European clothing consumption has increased dramatically in recent decades, leading to a current average of 26 kg of textiles annually purchased per capita (EEA, 2019). While garments (and most of clothing’s environmental impacts) are produced in other parts of the world, European municipalities face a problem of increasing volumes of textile waste. Moreover, the revised waste directive of 2018 specifies that European Union countries will be obliged to collect textiles separately by 2025. This study investigates how these phenomena are affecting city-level policy and strategy, including but not limited to textile waste management. It builds on a comparative analysis of official documents informed by interviews with policy makers and waste management authorities in five European cities. The research points out that, in these cities, clothing environmental policy and other public initiatives are at varied levels of development. The paper identifies three kinds of measures, namely (a) improving separate collection, (b) waste prevention, and (c) consumption reduction. Reducing the share of textiles disposed of in general household waste (and therefore increasing separate collection) has been a central aim in cities where textiles fall under local waste regulation. The waste directive mentioned above makes separate collection of all textiles compulsory for EU members, leading to revisions in some cities’ collection systems. Some municipalities have gone one step further in preventing these textiles from reaching waste streams by supporting local initiatives for repair and reuse. The most advanced and recent approach is aiming at reductions in new clothing demand through citizen campaigns and monitoring the effect of repair and reuse actions in consumption levels. The comparative analysis leads to recommendations for future policy and strategy including developing the three approaches mentioned above simultaneously, further exploring measures for consumption reduction, and the integration of more concrete targets and monitoring plans, so that the most effective paths in social and environmental terms can be identified.
The textiles and apparel industry is a major contributor to economic development while at the same time being one of the most polluting industries due to its lengthy supply chain and resource intensive production operations. To address these sustainability challenges, digitalization is seen as one of the potential solutions. Using the lens of sustainability and digitalization in Supply Chain Management (SCM), this paper analyses the sustainability and digitalization status of Dutch textile and apparel firms. We used a mixed methodology of quantitative text mining of 94 Dutch textile and apparel firms as well as qualitative thematic and coding analysis of experts’ views and opinions on sustainability and digitalization in the Dutch textiles and apparel industry. Quantitative analysis of website data shows that Dutch textile and apparel firms predominantly communicate the environmental, to a lesser extent social, and least of all economic sustainability factors. Keyword analysis also shows that the use of technological keyword indicators is less prominent, while certain technologies such as IoT, sensors and blockchain correlate mostly to environmental sustainability factors. Moreover, qualitative analysis reveals that to address sustainability via digitalization, it is important to link sustainability goals to Key Performance Indicators, which requires data for traceability. We recommend firms to: (1) re-evaluate their business models and assess the extent traceability can be incorporated in their sustainability strategy; (2) enhance stakeholder collaboration within and outside the supply chain to utilize traceability; and (3) proactively use traceability information to improve transparency and accountability to meet legal requirements and address greenwashing. This study contributes to literature by showing the importance of traceability for (a) linking sustainability and digitalization in SCM, b) achieving the ultimate goals of transparency and accountability, and c) predicting demand and supply to address overproduction and waste in the textiles and apparel sector.
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The in-depth assessment of the situation of the European textile and clothing sector is composed by six independent reports with a close focus on key aspects useful to understand the dynamics and the development of the textile and clothing industry, drivers of change – most notably the impact of the financial crisis – and identification of policy responses and best practices. This has been done in six specific tasks leading to the six reports: Task 1 Survey on the situation of the EU textile and clothing sector Task 2 Report on research and development Task 3 Report on SME situation Task 4 Report on restructuring Task 5 Report on training and Education Task 6 Report on innovation practices The objective of task 4 was to provide an assessment of past or on-going restructuring and modernisation processes in textile and clothing enterprises in the EU and their responses. This task provides an overview of drivers of restructuring and presents an anatomy of restructuring of the textile and clothing industry in the EU in terms of changes in the company business models. Case studies were carried out in five textile and clothing manufacturing regions of the EU with a particular emphasis on emerging strategies and business models and providing evidence for the impacts of restructuring processes. Another objective has been to analyse framework conditions and identify constraints and best practice measures and initiatives at company and regional/national level concerning anticipation of change and management of modernisation and restructuring processes, so that these examples may inform policy action and initiatives in other regions in Europe.
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