February 2025, TUIASI - Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi/ Romania
by Manuela AVADANEI and Luminita CIOBANU

Sustainable Fashion

The TCLF industry is affected by "fast fashion", which leads to excessive production of textile waste and a consequent environmental impact. Today, environmental issues such as climate change directly impact raw materials, natural systems, water, biodiversity and livelihoods.
The EU TCLF ecosystem has been asked to implement changes regarding the design, production, and distribution of its items on the EU market. Research and innovation are important tools for implementing important changes in this industry and bringing essential environmental, societal and consumer benefits. From an environmental perspective, all stakeholders in this area must implement sustainable principles to slow environmental changes and make TCLF less harmful. In this regard, sustainability and the emerging circular economy, business models for sustainable product design, product life extension and circular supply chain models promise to improve the sustainability performance of TCLF.

Sustainable fashion is a relatively new idea in the industry. Sustainable fashion is a way in which brands make products that reduce their impact on the environment and consider the people who work to make the products. Simply put, it is fashion that is produced ethically and in an environmentally friendly way.

For many years, most of the fashion industry was focused on minimising production costs. This often meant that inferior clothing was produced at very low prices, with little regard for the environmental damage caused. In recent years, the industry has seen a growing demand for clothing designed with sustainability in mind: the use of higher quality materials designed to last and more environmentally conscious production processes. More than ever, consumers are becoming aware of their purchasing decisions and the global impact these decisions can have. As a result, they are demanding clothing and accessories that better reflect their values and beliefs.

For the industry as a whole to become sustainable, consumers must be willing to pay more to support the change or at least stop buying from brands that have no respect for the environment.

In addition to sustainable fashion, there are other concepts that companies and some consumer categories refer to as Eco-fashion and Ethical fashion. Eco-fashion means the production, distribution and reuse of items initially produced using environmentally friendly methods (adopting sustainable textile innovations or regenerative fashion strategies to make a brand's business model genuinely green and fit for the challenges of the green transition). Ethical fashion focuses on the human impact of a garment. Like sustainable fashion, every step in the supply chain must be considered, be it the farmer who grows the raw material, the factory worker, or the store sales clerk. Every person involved in this process should be treated fairly and paid correctly.

The key solutions that can transform the TCLF industry into a sustainable one are:

a) circular economy - it is a transformative approach that reimagines the entire life cycle of clothing. The heart of this concept is the idea of designing for longevity. This means the products are stylish, durable, and made to be used for a long time because they are produced from durable materials that can be easily repaired or recycled. Renting, borrowing and recycling represent an essential part of the circular economy. By encouraging customers to borrow or rent, the TCLF industry can extend the life of their products and reduce the need for remakes. The development of specific recycling and repair activities is significant. This means creating facilities that can efficiently recycle synthetic materials, encouraging brands to offer complementary services (collect and repair) and educating consumers on how to care for their products to extend their lifespan;

Figure 2. Circular Economy [3]

b) upcycling/recycling - Is about creatively transforming an existing item of clothing into something new that offers added value and uniqueness. Upcycling gives old products a second life, extending their wearability and reducing the need for new production. Fashion designers and artists use upcycling as a form of expression and create unique pieces that tell a story (Eileen Fisher). Recycling is breaking down a product into its parts to reuse it for manufacturing a similar product or other products. It is a more technical process that requires special equipment and technology. H&M and Adidas are brands which invest in recycling programs and technologies. These practices foster creativity and innovation and encourage designers, brands and consumers to be creative and confident to explore new possibilities;

Figure 3. Recycling VS Upcycling [4]

c) sustainable textile materials - Using materials that respect the earth, the fashion world is weaving a new narrative that reconciles esthetics and ethics: organic cotton (grows without harmfully pesticides and chemicals; this type of cotton is used extensively by Patagonia and Stella McCartney), bamboo (a fast-growing plant that requires less water use and pesticides and is a renewable resource that can be taken without killing the plant) and recycled polyester (obtained from recycled plastic bottles to reduce plastic pollution and conserve resources). Brands such as Adidas and Nike have opted for recycled polyester and use it for sportswear and footwear;

d) made-to-order production - Minimizes resource wastage and associated greenhouse gas emissions and soil pollution due to incineration or land

Figure 5. Functions of the electronic textiles (TUIASI)

that can change their shape and implicitly of the textile where they are embedded, and chromatic materials that change their colour. Electronic textiles (wearables) are the next level in smart textiles, bringing together textile materials, electronic components and power sources to create the so-called soft circuits. They present sensing, processing and actuating abilities, being capable to collect and process information and act on it. Currently, a lot of research focuses on developing new conductive raw materials, embed them in textile materials and create circuits that could replace the existing electronic components. Even if we are not there yet (the complete textile circuit), huge steps are taken toward this goal.

