Fashion and Textiles

Fashion consumption, ever contradictory in nature, requires product to achieve, among a variety of facets, both quality and value for money, individuality as well as brand identity. draws attention to the relationship between manufacturers and retailers and, in particular, information sharing. With increasing complaints of new collections on the shopfloor being 'unimpressive' or 'unattractive', the issue of creativity as part of a strategic response by companies must be examined, in particular in the relationship between buying and designing new fashion items. This paper will examine the process of design as practiced by fashion designers and aims to offer insights and highlight issues that should be considered when examining how 'designerly thinking' might be incorporated at the strategic level of management.

We present the complexities in terms of designing automotive exterior seating materials (seat coverings and interior linings) at Sage Automotive Interiors (UK), which is a division of a global international automotive textile supplier with headquarters in the US. Sustainability and innovation are emphasized in documents communicating the company's vision. Using a case study approach, we consider the current design, development and manufacture process and examine it for the potential for feedback loops, identify potential leverage points to effect change and how the process could divert wastes from disposal. We will highlight where sustainable decisions can be incorporated and the difficulties in achieving true sustainability. We argue that a systems approach is needed from conception to final product to ensure economic recycling of textiles and fibres used in automotive seating. Without which, the reality is at best incineration for energy and/or landfill, thus losing important, finite resources forever from a diminishing resource pool of raw materials.

This thought-provoking and lively event focused on current methods used to research creatively. A major theme running through the discussion was that there is a need for a multi-disciplined and collaborative approach to researching creativity.

Introduction-stakeholder identification 3 End of life management 3.1 Legislative drivers-National and EU legislations 3.2 End-of-life management of textiles and corporatewear: financial motives. 3.3 End-of-life management of textiles and corporatewear: new marketing opportunities-"green" image. 4 Product labels and eco-labels 4.1 Objectives of product labelling 4.2 Eco-labelling systems 4.3 Voluntary labels for the textiles, clothing and footwear sectors 4.4 Standards and criteria used by eco-labels 4.5 Fair trade 5 Product labels indicating EoL management 5.1 Cradle to cradle (C2C) 5.2 EcoMate 5.3 The EU 'Flower' Ecolabel 5.4 Cradle to Cradle 5.5 Costs of eco-labelling 6 Potential developments for eco-labels with EoL management criteria 6.1 Royal Mail Group 6.2 Stakeholder analysis ~ risks/benefits 7 Conclusions 7.1 Considered options-use of existing labelling 8 Recommendations 9 References Appendix ©Centre for Remanufacturing & Reuse

Globally, the textiles industry is worth over $1 trillion, ranked the second biggest global economic activity for intensity of trade, and employs approximately 26 million people. Moreover, it contributes to 7% of world exports, supporting a number of developing, small and industrialised economies as well as individual incomes around the world. The fastest growing sector in household waste is Textiles. Over the last ten years, discounting and low retail prices in the UK have led to 60% increase in sales of clothing, with a resultant 90% rise in textile waste from the consumer. Between 2-3% of UK municipal solid waste contains textiles and shoes. In the UK, it is estimated that consumption of textiles is now 24.16m tonnes, on average 35kg per capita, producing around 3.1 million tonnes of CO 2 , 2 million tonnes of waste and 70 million tonnes of waste water per year-with 1.5 million tonnes of unwanted clothing ultimately ending up in landfill with the associated methane and greenhouse gas emissions (DEFRA 2006, Madsen et al 2007, University of Cambridge, 2006). The UK government, through DEFRA, took action to "identify, understand and address sustainability impacts from products, services and materials consumed and used in the UK" (DEFRA 2008b). They have set out to examine ten product areas with high negative impact on the environment; textiles/clothing is one. We present findings from research conducted for the Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse on end of life (EoL) management of corporate wear as part of a project funding for the Clothing Roadmap scheme, to be presented to the Government. Site visits and interviews were conducted with a textile recycler in London and a corporation providing corporate wear to examine and understand their End of Life management approaches. Some of the issues raised were: the daily shipment of some 22500 kg of clothing overseas, the seasonal nature of the clothing disposal, the detailed market knowledge required for effective reuse, the necessity for customer relationships and the need for clear government policies to support and regulate the legitimate collection and use of waste. This research forms the early part of a PhD project with the aim of exploring remanufacturing opportunities for the industry at the end of the lifecycle of clothing. From literature review conducted, reuse of clothing causes the least impact on energy use and appears to be the most environmentally and socially friendly approach to sustainability efforts (Madsen et al, 2007). Remanufacture of clothing is currently practiced but at niche market levels, for it to have a broader impact, it needs to gain entry into the mass-market retail arena. Our goal is to understand how designers, manufacturers and retailers may work together in a remanufacturing process and to propose a new product development method for sustainable consumption of fashion. We, therefore end the paper by reflecting on implications for the potential mechanisms of the supply chain integration and how the large multinationals may become engaged.

