Textile manufacturing

Conventional textile production is one of the most polluting industries in the world. The textile industry is responsible for no less than 20% of the pollution of our rivers and lands. The use of toxic chemicals in production and packaging, the creation of a considerable amount of waste, the use and pollution of an enormous amount of water, the high energy consumption in production and transport resulting in the release of gases are responsible for the unsustainability of the textile industry. Improving the sustainability of textile production is important for all of us. The chapter looks at greener textile materials, including organic fibres, the use of environmentally friendly dyes and chemicals, and enzymatic and other environmentally friendly processing processes. Adapting improved processes with strict process control and waterless dyeing are some of the ways in which sustainability can be improved.

More on manufacturing of textile

While the different stages in the textile production chain all contribute to the final performance and character, it is the choice of fibre and the selection of the applicable raw material that are essential ingredients to allow the wearer to experience the difference in the product. This chapter discusses the role of the right choice of fibre, both traditional and innovative, and the possibilities for creating sportswear suitable for an older target group. Attention is also paid to sustainability, taking into account innovative developments in the field of intelligent, adaptive and interactive materials as part of the creation of functional active sportswear.

Current situation

Given the global efforts to improve sustainable textile production in industrialised and developing countries, measurements are required to report and compare products and production. Numerous textile eco-labels and programmes are available on the market to stimulate consumer interest (see also chapter 1). However, the scientific basis for these labels is uneven according to the ISO definition (ISO 14050). Only type III labels with independent third-party verification of the published standards, based on a life cycle perspective, are scientifically accepted eco-labels (Caduff 2002). However, there is no consumer orientation in the existing labels and many of them lack a life cycle orientation (Tobler 1999a).

According to ISO, the focus can be on products and thus on the life cycle perspective (ISO 14040 ff.) or on production represented by the eco-performance of individual companies (ISO 14030). The appropriate methodology for assessing the environmental impacts of products is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (ISO 14001) with different methods of impact assessment. Methodologies for impact assessment in LCA (SETAC 1999) are still under development, as explained earlier in chapter 4.

However, many companies do not have data available on individual processes for selected products. Consequently, allocation, either on a physical basis or on the basis of economic values, becomes difficult (Nieminen 2002). A lot of data for specific textile production needs to be collected and calculated in the functional unit(s) (Nieminen 1997, Dahllöff 2003a).

The collection of data for Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) of individual products is time consuming as usually separate measurement programmes for modelling and/or simulation have to be carried out (Creux and Weber 2002). Product life cycles generally cover many companies and the confidentiality of the data prevents access to inventory data.

Our previous work in process LCA (Stokar 1996, Zwicker 1997, Tobler 2000a, 2001c, 2002a, Luchsinger 2002) yielded the key indicators and the impact categories affected. The textile specifications, on the other hand, combine desirable environmental aspects with quality data available in the textile industry (Tobler et al. 2002, Ghituleasa 2002). Such specifications are not as detailed as LCA, but add the important quality aspect. The advantage of textile specifications lies in advanced business-to-business communication and business-to-customer communication. In the most comprehensive version, such specifications are used for process control in the industry.

In terms of size and functional unit, product development needs to be studied. Textile products are highly diversified in the global competition for product development, based on innovation and specialization in textile technology and processing. Technology plays an important role in the processing of different fibres, yarns and fabrics for desired properties. Most companies in the value chain diversify into many different products depending on market demand. They change processes with a high degree of flexibility, where parties can vary greatly in quantity.

The application of Best Available Techniques (BAT) (BREF 2003), as requested and elaborated in the framework of the European Union's Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) (Schönenberger 2002), provides a large but unbalanced analysis of the environmental impacts of individual textile technologies. However, BAT does not propose methods for comparable impact reduction based on measurements and calculations (Tobler 2002b).
In this chapter, a method called 'ecological key figures' (ECF) is proposed to close the gap between the scientific requirements of a life-cycle perspective and the availability of inventory data at the level of individual companies. The production of natural fibres is evaluated as growing regimes in agriculture equivalent to industrial processes for the production of man-made fibres (which is not modelled). Such life-cycle oriented environmental performance is in line with ISO 14030 and can even be used for products. It can be applied in product development and for consumer information.

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