Changes in wet processes including dyeing hold the clearest pathway for solutions to reduce microfibre shedding in textile manufacturing, a new report has underlined.
- The textiles industry should accelerate the move away from processing in heated baths and tanks filled with water, to machinery that requires very little to no water, and significantly less energy and chemistry, it concluded.
- The study, Tackling Microfibres at Source: Investigating opportunities to reduce microfibre pollution from the fashion industry through textile design and manufacturing innovation, looked at impacts of textile manufacturing on the microfibre pollution problem.
- The shift will entail machine-based technologies and innovations or a range of machine and operations-based innovations that currently exist, which present varying levels of potential for shifting the textiles industry away from conventional dyeing and wet processes, it said.
The Project: The report presents findings from a 21-month long research and investigative process, and shares recommendations for how textile manufacturers, brands and retailers can take active steps to reduce microfibre pollution.
- The project brought together a group of stakeholders with an interest to better understand the impact of textile manufacturing on the microfibre pollution problem.
- The team was led by Forum for the Future, with Ramatex Group as the industry partner, and the Nanyang Environment & Water Resources Institute (NEWRI) as research partner.
- VDE Consultancy provided support for the technical analysis and review, with the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) being a supporting research partner, and Kim van der Weerd, co-founder and host of Manufactured Podcast, as the impacts and recommendations reviewer.
- The project was supported by the UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC).
The Other Takeaways: The report provided four other takeaways:
- The importance of installing a robust wastewater treatment system. Wastewater treatment systems can reduce or eliminate microfibres from polluting the environment, and can also treat polluted water from textile manufacturing processes.
- The impetus for suppliers to adopt more sustainable practices is often driven by the need to comply with their customers' low-cost and speed demands rather than through their own agency to contribute to a more sustainable fashion industry.
- One key reason for the apparent lack of supplier agency is the absence of collaboration between brands and their suppliers that would place risk equally between both parties.
- More research on factors that impact microfibre shed in the production stage such as yarn and material type are urgently needed to accelerate the development of solutions.
Systemic Barriers to Change: The report identified areas that are hindering progress:
- The vast majority of suppliers will only take on new solutions if they are viable, that is, if their brand customers are willing to share the cost of upfront capital investments to implement these changes.
- A sustainable product e.g. one that has gone through a process that resulted in very minimal microfibre shed, is likely to cost more. Would consumers be willing to pay more for it?
- Brands can sometimes have a biased view on what suppliers can or should do.
- Most suppliers are not incentivised to lead in innovation around more sustainable products.
- Transformational change in the supply chain to tackle the microfibre challenge can only begin when both these two key sets of stakeholders agree to act collectively to design solutions, and work in true partnership.
Words of Caution: The gaps in knowledge on the impact of yarn type and construction on microfibre shed is a crucial area that would benefit from further research.
- It is therefore not possible to accurately conclude which materials are “better” or “best”.
- To tackle the microfibre pollution problem and enable industry to shift towards a future that is just and regenerative for both the planet and people, industry should move away from quick fixes and comparisons.
- More research is needed to understand specific fibre shedding profiles and work towards improving their overall sustainability profile, not just for cotton and polyester but for all fibres and textiles.
- Until new materials that have been proven to have a better sustainability profile can be developed, which would entail their shedding profiles and success of scaling for mass production, industry should move away from employing the lens of strict comparisons in order to make meaningful progress toward sustainability.