Objective 1: Review current design capabilities for both garment and household textiles Interviews with the SME's and the factories were examined. It appeared that the handcraft sector was very aware of the need to upgrade their design skills to achieve greater commercial success. The larger manufacturing sector appeared to be less concerned. They had invested in computer aided design (CAD) technology but did not utilise it to its full capacity, eg to develop collections or ranges as they manufactured according to designs and materials supplied or demanded by the buyers. The large manufacturers, therefore, used the CAD technology as a tool to communicate, negotiate and speed up the process of manufacture. They invested in design by employing designers but the designers were invariably from countries outside of Tanzania. All the factories trained their operators (under variable conditions) but they did not appear to engage in training designers.

The aim of this paper is to present preliminary findings of a study that is focused on divestment, its elements and the relationship with sociocultural context. Divestment is a concept that comprises those activities that include emotional and physical disposal of material possessions. This paper explores divestment within the context of sustainable consumption, as well as the potential for design disciplines to contribute to the creation of new solutions for the development of sustainable communities. The research was carried out within a cross-cultural framework acknowledging the relevance of contextual and cultural factors involved in the divestment processes: this was accomplished by comparing two countries; Mexico and United Kingdom. This work can contribute to design interventions to affect divestment decision-making process by identifying culturally dependent and independent elements that can impact the pre and post-consumption stages. The outcomes also enable ways of creating and promoting new commercialisation channels.

Fast changing fashion trends have led to high consumption rates of clothing, shortening of lifespans for many fashion products and increasing amounts of textile waste. Addressing the problems caused by the unsustainable landscape of the fashion industry requires alternative solutions, new business models or whole systems rethink. Fashion remanufacturing is one such strategy that supports material recirculation and thus reduces land filling of fashion waste. This paper examines the concept of fashion remanufacturing, the requirements for a reverse supply chain and the barriers and opportunities that exist for future growth of this sustainable business. The investigation reveals that although collaboration among key players along the reverse supply chain is essential for business growth, the extent of this growth is dependent on the commitment and involvement of large fashion retailers and the fashion consumer. We conclude the paper by considering the implications for the fashion industry if fashion remanufacture were to become a more mainstream business model.

This paper presents findings of research focused on the divestment of material possessions. It argues that divestment can be better understood as a process instead of a moment in the lifespan of a product. The term divestment refers to the process through which owners separate physically or emotionally from their possessions. Using qualitative data obtained through the Photo-Elicitation Interview method, the study explores the experiences of people on three types of items: clothing, furniture and mobile phone aiming to understand how the separation between owners and possessions occurs. The results were systematised to build a taxonomy of divestment. This taxonomy analyses the divestment process as a negotiation between value-waste, capturing the moments in which the value of a product increases or decreases. The taxonomy consists of five different categories: physical divestment, virtual divestment, keeping/no use, irregular use and in use. The categorisation of these moments throu...

