International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles - Current Issue
Volume 2, Issue 2, 2023
- Editorial
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Material innovation
More LessThis issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles (SFT) is presented as a themed issue on ‘Materials’ relating to textile innovation in the fashion and textiles industries. Millions of tonnes of textile waste are sent to landfill every year with only a small percentage being recycled into new products. Widely recognized as one of the most polluting industries to the planet and a major contributor to CO2 emissions and climate change, the textile industry now with greater urgency is looking towards finding solutions to the environmental problems caused by textiles diverted to landfill or incineration at their end of life. Some real innovation is already apparent as solutions to the problems are being explored at scale with mechanical recycling of post-consumer waste and new innovations in materials made from renewable resources.
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- Articles
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Evaluating methods to achieve raw material transparency in fashion supply chains: A focus on cotton
By Emma BrownThe global cotton and fashion industries are complex, inherently opaque and environmentally and socially exploitative. This is because of a long history of colonial practices founded in the cotton industry and a current fashion industry that is dominated by bottom-line focused large brands. Fashion supply chain transparency is needed to address the myriad of issues plaguing the fashion industry. As a tool for reaching a fair, just and sustainable fashion industry, transparency is a necessary step in reaching an accountable supply chain from the raw material level all the way to the retailer. The goal of this study is to identify the most impactful methods for increasing transparency throughout the entire fashion supply chain. Through in-depth, qualitative interviews with industry experts, six key areas were identified as methods for increasing transparency to the raw material (tier 4 or 5 level) and reducing risk within the fashion supply chain. These include restructuring of the cotton commodity market, the need for technology, increasing brand investment, trust and honesty, the need for policy, reduction of cotton certification reliance and the intervention of cotton advocacy organizations. Additionally, this research also brings to light a lack of real progress towards large-scale change within the industry and found that there is a need for complete structural change to both the cotton commodity market and the fashion supply chain if the goal of reaching a fair, just and sustainable fashion industry is to be possible.
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How do companies communicate their ‘sustainable’ material innovations on company websites?
Authors: Claudia E. Henninger, Taylor Brydges, Aurelie Le Normand, Shuchan Luo, Luis Quijano, Jane Wood and Songyi YanThe fashion industry has long been criticized for its unsustainable practices in terms of production processes and the materials used to create garments and accessories. As such, sustainability in fashion is not new per se, but what is classified as ‘sustainable’ is changing as technology and new innovations are continuously emerging. This article focuses on material innovations centring on future materials that have been created to replace existing materials including, but not limited to, animal skins, plastics and other materials classified as ‘vegan’. These existing materials have previously raised concerns regarding sustainability practices. Thus, a key question that currently lacks in the research and is addressed within this article is: (1) whether these material innovations are ‘sustainable’, (2) to what extent are they sustainable and (3) what might make them a ‘better’ alternative. This article provides a critical account of such innovations by performing a comparative secondary analysis of 21 ‘innovative’ materials that are currently used or could be used by luxury fashion brands and fall within the self-proclaimed categories of either vegan, plant-based, plastic-free or sustainable. As these future materials are often seen as replacements for leather and synthetic materials derived from fossil fuels, this analysis provides insights into these materials, alongside how and what information is promoted to consumers on a corporate website.
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- Case Study
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Seatbelts in Selfridges: The innovative use of post-consumer waste by BELO bags
More LessThis article focuses on BELO bags: a British-Brazilian company, founded in 2017, that specializes in producing handbags and accessories from decommissioned seatbelts. Drawing on an interview with the company’s co-founder Charlotte Bingham-Wallis, the article considers the environmentally sustainable credentials of the brand – considering how their redirection of seatbelts from landfill, and emphasis on product aftercare, repair and repurposing, positions the brand within circular fashion systems. The article considers how BELO’s reappropriation of unwanted waste materials into highly coveted, new luxury fashion accessories, which has been further reinforced by a recently secured concession within Selfridges, can be seen as a fashion practice that celebrates waste as opposed to concealing it. It argues that rediscovering and elevating the value of waste is perhaps key to unlocking more sustainable textile practices within the fashion industry: as reappropriating and revaluing materials that are already in existence, via imaginative and creative reuse, offers two-fold benefits of reducing both ‘waste’ from landfill and the production and use of virgin fibres.
