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Advancing life cycle sustainability of textiles through technological innovations

Nature Sustainability volume 6, pages 243–253 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

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. Here we examine the state-of-the-art technology developments meant to solve these problems in a cradle-to-grave fashion. We analyse their impacts with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals in the United Nations Agenda 2030, particularly those concerning the deployment of natural resources, energy and environmental impacts. We follow a systematic analytical framework that identifies and elucidates impactful technologies. We further discuss future directions along which the green transformation of textiles could be accelerated.

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Fig. 1: The life cycle of textiles.
Fig. 2: Sustainability through fibre material innovations.
Fig. 3: Sustainability through the innovation of manufacturing technologies.
Fig. 4: Sustainability through textile recycling innovations.

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Acknowledgements

X.T. was supported by the Endowed Professorship Fund of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (grant no. 847 A). S.B. acknowledges the support of the DEVCOM Soldier Center through the US Army Research Office (W911NF-13-D-0001), the MIT Deshpande Center and Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA, W15QKN-16-3-0001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Lisha Zhang, Man Yui Leung & Xiaoming Tao

  2. School of Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Lisha Zhang, Man Yui Leung & Xiaoming Tao

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Svetlana Boriskina

  4. Institute for Sustainable Urban Development, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Xiaoming Tao

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  1. Lisha Zhang
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  4. Xiaoming Tao
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Contributions

L.Z. and M.Y.L. collected the information, made all figures and tables and revised the manuscript. S.B. contributed to the framework and material developments. X.T. conceived the framework and led the writing of the manuscript. All authors wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaoming Tao.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Andrea Zille, Kevin Golovin, Kirsi Niinimäki and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zhang, L., Leung, M.Y., Boriskina, S. et al. Advancing life cycle sustainability of textiles through technological innovations. Nat Sustain 6, 243–253 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01004-5

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