Sustainable Technologies for Fashion and Textiles

Rajkishore Nayak, Rajkishore Nayak

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780081028681
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Sustainable Technologies for Fashion and Textiles combines the latest academic research and industrial practices to shed light on a wide range of activities that influence how the textiles industry affects the natural environment. Pressure from regulators, customers and other stakeholders has pressed companies to translate general sustainability concepts and ideas into business practices. This is leading to improvements in how the industry consumes water, electricity and chemicals, and to a reduction in the amount of waste generated by textile processes. This book groups approaches to these topics under four themes, fiber, yarn and fabric production, chemical processing, garment manufacturing and recycling.

• Addresses sustainability challenges that occur throughout the supply chain, from the sourcing of raw materials, to recycling finished products
• Provides introductions to sustainability—both in general and within the textiles industry—making this topic accessible for readers of all backgrounds
• Compares the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to sustainability, helping readers avoid pitfalls when devising their own strategies

Part One

Introduction

Outline

1. Sustainability in fashion and textiles: A survey from developing country

1

Sustainability in fashion and textiles

A survey from developing country

Rajkishore Nayak ^a , Tarun Panwar ^b , and Long Van Thang Nguyen ^{a a} School of Communication and Design, RMIT University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ^b School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Abstract

The manufacturing of fashion and textiles involves many processes, which has high detrimental impact on the environment. The production of fashion and textile has been found to be one of the widely environmental polluting sectors. Environmental problems such as water and air pollution, generation of large amount of waste, use of a large amount of toxic chemicals and generation of large amount of wastewater are some of the problems associated with the fashion and textile production. Due to the increased global awareness to save the planet earth, many leading fashion brands have focused to reduce the pollution caused by the production of fashion and textiles. This chapter reviews the concepts of sustainability in fashion and textile production starting from fiber to the garment manufacturing, which can reduce pollution and achieve environmental sustainability. Furthermore, among different approaches taken to achieve environmental sustainability in the most impacting step, fabric chemical processing has been illustrated. The findings of a survey based on Vietnam's fashion and textile industries are also included in this chapter. We found that the large fashion enterprises are adopting fashion sustainability due to global competition, consumer awareness, and management policy, whereas the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling to survive in the global market due to limited access to funding, lack of skilled people, and lack of consumer awareness.

Keywords

Sustainable fashion and textile; Sustainable fibers; Ecofriendly chemical processes; Textile waste management; Recycling

1.1. Introduction

Sustainability is a main objective in most of the manufacturing sectors and sustainable practices means commitment beyond the company and customers while the community and environment are important. In recent years, sustainable practices have been gaining impetus in garment manufacturing due to increased consumer awareness and stricter global legislations (Fletcher, 2012; De Brito et al., 2008; Marcuccio and Steccolini, 2005). The term sustainability was coined in 1987 in Brundtland report, which means “satisfying the current needs without compromising the future generation's needs” (Keeble et al., 2003). The sustainable practices are viewed from three perspectives, which are environmental, economic, and social, also known as the “Triple Bottom Line (TBL)” of sustainability (Hacking and Guthrie, 2008). Almost all the three TBL of sustainability are neglected during the production and supply chain activities in the garment manufacturing sector. However, this chapter will only focus on the environmental aspects of sustainability, which is the major concern among the TBL of sustainability.

The fashion and textile manufacturing industries around the world are struggling with varying degrees of environmental problems (Roberts, 2003). The inherent nature of the production processes required for garments largely impacts the environment due to a large amount of energy usage and water consumption; greenhouse gas (GHG) emission; hazardous waste generation; and discharge of toxic effluent containing dyes, finishes, and auxiliaries to the ecosystem (Gardetti and Torres, 2013; Niinimäki and Hassi, 2011). It has been shown that about 20% of all water pollution is caused by the textile treatments such as dyeing, which greatly impacts the environment. Although the carbon emission intensity in garment production (between 1990 and 2005) has been decreased for gray cloth, jute goods, and polyester goods by 1.90%, 2.07%, and 0.72%, respectively, it has not achieved the desired results to save the planet earth (Reddy and Ray, 2014). Cotton yarn production has shown the highest increase in the emission intensity by 7.37%, which indicates that cotton yarn continued to be produced without caring for the environment, due to the consumption of harmful pesticides and fertilizers, which releases hazardous wastes into the nearby land and water systems. Hence, there is a need for green practices in the production of sustainable fashion and textiles.

As the term “green production” is becoming important in many of the manufacturing segments, garment producers and retailers are increasingly preparing to adapt this term in order to save the environment and present ethical practices. Vachon and Klassen (Vachon and Klassen, 2008) mentioned that the green production practices can help garment industries to achieve economic benefits of having a higher number of target customers, and to achieve “the edge” over their competitors. Several approaches can be taken to achieve sustainability in fashion and textile manufacturing starting from the selection of raw materials to the end-of-life (EOL) of a product. In fact the first stage of garment manufacturing, the “conceptualisation stage” lays the foundation for the degree of environmental impact (Nayak and Padhye, 2018). This stage can alter the selection of raw materials, which are sustainable and need sustainable process routes for conversion into final product. Sustainable fashion and textile production involves ecofriendly and nondepleting material selection; environmentally friendly manufacturing processes; green supply chain, distribution, and retailing; and ethical consumers (Shen et al., 2014; Choudhury, 2014).

Emerging technologies (e.g., nanotechnology, enzyme processing, laser processing, digital printing, and plasma technology), advanced materials (i.e., renewable and biodegradable materials), and ecofriendly production methods are paving their way for sustainable fashion and textile production (Xing et al., 2007; Mahltig et al., 2004; Dubas et al., 2006; Gomes et al., 2013). The combined actions of manufacturers, government and nongovernment organizations, and finally the consumers can help the objective of zero-emission by 2050 as mentioned in the Kyoto protocol (Huang et al., 2008). Fabric chemical processing, with the greatest environmental impact among other garment production processes, can be made greener by adopting newer technologies such as the use of enzymatic processing; plasma applications; natural dyes; microwave and ultrasound applications; and use ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• The Textile Institute Book Series
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Part One. Introduction
• Part Two. Sustainable technologies in yarn and fabric manufacturing
• Part Three. Sustainable technologies in chemical processing
• Part Four. Sustainability in garment manufacturing
• Part Five. Sustainable materials and recycling of textile wastes
• Index