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- Articles
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The role of different stakeholders in the transition to a sustainable fashion industry in Europe
Authors: Ysabel Nauwelaerts and Margot VingerhoetsToday’s fashion industry is among the most unsustainable industries on the planet, responsible for around 3–5 per cent of global carbon emissions. Theory and literature show that making this industry more sustainable is possible by implementing circular economy (CE) principles and new technological developments along the entire value chain, but in practice there is still considerable reluctance and ignorance about implementing more sustainable practices in fashion. This article studies the role of different stakeholders in fostering the transition to a more sustainable fashion industry in Europe. We do this by using a conceptual framework with four groups of actors, namely companies, consumers, public authorities and NGOs. A literature review is supplemented with qualitative case studies of five Belgian companies active in the fashion industry and two public circular platforms. The study first reveals a clear lack of knowledge and information about circularity, both among companies and consumers. Knowledge dissemination should be considered a first important instrument for change. NGOs and public authorities can play an important role in creating social awareness and drawing attention to the issue. Furthermore, public authorities should create the necessary financial, economic and legal framework to stimulate sustainable business models and accelerate change in consumption patterns. The cases we have studied use one or a combination of sustainable practices, ranging from more sustainable design and material choices up to reuse and repair options, but they are still searching for an economically viable model in the longer term. Our study also shows that the realization of circular business models and its success largely depends on the interaction between the different stakeholders. The new EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles is a first promising step in this direction. The next crucial challenge will be to put this EU strategy successfully into practice. The transition to a sustainable fashion industry will require both substantial investments and conviction from all stakeholders, but this will pay off in the long run.
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A framework to investigate the potential of brewery wastes’ utilization in eco-friendly leather production: A consumer study
Authors: Anokhi Pandya and Carolina Quintero RodriguezThe extensive utilization and increasing demand for leather and leather alternatives within the fashion industry has raised concerns surrounding ecosystems. To mitigate the environmental impact and excessive reliance on fossil fuels, a lot of effort has gone into substituting synthetic polymers with organic and biodegradable materials. As biotechnological revolution continues to better the leather industry, it is imperative to explore the potential of brewery waste as starting materials to respond to the environmental challenges and meet this demand backed by a framework for its bio-fabrication. An online survey was conducted to explore Australian consumers’ values, and experiences associated with leather and leather alternatives, and to identify their perception and expectations towards brewery waste-based leather as the determinants of its need and prospective fabrication based on the framework. The results indicate that consumers have high environmental awareness, expectations, and value inclination towards the credibility of brewery waste-based leather alternative based on their existing leather preferences. The study is the first to investigate the potentiality of brewery waste for its utilization in eco-friendly leather bio-fabrication in accordance with quantitative consumer research which collectively offers a valuable contribution to the literature by modifying the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory, theory of environmentalism, and by extending existing research on environmental innovation and product values to a preliminary framework for future lines of research within this field. The devised framework and the findings of this study can assist in the prospective development of an eco-friendly leather alternative derived from brewery waste. Overall, this work theoretically demonstrates that brewery waste could bridge the gap in the market regarding the need for a greener supply chain as well as a source of material that facilitates the production of an improved alternative to leather in line with the changing demands of the market and the increase in environmental degradation.
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An analysis of sustainable fashion design brands in Ukraine: Reduce, reuse, recycle methods
More LessFifty-seven Ukrainian fashion brands are analysed in this article. All these brands are related to the manufacture of clothing and accessories, and the main part of the production of which is concentrated on the territory of Ukraine. For the analysis, brands are selected considering a hierarchy of waste management, including reduction to avoid waste, reuse of materials and methods to regenerate value, such as upcycling or recycling. Brands are systematized according to: production method (producing from new materials, decoration and customization of existing fashion items, upcycle, recycle), assortment (clothing, accessories, footwear), groups of materials (remnants of new materials, vintage fabrics, outlet and second-hand clothes, materials and components that were in use, secondary materials) and target audience (male, female, unisex). Common sustainable ways of manufacturing fashion products in Ukraine are upcycling, reducing and avoiding waste, decorating, customizing and recycling. There is a powerful raw material base for the production of clothes from secondary raw materials, and there are also textile recycling enterprises in Ukraine. But none of the analysed Ukrainian brands use the products of these enterprises in their production; instead, they use recycled materials purchased abroad. Due to insufficient technological support for the production of new textile materials from recycled raw materials, Ukrainian designers have a request for textiles made from recycled materials. Among the groups of materials by origin, second-hand and outlet clothes are in first place, and textile remnants from manufacturers are in second place. Among the analysed products of the brands, no children’s clothing was found, and almost no underwear and shoes were found. This research can be the basis for finding new niches in the production of sustainable fashion products; for finding new communication channels between stakeholders, such as designers, manufacturers of materials and clothing, consumers, scientists; for finding new ways of selling products and buying raw materials and for further research into technologies for the production of new raw materials from recycled materials.
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- Interview
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Q&A with Dr John Parkinson, founder and director, iinouiio and partner with Camira Fabrics, United Kingdom
More LessMillions of tonnes of textile waste are sent to landfill every year with only a small percentage being recycled into new products. To drive the shift towards a more circular economy within the production and reuse of textiles, two companies have joined forces, iinouiio (it is never over until it is over), a textile recycling business, and Camira Fabrics, both established in West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, to develop wool recycling production for new products for fashion and textiles. In this interview, Dr Debbie Moorhouse of the University of Huddersfield talks to Dr John Parkinson about his reinvention of the textile recycling company he originally started over thirty years ago to found iinouiio, a pioneering textile recycling company, and his subsequent partnership with Camira fabrics an innovative textile company, also based in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, two companies which are now taking on the challenge of textile circularity.
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