5. Sustainability initiatives in the fashion industry

Having reviewed several sustainability campaigns and environmental impact measure benchmarks and tools relevant to the fashion industry today, this section will now proceed to provide insight into how companies and various players in the industry have responded, i.e., the kinds of strategic initiatives being taken toward sustainability. The sustainability initiatives will be categorized into two types: (1) front-end approach and (2) back-end approach.

#### 5.1 Front-end approach

Within the context of this article, this refers to the integration of sustainable initiatives at the beginning stages (front-end) of the textile product life cycle, such as in the raw material sourcing and design and development processes. So, for example, a front-end sustainable initiative could be the decision to use "low environmental impact\*" textile fibers as the raw materials for the textile goods being produced. A front-end sustainable initiative could also be manifested in the design and development process, for example, by utilizing digital tools to minimize the need for physical prototype samples or by training designers to adopt an ecoconscious mindset into their creations. (\*Note that we are using the term "low environmental impact" textile fibers as opposed to "sustainable" or "eco-friendly" or "green" textile fibers because the latter terms can be misleading as there are no completely "sustainable/eco-friendly/green" fibers; all materials pose some impact. Furthermore, as discussed in the previous section, it is difficult to resolutely confirm the impact of a certain material, as there are many facets of environmental impact. Therefore "low environment impact" is a more accurate representation of what is possible to strive for in sustainable materials).

An industry example of a front-end approach to sustainability is the adoption of regenerated cellulosic fibers, such as Lyocell and Seacell, by various fashion companies particularly in lingerie and activewear [19]. With cotton, albeit a natural

cellulosic fiber, bearing a hefty water footprint in the harvesting process, and with petrochemical-based synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon bearing a hefty carbon footprint in the manufacturing process [20], regenerated cellulosic fibers can prove advantageous. They have the benefit of being biodegradable and derived from natural renewable resources (i.e., Lyocell is derived from wood pulp and Seacell is derived from seaweed) via a closed-loop manufacturing process, thereby consuming far less water and energy than traditional cotton, polyester, and nylon. Both Lyocell and Seacell also naturally carry antibacterial and fast-drying properties, which is why they are ideal for lingerie and activewear product.

The reason recycled textiles have become so prevalent as a strategy to minimize environmental impact is not only because of the exponential supply of textile waste driven by intensified clothing consumption but more strategically because research has shown that the fiber production stage (extraction and processing) of the textile product life cycle has the greatest environmental impact in terms of water and carbon footprint, as shown in Figures 9–10 [14]. Therefore, by recycling postconsumer textile waste back into the textile supply chain enables bypassing the

There has been a great deal of research invested into textile recycling, from both the industry and academia. One notable advancement in textile recycling is exemplified by Garment-to-Garment (G2G) Recycle System, a closed-loop garment recycling retail concept supported by technology which enables the recycling of blended post-consumer garments, developed by HKRITA, in partnership with H&M and Novetex [21]. The Garment-to-Garment (G2G) Recycle System brings garment recycling to the retail level, therefore paving the way for garment recycling

There are also several notable recycling initiatives which, instead of relying solely on post-consumer textile products, are derived from various kinds of postconsumer plastic waste. REPREVE is one example of this. Produced by the company Unifi, REPREVE is a brand of polyester fibers made from recycled post-consumer plastic waste (e.g., plastic bottles) [22]. The ability to convert various forms of

Carbon footprint of clothing in the UK (t CO2e) in 2016, by process. Source: Waste and resources action

heavy environmental toll of the fiber production stage.

Sustainability Initiatives in the Fashion Industry DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87062

to be more accessible to the everyday consumer.

Figure 10.

15

programme [14].

A limitation of a front-end approach in tackling environmental impact is that it is still feeding more product in the fashion pipeline which will eventually end up at the end of the textile life cycle as waste by-product (even if it is biodegradable byproduct) which needs to be managed accordingly. Therefore, in the following section, we will look at an approach which tackles the by-product end of the textile product life cycle.
