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(Editor's Note: 3E is expanding news coverage to provide customers with insights into topics that enable a safer, more sustainable world by protecting people, safeguarding products, and helping business grow. Q&A features our reporters' exclusive 1:1 interviews with regulatory and industry influencers.)
The textile industry is notorious for its waste and carbon footprint. Nearly 65% of the more than 100 billion garments currently produced each year will end up in landfills within 12 months. The textile industry contributes about 8% of the global carbon budget and 20% of industrial water pollution.
To address this, companies across the global textiles supply chain are looking for ways to move toward a more circular economy, said Lori Bestervelt, a senior chemical business advisor for supply chains at 3E. One crucial method companies are employing is the use of digital product passports (DPP) to streamline more sustainable practices, thereby reducing waste and emphasizing more reusable materials.
Bestervelt is an expert in toxicology and testing, with more than 20 years leading research and laboratory operations. She has a Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Michigan. She recently attended the Textile Exchange Conference in London, and she shared some of her takeaways with us.
How are companies planning to shift the conversation from overproduction to sustainable consumption?
In textiles, degrowth — the economic theory of shrinking consumption to slow the use of the world’s dwindling resources — needs to start with a rejection of the fast fashion business model. This will mean separating the production of cheap garments from profitability, producing fewer garments that we keep longer, repairing clothes instead of throwing them away. Degrowth cannot simply be about stopping production processes. Instead, it is about reorienting production so that we can shift from a linear economy to a circular economy.
One of the strategies discussed to slow growth is increasing the use of preferred materials. The Textile Exchange’s definition of a preferred material is a raw material that delivers consistently reduced impacts and increased benefits for climate, nature, and people against the conventional equivalent through a holistic approach to transforming production systems. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by limiting raw materials like cotton, polyester, human-made cellulose, and animal fibers.
What other strategies are being considered to ease the transition to a more circular economy?
Local production and local use are also being discussed as a strategy. Other strategies discussed include designers producing smaller collections of seasonless garments that have been designed for longevity and investing in circular technology to end wasteful production models. Repair services and responsible take-back schemes [methods for reusing and recycling garments or fabrics] were also discussed, which would increase the lifespan of clothes. This should keep demand for new products down.
Data and demand planning were brought up as well. Fashion’s overproduction could be stemmed with improved forecasting. Most companies currently perform market research to get a read on demand — there is a gap between what customers want and what the brands think they want. To overcome this, [companies should] incorporate consumer-centric decision-making across the entire supply chain. This would involve capturing information on consumer preferences daily and using AI to uncover trends.
How does an increased focus on a circular economy change the dynamics of supplier relationships?
This is about building an ecosystem that suppliers can come back to and going further than just a transaction with a supplier. While global brands and industry players often have the power and the financial potential to drive change, most of the real, tangible action happens on the ground with raw material extractors, farmers, waste collections, and other raw material producers. Solutions hold no weight in isolation. People and companies up and down the supply chain are impacted by problems and hold critical insights to shape the solutions.
There is no replacement for getting out into the field and visiting raw material producers firsthand. The industry cannot hope to fully understand the nuances of the ecosystems behind its materials without experiencing them for itself. Data and tools can be powerful allies to help brands assess risk and opportunity, but some lessons must be learned from the land. This is called the “brand-producer connection,” and this is what is changing the dynamics of the supplier relationship.
How does the EU plan to tackle greenwashing in the textile industry?
DPPs will hopefully provide crucial information to customers so they can hold organizations accountable for their environmental claims and force organizations to prove that their sustainability claims are valid. The quality of data will be a key issue and will need to be validated by a third party to make sure the data is not corrupted, misleading, or invalid.
To back up a claim in the DPP, organizations will need to attach relevant information [such as] certifications, testing, what the recycled materials are, where they are sourced, and where the remanufacturing took place. There will be two types of DPPs: one for the government and one for the consumer.
The Green Claims process helps consumers make informed purchasing decisions by requiring companies to do the following:
Substantiate their claim and gather scientific data such as a life cycle assessment, GHG emissions data, or compostability tests (this substantiation file could be attached in the DPP).
Verify the claim utilizing a certification or conformance from an organization like the Global Organic Textile Standard or consumer protection agencies in the jurisdictions the company operates (attach to the DPP).
Communicate the claim with its substantiation (can do this as part of the DPP).
Regulators will need to have easy access to an audit trail for each product’s data. When organizations make claims that they are hitting their ESG targets, the data required to prove those claims need to be easily accessible and available to regulators in real time. DPPs could serve as an easy way for regulators to access that data.
DPPs can back up sustainability claims with verifiable data. Companies can showcase their sustainability efforts with digital copies of certifications and proof of sustainability.
What steps can companies take to future proof their businesses in light of these changes?
New policies are being enacted and businesses will need to keep a close eye on new policies and laws when manufacturing for and doing business in Europe. They should find a tool to help them keep up with the new regulations and do horizon scanning for up-and-coming regulations and to ensure their business is proactive with respect to planned changes and the impact on the business.
It is important to understand the global framework you are working in. Regulatory compliance can be hard to meet. Compliance comes down to risk and how you manage and mitigate it.
Companies should have a way to collect data information from their suppliers in a standardized, harmonized form; this will make it easier to make risk-based decisions. Companies need to engage with suppliers to obtain the appropriate information they need to maintain compliance. Under the EU Green Deal, no data means no compliance and no market access.
Analysis
The textile industry will need to shift away from fast fashion and toward a more circular, sustainable model in the following ways:
Reduce dependency on raw materials in favor of preferred materials that can be easily reused and recycled.
Leverage data to better account for demand and employ seasonless fashion and provide more options for repairing and extending the life cycle of clothing.
Use DPPs to lend credibility to sustainability claims while streamlining supply chains and easing market access.
About the author: Stefan Modrich is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter for 3E. He covers the latest developments in environmental health and safety policy and regulation. Modrich previously wrote for S&P Global Market Intelligence, The Arizona Republic and Chicago Tribune. He is an alumnus of Arizona State University and the University of Zagreb.
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