Figure: The life cycle of apparel textiles (Nature Sustainability, 22 December, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01004-5)
Natural Sustainability, a top journal of the field, published an invited review article entitled “Advancing life-cycle sustainability of textiles through technological innovations”, which was released online on 22 December 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01004-5). An international team led by Prof. Xiaoming Tao of Hong Kong Polytechnic University was the contributing authors.
Throughout their life cycle, textiles produce 5–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and consume the second-largest amount of the world’s water with polluting microplastics and chemical agents released to waterways. Prof. Tao’s team and Dr. Svetlana Boriskina of Massachusetts Institute of Technology have joined forces and spent two years together to study technology innovations and their impacts on sustainability. The team examined the state-of-the-art technology developments meant to solve these problems in a cradle-to-grave fashion. They collected 22724 publications during the last ten years, among which 940 were screened and 215 were studied in detail. The team analysed their impacts with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals in United Nations Agenda 2030, particularly those concerning the deployment of natural resources, energy and environmental impacts. A systematic analytical framework was followed to identify and elucidate impactful technologies.
Based on the findings, the team further discussed future directions of research and developments along which the green transformation of textiles could be accelerated. The topics cover: green sciences and processes based on high-throughput, data-driven discovery studies to identify and develop sustainable replacements for synthetic polyester and nylon fibres, biomass-based and degradable fibre–forming materials and the cultivation of insect- and disease-resistant plant seeds that require less water can be achieved through advancements in biological science, waterless or less-water colouration, reduction or elimination of production steps as well as mono-materiality in textiles for proactive material recovery.
The first author is Dr. Lisha Zhang, Research Assistant Professor. Prof. Xiaoming Tao is the corresponding author.
