Contents
Perspectives, Drivers, and a Roadmap for Corporate Social
Responsibility in the Textile and Clothing Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mônica Cavalcanti Sá de Abreu
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the Higg Index . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Shanthi Radhakrishnan
Making the Connection Between the United Nations Global Compact
Code of Conduct for the Textile and Fashion Sector
and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition Higg Index (2.0). . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Miguel Ángel Gardetti
Environmental Adaptation by Small and Medium Sized Textile
and Garment Companies in Vietnam—Is Governance an Issue? . . . . . 87
Nga H. Nguyen, Robert J.S. Beeton, Anthony Halog and An T. Duong
Sustainable Measures Taken by Brands, Retailers,
and Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Thilak Vadicherla and D. Saravanan
Development of Eco-labels for Sustainable Textiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
A.K. Roy Choudhury
Ecolabels and Organic Certification for Textile Products. . . . . . . . . . . 175
Luis Almeida
Preface
Sustainability is no longer a new concept in any industrial sector, including the clothing industry. Each face and facet of sustainability—namely the economic, environmental, and social aspects—are becoming familiar to and widely practiced by different industrial sectors. Every industry has its own agenda in addressing the different segments of sustainability. Products from various industrial sectors are unique in terms of their life cycle impacts at the raw material, manufacturing, and distribution phases, and very importantly at the use and disposal phases. Hence, every industry should have its metrics to measure and address sustainability. This is true for the textiles industry as well, which is why this roadmap series details the important aspects of sustainability as it relates to the textiles and clothing sector.
This is the third volume of roadmap series on sustainable textiles and clothing. As emphasized in Volumes 1 and 2, the environmental impacts created by the lengthy textile and clothing supply chain are huge. Every industrial sector has its own regulatory and compliance aspects, along with its specific sustainability measurement methods and standards. Similarly, there are well-defined regulatory aspects, sustainability measurements and standards, environmental labels, and laws earmarked for the textiles and clothing sectors. This volume covers the aspects pertaining to the textiles and clothing sector.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the important aspects of today’s industry, and every factory/industry should be implementing this measure. CSR has become a part of doing business, and it is needed by everyone involved, including stakeholders, customers, and buyers. However, CSR practices align with different industrial sectors along the practices specific to each industry. In light of this discussion, “Perspectives, Drivers and a Roadmap for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Textile and Clothing Industry” is devoted to discussions on the drivers that shape CSR, approaches of CSR in the global context, and a roadmap to implement CSR practices.
One of the important developments in the field of sustainability in the textiles and apparel sector is the formation of a sustainable apparel coalition, where all the brands and major players in the market join hands together to achieve sustainability in this sector. One of the important indices being used by apparel industry is the Higg Index, which was developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC).
This volume has two dedicated chapters to discuss this topic. “Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Higg Index” outlines the detailed developments and the history of the SAC, the development of Higg Index, and other details pertaining to environmental impact and assessment tools for products.
“Making the Connection Between UNGC Code of Conduct for the Textile and Fashion Sector and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition Higg Index (2.0)” discusses in-depth aspects of the Higg Index of the SAC by establishing the connection between the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Code of Conduct for the Textile and Fashion Sector and the SAC Higg Index (2.0 version). In addition, it presents very important details of analyses pertaining to the differences between both initiatives. Because there is a dearth of detailed information on the SAC Higg index, this volume has two chapters to disseminate the information pertaining to one of the important sustainability initiatives of apparel sector.
“Environmental Adaptation by Small and Medium Sized Textile and Garment Companies in Vietnam—Is Governance an Issue?” deals with another important issue—environmental adaptation. Having considered Institutional theory as a crux and tool, this chapter highlights the influence of current institutional mechanisms on the adaptive capacity of textiles and garment small- and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam in response to national and international environmental requirements. “Sustainable Measures Taken by Brands, Retailers and Manufacturers” highlights the measures and attempts taken by various apparel brands, retailers, and manufacturers involved in the clothing supply chain as an appreciation of the measures taken to achieve sustainability in the clothing sector. This chapter presents detailed discussions related to sustainability measures considered by various brands, such as Adidas, Burberry, Patagonia, Levi’s, and Nike; retailers, such as Walmart and Target; and manufacturers, such as Novozymes. This chapter deals with sustainability aspects such as measuring and mitigating the various environmental impacts, development of tools and standards, and the practice of energyefficient measures.
The frequently used term of “eco-labels” plays a major role in sustainability efforts. There are various eco-labels produced and used every day for textiles and clothing products. Two chapters are earmarked for this important topic. “Development of Eco-labels for Sustainable Textiles” introduces the reader to the basics of textiles and ecology, the use of restricted substances and the importance of measuring them, the availability of different organic products and their significance for the clothing sector, and the basics of eco-labeling, including characteristics and benefits. “Ecolabels and Organic Certification for Textile Products” follows with a discussion of the important eco-labels and organic certifications being used in the apparel industry. This chapter presents detailed information pertaining to various sustainability standards and certification schemes applicable to the textiles and clothing sector.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank all the contributors to this third volume of the Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing for their timely efforts to bring forth this book, which is enriched by the technical content in their chapters. I have no doubt that the readers will benefit from their contributions, which highlight the important details associated with the regulatory aspects and sustainability standards of the textiles and clothing sectors. Along with the previous two volumes in the roadmap series, this book will certainly become as an important reference for the researchers, students, industrialists, and sustainability professionals working in this field.