An international team led by Prof. TAO Xiaoming, Director of the Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR), recently published an invited review article titled “Advancing life cycle sustainability of textiles through technological innovations” in Natural Sustainability.
Throughout their life cycle, textiles produce 5–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, release polluting microplastics and chemical agents that contaminate waterways, and consume the second-largest amount of the world’s water. Prof. Tao’s team and Dr Svetlana BORISKINA of Massachusetts Institute of Technology joined forces for a two-year assessment study on the environmental impact of technological innovation.
The team conducted a systematic analysis of state-of-the-art technology developments meant to solve sustainability problems in the fashion industry. They collected 22,724 publications published during the last ten years, among which 940 were screened and 215 were studied in detail.
Based on their findings, the team discussed the future directions of research and development along which green transformation of textiles could be accelerated. These include identifying and developing sustainable replacements for synthetic polyester and nylon fibres, developing biomass-based and degradable fibre-forming materials, cultivating insect- and disease-resistant plant seeds that require less water, advancing biological science, waterless or less-water colouration, reducing or eliminating production steps, and designing products with a single type of textile.
Fibre Production Textile Conversion Garment Making
