Four ways textile manufacturer can reduce their environmental impact

Textile manufacturing is one of the many industries found to have strong correlations to negative environmental impacts such as water pollution, air pollution, microplastics, and soil erosion. With an increasing number of industries beginning to give more consideration to their environmental impact, the textile industry is also looking inward. In this article, we suggest four ways textile manufacturers can reduce their environmental impact.

Know more about your supplier

With globalisation, supply chains nowadays are growing evermore complex and multi-tiered. Raw materials can be sourced from all regions of the world and how the materials are produced and sourced can be a concern in terms of environmental impact.

Supply chain mapping can help textile manufacturers unravel the source of raw materials provided by suppliers to aid traceability and can also help to identify any environmental risks that may be relevant.

Pre-wash textiles at manufacturing plants

Up to 60% of new fabrics are made from plastic-derived fibres and common culprits are polyester, nylon, and acrylic. In fact, microfibres from textiles are thought to be responsible for 4% of all plastic water pollution.

According to the European Environment Agency, research has found that synthetic fabrics are more likely to release higher amounts of microplastics in the first five to ten washes. Pre-washing at manufacturing factories could help capture a large share of released microfibers as the plants are generally connected to wastewater treatment plants, especially in Europe.

Use more organic cotton

Cotton is one of the most popular materials in the textile industry, accounting for around 33% of all fibres used in textiles. However, conventional cotton (cotton that is grown with assistance of synthetic agrichemicals and as a monoculture) can be harmful to the environment, with high water consumption, soil degradation and erosion by monoculture and it can release greenhouse gas due to the use of synthetic fertilisers.

As an alternative to conventional cotton, many believe organic cotton is a more sustainable option as it is grown using sustainable farming methods, reducing chemicals and water use, and promoting biodiversity.

Use biodegradable materials

Synthetic, non-biodegradable fabrics such as acrylic may take up to 200 years, according to Sustain Your Style, to decompose while biodegradable fabrics like organic cotton and linen can break down quickly in nature. Textile manufacturers can also use disintegrable and biodegradable packaging.

As consumers start looking more into the environmental footprint of the products they use, biodegradability, disintegration and compostability testing can help manufacturers to market products as ‘biodegradable’, ‘compostable’, ‘degradable’ or ‘recyclable with confidence and avoid accusations of greenwashing.

How the Eurofins Softlines & Leather network of laboratories can help

Our sustainability services, supported by expertise in textiles and the garment industry, cover a wide range of solutions that help companies, manufacturers, brands and retailers step out to sustainability development, our service offering includes supply chain mapping, organic cotton identification, vegan verification, disintegration and biodegradability testing and more.

Click here to find out more about our sustainability services.