There has been a significant increase in volume of new clothing sales over the last ten years; indeed it is the fastest growing waste in household waste stream, raising the potential for a similar increase in volume of textile waste dispose in landfill sites and the resultant harm to the environment. As volume of throwaway fashion increases and quality of fabric decreases, there is a need for an innovative approach to generating and managing this type of waste. Prior work on managing post-consumer textiles concurs with the Waste Hierarchy, ie, that reusing and remanufacturing fashion items makes the least impact on energy use. A number of fashion designers have developed businesses using this approach but are usually niche market, and the environmental benefit may not be as significant as the mass markets that are currently catered for by the large retailers using the current conventional design processes and supply chains. This paper will present and examine empirical data regardin...

Purpose: This paper addresses the growing problem of textile waste in the rapidly developing cities of subSaharan Africa and examines, from a supply chain perspective, the potential for waste textile materials to be transformed into the raw materials for new consumer products. Research Approach: The paper reflects on the outcomes of a field trip to Dar es Salaam in which stakeholders in a hypothesised textile waste supply chain were interviewed and waste textile materials were analysed in order to determine their content and appropriateness for reuse. Findings from the field study have been compared with current literature on logistics and market creation, waste generation, management and recycling in sub-Saharan Africa. Findings and Originality: The findings show that a rudimentary system has been in place for many years to collect and recycle textiles in Dar es Salaam. However, at the same time as textile waste is projected to increase in the city, collection rates are falling. Th...

Textiles, the fastest growing sector in household waste, have created an exponential rise in the export of second hand clothes (SHC) to overseas markets such as Kenya and Tanzania. Despite the few advantages for the destination markets (eg, enterprise opportunities), this has exasperated a difficult situation for domestic production. Increased cheap imports from Asia have also led to decline in SHC markets, resulting in increased land filling and the associated environmental impacts. Our research proposes remanufacturing fashion from the unwanted SHC, embellishing using local (destination market) craft/design. From literature review conducted, reuse and remanufacture of clothing causes the least impact on energy use and appears to be the most environmentally and socially friendly approach to sustainability efforts. Remanufacture of clothing is currently practiced at niche market levels, for it to have a broader impact; it needs to gain entry into the mass-market retail arena. In the...

Globally, the textiles industry is worth over $1 trillion, ranked the second biggest global economic activity for intensity of trade, and employs approximately 26 million people. Moreover, it contributes to 7% of world exports, supporting a number of developing, small and industrialised economies as well as individual incomes around the world. The fastest growing sector in household waste is Textiles. Over the last ten years, discounting and low retail prices in the UK have led to 60% increase in sales of clothing, with a resultant 90% rise in textile waste from the consumer. Between 2-3% of UK municipal solid waste contains textiles and shoes. In the UK, it is estimated that consumption of textiles is now 24.16m tonnes, on average 35kg per capita, producing around 3.1 million tonnes of CO2, 2 million tonnes of waste and 70 million tonnes of waste water per year - with 1.5 million tonnes of unwanted clothing ultimately ending up in landfill with the associated methane and greenhouse...

Fashion consumption, ever contradictory in nature, requires product to achieve, among a variety of facets, both quality and value for money, individuality as well as brand identity. Hines (2002) draws attention to the relationship between manufacturers and retailers and, in ...

Textile and clothing recycling and reuse is an under researched field, but there is a growing body of literature driven by government concerns and policies about waste management. Studies (ERM, 2007) have noted that the environmental impacts arising ...

This paper presents findings of research focused on the divestment of material possessions. It argues that divestment can be better understood as a process instead of a moment in the lifespan of a product. The term divestment refers to the process through which owners separate physically or emotionally from their possessions. Using qualitative data obtained through the Photo-Elicitation Interview method, the study explores the experiences of people on three types of items: clothing, furniture and mobile phone aiming to understand how the separation between owners and possessions occurs. The results were systematised to build a taxonomy of divestment. This taxonomy analyses the divestment process as a negotiation between value-waste, capturing the moments in which the value of a product increases or decreases. The taxonomy consists of five different categories: physical divestment, virtual divestment, keeping/no use, irregular use and in use. The categorisation of these moments through the taxonomy allows to identify moments for interventions in the lifespan of products to promote more sustainable ways of divestment. It also becomes a useful tool for understanding the complexity of product's lifespan and possible interventions for promoting more sustainable ways of consumption.