A large array of sensors for different stimuli (chemical, mechanical, physical, electrical) can be developed using textile technologies (mainly weaving, knitting, embroidering, printing) and introduced in textile materials and products. Furthermore, electronic textiles can be positioned in any type of material and garment, with complete control over dimensions, shape and properties like flexibility and adaptability to the body contour. These sensor capabilities and the possibility to transmit data lead to a large array of possible domains of applications, the most important being healthcare, sport and fitness, fashion and entertainment, protective equipment, automotive and military. Smart clothing may include sensors to monitor vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate and temperature. Companies like Hexoskin[6] produce commercial smart clothing capable of monitoring vital signs during periods of activity and sleep, perform ECG and EKG. Such products (T-shirts, pants, bands) are used for health care, where the monitoring of patients is essential in early detection of health issues and in maintaining contact with healthcare professionals for patients under surveillance, elderly with limited mobility and small children. Sport and fitness applications are another example of smart clothing with sensor capabilities. Smart sportswear is used by everyone, from professional athletes to people practicing sports to track their vital signs during exercise, the resulting data being processed to show the level of performance and how the body behaved.

Fashion and entertainment offer the opportunity to blend such technical materials with art and find new and innovative way to express artistic concepts. Fashion designers like Behnaz Farihi, Annouk Wipprecht or Niccolo Casas use additive manufacturing techniques, biomimicry and e-textiles, and lately artificial intelligence to create clothing that reacts to the environment, have new properties and replicate nature [7].

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is another domain where smart textiles, including electronic textiles have gained a strong momentum, as they allow to monitor and regulate body functions like heat, evaluate the environmental conditions and alert if risk factors reach critical levels, communications with control systems outside the risk area, and generally improving the safety and performance of workers, police force, health workers, etc. Integration of electronics in textile materials decreases the weight of the PPE, which is significant for cases where heavy equipment is used, like for firefighters. Military applications refer to combat uniforms, body armours, cloaking systems, etc. One of the most important aspects is the ability to monitor vital signs and continuously process and transmit data regarding the state of each combatant, the evaluation and location of wounds and the position of soldiers on the field.

For the moment, the applications for electronic textiles are specific to niche markets, restricted by the high price, maintenance and durability, energy sources (energy harvesting), and issues related to privacy. The market has a high potential of growth, different reports [8, 9] estimating the global value of smart textile market at 3.45 billion USD predicting growth to at least 21 billon USD by 2033, with a CAGR of 20-30%.

Emerging technologies like AI and VR/AR are already a strong driver for the smart textiles [10]. AI approaches modelled after the human brain like neuromorphic computing and spiking neural networks show a lot of potential in improving functionalities of e-textiles related to their functions: monitoring, data acquisition and processing, energy harvesting and storage, communication. VR/AR systems are another domain where smart textiles can be used to generate the perception of the virtual environment [11]. So far, there are identified and developed solutions for haptic sensing, posture and gate tracking, microclimate control, olfactory and gustatory perception and surface biopotential of brain and muscle activity.

References:
1. What is Sustainable Development? (2025), retrieved from: https://www.arenasolutions.com/resources/glossary/sustainable-development/
2. Textiles of the Future, (2024), retrieved from: https://cms.extranet.textile-platform.eu/uploads/Final_Draft_SRIA_90cfe269e8.pdf
3. Creating a Circular Economy (2024), retrieved from: https://www.vwrm.com/education-outreach/circular-economy/
4. Sharma, R. (n.d.). Upcycling and recycling in architecture: An ecologically responsible option, retrieved from: https://thedesigngesture.com/upcycling-and-recycling-in-architecture/
5. https://www.istockphoto.com/en/collaboration/boards/EW8AaQCzBkeOGcDbgq00mQ
6. https://hexoskin.com/
7. Shakeri, S. (2022, February 4). 10 fashion-tech designers revolutionizing the fashion industry. retrieved from: https://parametric-architecture.com/10-fashion-tech-designers-revolutionizing-the-fashion-industry/?srsltid=AfmBOori10KgfNkA2k6zqUhMzWbBLDDrZtZ0bX10oYJ2CTMN3UI4bDGl
8. Smart Textiles Market Report, retrieved from: https://www.imarcgroup.com/smart-textiles-market
9. Smart Textile Market Size, retrieved from: https://straitsresearch.com/report/smart-textile-market
10. Cleary, F., Srisa-An, W., Henshall, D. C., & Balasubramaniam, S. (2023). Emerging AI technologies inspiring the next generation of e-textiles. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2303.03205
11. Liu, S., Ma, K., Yang, B., Li, H., & Tao, X. (2020). Textile electronics for VR/AR applications. Advanced Functional Materials. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202007254