Sweden

In a discovery that could have implications for countries with poor water treatment technologies and combat widespread problem of toxic dye discharge from textiles industry, a breakthrough new method can easily purify contaminated water using a cellulose-based material.

New research at the interdisciplinary Gothenburg Research Institute at the University of Gothenburg confirms that the outbreak of the COVID-19 affected the way people shop for clothes. And, the changes are as good as permanent.

The fast fashion setup incurring mass production of cheap goods that sometimes only last a single season, and the increase in the trend of returning wears is a business model fed by the depletion of natural resources, labour in poor countries and fossil resources. There is an urgent need to regulate product quality so that products last longer and can be repaired, according to a research. 

Achieving a carbon neutral apparel and textiles industry will be dependent on robust and efficient climate legislation, and to halve emissions in upstream production by 2030, the industry will need to decarbonise every stage of the process, says a position paper.

A new process for digital printing on textiles sets the bar for implementation of sustainable digital printing techniques in textile dyeing, finishing and functionalisation.

To aid and speed up the shift from fossil-based plastic packaging, Sweden's Yangi has initiated a strategic research collaboration project with partners Holmen Iggesund, Solenis, Fiber-X, FutureLab & Partners AB, Duni Group, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University, and a premium brand owner within the consumer goods segment.

An unpredictable future has forced Swedish giant H&M to pause all sales in Russia with steps being initiated to begin the process of winding up business in the country, promising also "support to all colleagues concerned" over the coming months.   

Swedish retail giant H&M will leverage Google Cloud's extensive data analytics capabilities and secure sustainable global infrastructure to further enhance its customer experience and supply chain enablement.

The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel's (HKRITA) novel Garment-to-Garment (G2G) Recycle System shows that integral and closed-loop garment recycling can indeed be done, and sans any water and chemicals, but no big-time manufacturer or brand has been able to use this innovation at the industrial or mass scale. A texfash.com Special.

The Treadler project of the H&M Group, hailed as a fashion gamechanger, is being shelved for not growing fast enough. Ironically, the Treadler project served as a 'case study' on the Higg Inc website for making a difference. And, Higg has been time and again accused of furthering the interests of companies like H&M.