Measuring the physical durability of garments is difficult and current assessment methods lack objectivity and reliability or don’t reflect the complex nature of durability for different garment categories. This study presents a novel and reproducible methodology for testing and ranking the absolute durability of commercially available t-shirts and denim jeans. Multiple durability factors were used to modulate the ranking as opposed to previous studies which only reported on single factor tests to evaluate durability. This new ranking methodology was used to explore the relationship between garment durability and retail price, consumers commonly use price to evaluate whether a garment is of good quality and durable, however, results indicate that retail price cannot be used to predict the durability of garments. The methodology developed during this study is now being used to assess garment durability for the Waste Action Resource Programme’s (WRAP) Textile 2030 initiative as part of their strategy to reduce the environmental impact of UK fashion. Multiple UK fashion brands are signed up to this initiative and this method will provide a way of measuring and benchmarking different garment types as a step towards improving the durability of garments on the market.

Microfibres generated and released during the use and laundering of textiles have been identified as an important source of environmental pollution. The quantity of microfibres released from a fabric can be influenced by several external factors, such as laundering conditions and consumer use, as well as intrinsic factors such as the fibre composition, yarn characteristics, and fabric structure. This study investigates the influence of various yarn characteristics on microfibre release from knitted fabrics as well as exploring the generation of microfibres during the knitting process. Fibre composition and the yarn spinning system has the greatest influence on microfibre release. The greatest quantity of microfibre was released from ring-spun lyocell (1313 ± 140 mg/kg) and the lowest quantity was released from vortex-spun polyester (80 ± 26 mg/kg). The yarn spinning system was also found to have a significant influence, with vortex-spun yarns consistently demonstrating lower microfibre release than corresponding ring-spun yarns, likely due to the reduced hairiness of yarns spun by the vortex system. The importance of fibre damage during the knitting process was also investigated. Several yarns demonstrated significantly greater microfibre release in knitted form compared to loose, hank form, but the scale of difference was found to be dependent on fibre composition.

Global value networks are often large, complex, and opaque. Understanding the relationships among stakeholders involved in these networks or organizations can be challenging. This card sort task provides an interactive way to engage participants in questioning the roles of stakeholders who are involved in a business ethics dilemma or an organizational product failure. This card sort task and discussion activity encourages participants to recognize that stakeholders may hold different knowledge, responsibility, or power; identify competing, conflicting, or complementary interests across stakeholders; articulate logical arguments; and engage in debate, compromise, and critical evaluation. This technique has been used successfully with undergraduate and postgraduate business, management, and social science students and is suitable for in-person and remote classes.

Domestic laundering of textiles is being increasingly recognised as a significant source of microfibre pollution. Reliable quantification of microfibre release is necessary to understanding the scale of this issue and to evaluate the efficacy of potential solutions. This study explores three major factors that influence the quantification of microfibres released from the domestic laundering of textiles: test methodologies, laundering variables, and fabric variables.A review of different test methods is presented, highlighting the variation in quantification created by using different methodologies. A reliable and reproducible method for quantifying microfibre release from domestic laundering is used to explore the impact of laundering and fabric variables experimentally. The reproducibility and reliability of the method used was validated through inter-laboratory trials and has informed the development of European and international testing standards. Our results show that increasing the wash liquor ratio and wash agitation results in a greater mass of microfibres released, but we found that fabric variables can have a greater influence on microfibre release than the laundering variables tested in this study. However, no single fabric variable appeared to have a dominant influence.Using the data obtained and assumptions for washing load size and frequency, results were scaled to reflect possible annual microfibre release from untreated domestic laundering in the UK. Depending on different laundering and fabric variables, these values range from 6490 tonnes to 87,165 tonnes of microfibre discharged in the UK each year.

This study explores the significant variation in test methods used to quantify microplastic release from the domestic laundry of textile fabrics. A wide review of the existing methods is made, with the important characteristics of these methods identified and assessed. This includes reviewing the type of washing apparatus, filtration methods, quantification metrics and the influence of fabric samples on the reported release of microplastics from domestic laundry. Based on this review, a new method for the quantification of microplastic release was developed using existing textile testing equipment. The reliability of the method to consistently assess microplastic release was validated through an inter laboratory study involving 10 independent globally distributed laboratories and a filter efficacy in excess of 99% demonstrated. The study showed the method has good inter and intra laboratory qualities, thus indicating this method can be considered robust and reliable. Importantly the method has the potential to provide a standardised method to allow direct comparison of results for different laboratories and for different fabrics with a high level of confidence.

