Special Issue "Sustainable Fashion and Textile Recycling"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hanna de la Motte
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden
Interests: textile recycling; sustainable fibre development; cellulose science; bio-based materials
Dr. Asa Ostlund
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Tree to Textile, Bjärred, Skane Lan, Sweden
Interests: sustainable fashion; textile recycling; cellulose fibers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I have the honor to act as Guest Editor for this very important Special Issue “Sustainable Fashion and Textile Recycling”. It should guide and inspire the reader towards a necessary paradigm shift concerning the sustainable production and use of textiles. Today, roughly three quarters of the climate impact from the total lifetime of apparel (production, use, and end-of-life) comes from the production line alone. Though it should be highlighted that production alone should not carry the blame for these numbers. They are rather the result of our actions and choices as designers, material developers, producers, retailers, users, and consumers, and are related to how we manage circularity. The papers selected for this Special Issue will contribute to find a sustainable route forward for fashion, without overconsuming the resources of the planet.

Dr. Hanna de la Motte
Dr. Asa Ostlund
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • design for circularity
  • sustainable textile production
  • sustainable user behavior
  • business models to prolong the life of garments
  • traceability
  • automatic textile sorting
  • recycling technologies

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Life Cycle Based Comparison of Textile Ecolabels
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1751; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041751 - 06 Feb 2021
Viewed by 944
Abstract
Environmental impacts of textile production increased over the last decades. This also led to an increasing demand for sustainable textiles and ecolabels, which intend to provide information on environmental aspects of textiles for the consumer. The goal of the paper is to assess [...] Read more.
Environmental impacts of textile production increased over the last decades. This also led to an increasing demand for sustainable textiles and ecolabels, which intend to provide information on environmental aspects of textiles for the consumer. The goal of the paper is to assess selected labels with regard to their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their coverage of relevant environmental aspects over the life cycle of textiles. We applied a characterization scheme to analyse seven selected labels (Blue Angel Textiles, bluesign®, Cotton made in Africa (CMiA), Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Global Recycled Standard (GRS), VAUDE Green Shape), and compared their focus to the environmental hotpots identified in the product environmental footprint case study of t-shirts. Most labels focus on the environmental aspects toxicity, water use, and air emissions predominantly in the upstream life cycle phases of textiles (mainly garment production), whereas some relevant impacts and life cycle phases like water in textile use phase remain neglected. We found significant differences between the ecolabels, and none of them cover all relevant aspects and impacts over the life cycle. Consumers need to be aware of these limitations when making purchase decisions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Fashion and Textile Recycling)
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Article
Material-Driven Textile Design (MDTD): A Methodology for Designing Circular Material-Driven Fabrication and Finishing Processes in the Materials Science Laboratory
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1268; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031268 - 26 Jan 2021
Viewed by 698
Abstract
In the context of the circular economy, materials in scientific development present opportunities for material design processes that begin at a raw state, before being introduced into established processes and applications. The common separation of the scientific development of materials from design intervention [...] Read more.
In the context of the circular economy, materials in scientific development present opportunities for material design processes that begin at a raw state, before being introduced into established processes and applications. The common separation of the scientific development of materials from design intervention results in a lack of methodological approaches enabling designers to inform new processes that respond to new material properties. This paper presents the results of a PhD investigation that led to the development and application of a Material-Driven Textile Design (MDTD) methodology for design research based in the materials science laboratory. It also presents the development of the fabrication of a textile composite with regenerated cellulose obtained from waste textiles, resulting from the MDTD methodology informing novel textile processes. The methods and practice which make up this methodology include distinct phases of exploration, translation and activation, and were developed via three design-led research residencies in materials science laboratories in Europe. The MDTD methodology proposes an approach to design research in a scientific setting that is decoupled from a specific product or application in order to lift disciplinary boundaries for the development of circular material-driven fabrication and finishing processes at the intersection of materials science and design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Fashion and Textile Recycling)
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Article
Environmental Profile Study of Ozone Decolorization of Reactive Dyed Cotton Textiles by Utilizing Life Cycle Assessment
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1225; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031225 - 25 Jan 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 501
Abstract
Research approaches on the use of ecotechnologies like ozone assisted processes for the decolorization of textiles are being explored as against the conventional alkaline reductive process for the color stripping of the cotton textiles. The evaluation of these ecotechnologies must be performed to [...] Read more.
Research approaches on the use of ecotechnologies like ozone assisted processes for the decolorization of textiles are being explored as against the conventional alkaline reductive process for the color stripping of the cotton textiles. The evaluation of these ecotechnologies must be performed to assess the environmental impacts. Partial “gate to gate” Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was implemented to study the ozone based decolorization process of the reactive dyed cotton textiles. Experiments were performed to determine input and output data flows for decolorization treatment of reactive dyed cotton textile using the ozonation process. The functional unit was defined as “treatment of 40 g of reactive dyed cotton fabric to achieve more than 94% color stripping”. Generic and specific data bases were also used to determine flows, and International Life Cycle Data system (ILCD) method was selected to convert all flows into environmental impacts. The impact category “Water resource depletion” is the highest for all the ozonation processes as it has the greatest relative value after normalization amongst all the impact indicators. Electricity and Oxygen formation were found to be the major contributors to the environmental impacts. New experimental conditions have been studied to optimize the impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Fashion and Textile Recycling)
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Article
Improving Mechanical Textile Recycling by Lubricant Pre-Treatment to Mitigate Length Loss of Fibers
Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8706; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208706 - 20 Oct 2020
Viewed by 706
Abstract
Although there has been some research on how to use short fibers from mechanically recycled textiles, little is known about how to preserve the length of recycled fibers, and thus maintain their properties. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a [...] Read more.
Although there has been some research on how to use short fibers from mechanically recycled textiles, little is known about how to preserve the length of recycled fibers, and thus maintain their properties. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a pre-treatment with lubricant could mitigate fiber length reduction from tearing. This could facilitate the spinning of a 100% recycled yarn. Additionally, this study set out to develop a new test method to assess the effect of lubricant loading. Inter-fiber cohesion was measured in a tensile tester on carded fiber webs. We used polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 aqueous solution as a lubricant to treat fibers and woven fabrics of cotton, polyester (PES), and cotton/polyester. Measurements of fiber length and percentage of unopened material showed the harshness and efficiency of the tearing process. Treatment with PEG 4000 decreased inter-fiber cohesion, reduced fiber length loss, and facilitated a more efficient tearing process, especially for PES. The study showed that treating fabric with PEG enabled rotor spinning of 100% recycled fibers. The inter-fiber cohesion test method suggested appropriate lubricant loadings, which were shown to mitigate tearing harshness and facilitate fabric disintegration in recycling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Fashion and Textile Recycling)
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