeing/finishing, apparel maker and retailer. A digital fibercoin ensures transparency and reliability throughout the entire production line and beyond. Brands like Lenzing, H&M and Canopy have partnered with TextileGenesis for transparent and traceable supply chains.
• FibreTrace – Founded in 2018 by a group of likeminded leaders in the global textile industry, FibreTrace is focused on fronting a new era of transparency, honesty and accountability. Its mission is to ensure every member of the textile supply chain can take direct accountability to reduce the environmental impact of the global industry. It aims to ultimately provide the consumer the opportunity to choose a transparent and sustainable supply chain to follow and purchase from. FibreTrace has collaborated with leading brands such as Nobody Denim, Reformation, Belda Llorens, ECOLIFE, British Wool and Harris Tweed Hebrides; and Higg to drive carbon positive and circular solutions for the global industry, backed by informed data and traceability. In September 2021, FibreTrace launched its first capsule denim collection with 7 For All Mankind. This partnership with 7 For All Mankind is an example of progress within the denim industry to turn towards more responsible manufacturing practices through transparency. In 2022, FibreTrace partnered with ARISE IIP, a pan-African developer and operator of world-class industrial parks, to introduce a spinner-to-garment traceability for its highly anticipated spinning facilities at the Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone (GDIZ) in Benin.
• Aura Blockchain Consortium – This was created in April 2021 by LVMH, Prada Group, Cartier, part of Richemont, and since October 2021 the OTB Group, with the technology partners ConsenSys and Microsoft, to solve critical challenges around the traceability of luxury goods by giving each product a digital identity that provides customers with a secure, verified means to see its entire life. It aims to develop the applications of blockchain technology and raise the standards of luxury.
Conclusion
The textile and apparel industry has already caused a significant amount of damage to the environment. While sustainable fashion practices are slowly catching up, there’s a long road ahead for the industry to walk on to eliminate risks of fast fashion.
Source: https://www.fibre2fashion.com/