‘Modern slavery’ describes various forms of severe relational labour exploitation. In the realm of global value chains and global factories that are led by multinational enterprises, modern slavery encompasses practices such as forced labour and debt bondage. Multinational enterprises organise and orchestrate global value chains into global factories that are highly adaptive to market pressures and changes in the external environment. We employ the global factory framework to conceptualise when and how global value chains become more vulnerable to modern slavery. We argue that combinations of the three global value chain characteristics: complexity, appropriation arrangements, and obligation cascadence, jointly form an environment in which modern slavery can evolve and take root. The degree to which forms of modern slavery become visible and recognisable depends on the particular combination of these characteristics. External factors can moderate the relationship between these factors (e.g. involvement of non-governmental organisations) or exaggerate their effect (e.g. a pandemic).

Cotton can be coloured by dyeing and printing using either dye or pigment colourants. Pigments are insoluble in water but can be dispersed in a polymer print binder and heat-fixed to the fabric. Vat and sulphur dyes similarly have low solubility in water but through alkali/reduction can be solubilised and exhausted onto the cotton fibre. Following their reoxidation, the dyes are insolubilised in the fibre and, like pigment prints, in general exhibit good wash fastness. In this study, sequential acid/alkali/peroxide or acid/dithionite/peroxide treatments were investigated as a means of removing pigment/polymer prints and common sulphur and vat dyes from coloured cotton fabric. Using the sequential acid/dithionite/peroxide treatment, up to 97% of both sulphur and vat colourants could be "stripped" from dyed cotton producing a white cellulosic feedstock material that could be used for "new" fibre regeneration. By contrast, the "stripping" of the pigment/polymer binder colourant system was less predictable and less complete and is probably a reflection of the different chemical natures of the polymer binder and pigments. This contrasting behaviour highlights the range of chemistries applied to cotton and that developing a universal single treatment to strip out all finishes may be problematic.

Previous studies have established that the application of crosslinking dyes and easy care finishes to cotton can significantly reduce the dissolution of waste cotton in swelling solvents and limit potential recycling of cellulosic materials through Lyocell fibre regeneration process. In this study, a sequential hydrolysis/reduction/oxidative treatment was investigated as a potential method to completely strip all types of reactive dye chromophores from cotton. It was established that the treatment could completely strip off colours from the reactively dyed fabrics and post-consumer denim jeans fabric resulting in a white, NMMO-dissolvable cellulosic material, which could be used as a feedstock for Lyocell fibre regeneration. The white cellulose had an acceptable degree of polymerisation and the regenerated fibres had structural and mechanical properties similar to those of fibres regenerated from conventional wood pulp. Blending conventional wood pulp and recycled cotton pulp allowed manufacturing of regenerated Lyocell-type fibres with acceptable properties.

The UK Modern Slavery Act aims to reduce and eradicate various forms of exploitation and is in this respect in line with the Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) 8.7. Section 54 of the act focusses on modern slavery in the international supply chain of organisations and obligates organisations to report on the actions they have taken to identify and address exploitation vulnerabilities. In order to understand how effective the current provisions in the act are, we analyse how businesses in the fashion and textile industry engage with the reporting requirements of Section 54. While we find increasing compliance with the act, a significant share of fashion and textile businesses have not reported on their actions or have only filed a statement once.

The aim of this paper is to present preliminary findings of a study that is focused on divestment, its elements and the relationship with sociocultural context. Divestment is a concept that comprises those activities that include emotional and physical disposal of material possessions. This paper explores divestment within the context of sustainable consumption, as well as the potential for design disciplines to contribute to the creation of new solutions for the development of sustainable communities. The research was carried out within a cross-cultural framework acknowledging the relevance of contextual and cultural factors involved in the divestment processes: this was accomplished by comparing two countries; Mexico and United Kingdom. This work can contribute to design interventions to affect divestment decision-making process by identifying culturally dependent and independent elements that can impact the pre and post-consumption stages. The outcomes also enable ways of creating and promoting new commercialisation channels.