Sustainability is a highly topical issue today, as confirmed by the growing interest in the green fashion movement, which promotes environmentally and consumer-friendly production.
One issue that has long been held in high regard by
all manufacturing companies, especially brands, is that of sustainable
chemistry.
Sustainable chemistry is an issue that cuts across all supply chains, but particularly in the textile industry where attention is still very high because there is a real possibility of finding substances in products that are dangerous to human health and the environment.
There are many substances that need to be eliminated or replaced, and globalization has shifted important textile production quotas to non-EU countries that do not respect safety, environmental protection, and social equity rules. The production of basic chemical components is almost completely delocalized to the Far East and is therefore difficult to control and direct. In Europe, however, the control and elimination of the most dangerous chemical compounds from the market have given excellent results over the last ten years, with many companies responding to the demand to reduce their environmental footprint by analyzing garments, adopting chemical management systems, and drawing up sustainability reports.
Chemical sustainability is linked to the quality of
the substances used, so the role of research and innovation is crucial in order
to identify new substances that can replace the more dangerous ones. There is
therefore a strong economic case for doing better.
The assessment of these factors, however, is very much linked to the geographical area of the world or the country in which the company operates. The directions are taken by Europe towards the abandonment of polluting industrial processes and the invention of new production processes with fewer emissions have not been motivated by obligations and constraints but rather by an environmental awareness guided by existing legislation.
There is a need to push for the dissemination of directives concerning the health of workers and the environment in different countries to ensure greater sustainability. In-depth knowledge of the processing stages of production chains can lead to planning, testing, and practical implementation of a greener approach to production in the world of fashion.
