Title: Sustainable developments in knitting

Authors: E.J. Power

Addresses: School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK

Abstract: The global community is aware that policies and practices regarding human consumption of resources need to change. Sustainability is a dominant factor within government policies worldwide. A recent report compiled on behalf of the European Union identified clothing and textiles as key industries in terms of reducing environmental impact. In response to this report, the UK Government devised the clothing roadmap to investigate sustainable developments within these industries. Sustainable design was identified as one area for improvement. This paper acknowledges that the clothing supply chains are not transparent. Consumers can purchase garments produced from organic and eco fibres since labelling identifies the raw material sources. However, it is less straightforward to purchase garments produced using sustainable technologies since processing information is not displayed at the point of sale. This paper investigates sustainability within the knitwear industry and challenges the view that textile manufacturing industries are significant contributors to energy consumption.

Keywords: clothing industry; apparel industry; energy consumption; production efficiency; fabric construction; garment production; global fashion industry; knitting; knitwear; manufacturing; seamless; sustainability; sustainable design; textiles; waste; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2012.047519

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2012 Vol.9 No.1, pp.1 - 11

Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

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