From Soil to Garment: Missing Links in the Assessment Criteria of Textiles

The EU textiles strategy of 30th of March 2022 is set to be implemented within a 5-year period. In the strategy, it is the ambition to build a sector wherein ‘Consumers benefit longer from high quality affordable textiles’ (European Commission 2022) within 2030. It is particularly these elements of the EU strategy that this paper comments on, with a particular focus on the environmental impact in the beginning of the lifecycle of plant-based textile fibers, and how these affects longevity-related properties in the use phase.
The paper elucidates discrepancies between assessment criteria within agriculture and textile certification schemes and highlights consequences of these in relation to firstly, how textiles are assessed today, secondly, how assessments are being understood and practiced within industry (here in Denmark), and thirdly, what this means for longevity of textiles. Through interviews with seven textile sourcers and advisors on sustainable practices in the Danish textile industry we examined how industry insiders understand and evaluate environmental risks in their materials supply base and how they are addressing these risks. The interviews highlighted major knowledge gaps within the textile industry when it comes to encouraging sustainable practices at the beginning of the supply chain and a profound lack of linking various assessments of parameters such as environmental impact, fiber quality and durability, and hereby a deeper understanding of what a low-impact and long-lasting fiber really is.